Understanding what we have in Jesus

Well good morning everyone

Happy Sunday

It is good to see all of you again

So how many of us were in the field this week?

I think this has been the first time

Since I have been here

Where nearly the entire BN

Was out in the field all week long

But I am glad we all made it back

And in one piece

Anyone know which squad won the competition this week?

Good stuff

Well lets get going here

So I entitled this sermon

Understanding what we have in Jesus

You know I remember

when I went to seminary

A part of my seminary deals with helping students

from other countries learn the Bible

And so what they would do

is they would invite international students

to come and learn or study

in specific programs

and I recall one of my friends by the name of Keleme

Who was just an amazing man of God

who actually ended up staying with us

for a couple of nights during one of his journeys to United States

And now Keleme was from Ethiopia and

I remember him bragging

interestingly enough

about his denomination

which boasted around 10 million people in this tiny little country of Africa

But I remember his denomination was actually started by one missionary

and started with I believe

just around maybe 5 to 6 people

and grew to be 10 million people strong

As a side note

Don’t ever let spiritual warfare

tell you that you cannot do amazing things for God

because that is a lie either way

Anyways, I remember the unique perspective

on the world

that this man had

And I’ll give you an example,

As I picked him up from the airport

one of the things that he noticed was the sidewalks

I remember as we were driving

through my neighborhood

he was looking at me

and saying why do you have so many sidewalks

and why is no one using them?

I mean he was amazed,

You should have heard his tone of voice

He was truly baffled as to why we had so many sidewalks

And I recall him saying that in Ethiopia

they don’t have sidewalks,

only in the best of neighborhoods,

in fact sidewalks meant that you were rich.

Kind of took me back a few steps

if you know what I’m saying,

I mean in reality

I have never looked at sidewalks in that manner.

To think that we are considered rich

Because we have a place to walk

That keeps us safe

And this story doesn’t stop there

As we got home

we had planned on taking him out for a special dinner

maybe to Texas roadhouse or outback steakhouse,

wanted to give him something special

But he looked at my wife and I

and he said

“but we have so much food in the house why don’t we just make something simple to eat and spend dinner together talking.”

Again I was shocked

I had never heard of anybody saying something so outlandish

And yet something that made so much sense

And I recall as he was leaving

we gathered together in prayer

and for the first time in my family anyways

we held hands in a circle and we prayed together

as a family and with my friend

And I remember Keleme‘s prayer

“Help us to live simple lives that honor you, help us to realize that we have all that we need and help us to celebrate you every day”

In my own opinion

I thought that this was very unique

because it was a different perspective on life

from an individual

who lived literally halfway around the world

who grew up in entirely different culture

than any of us are familiar with.

I mean his prayer

was so simple and yet so profound

because he was a man

who grew up with absolutely nothing,

who walked into my middle-class house

looked at all of the items that we owned

and his jaw literally dropped

because he couldn’t believe how much we actually have

and yet we had the audacity to not even recognize the fact

that we have sidewalks and food in the house

And so today that’s what I want to go over

I want to help us understand

what we have in Jesus

I want us to realize that we don’t celebrate Jesus

and I want to help us to look at what we have in our salvation

thanks to his sacrifice on that cross

If you would please open your bibles to

Mark 2:18–22 NLT

Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Prayer

Now remember

I’ve said this like four weeks in a row

And I’m gonna say it again

Context is always the key to the passage

And so in order for us to truly grasp

What is going on

In this passage

Let’s begin

To look at the strict adherence to Jewish law

Or Jewish legalism that was truly dominating in those days

And you know I recall doing a Bible study

On this particular topic

And perhaps you have even seen me teach on this topic

Because I know I did

But it was probably about a year ago

But in order to truly begin to understand

where this mentality of such legalism came from

We have to hit on the historical context when it come to the Jewish people

I mean think about it

Think about the attitudes throughout the Gospels

Why would the pharisees get so angry when they see an authentic healing

Why would anyone for that matter

Get angry at watching a man or a woman be completely healed of blindness?

I mean am I the only one that couldn’t figure that out growing up?

Either way

First off you have to realize

Where these ideas come from

And try to pay attention here

Because I am going to teach a bit deeper than usual today

So

First off take note of this

The closing pages of the Old Testament

Show the result of Israel’s disobedience and resulting enslavement to the Babylonian empire

And so from that time of conquest

From that time of absolute defeat

You have roughly 400 years from the final book of the Old Testament

To the opening pages of the New Testament

But during those 400 years

The Jewish people have been

Conquered

Brutalized

Murdered

Pillaged

And any other horrible adjective you can think of

I could go deeper but It’s probably not suitable for a church service with children

Additionally,

God has been silent in the temple

What I mean by that

according to Dr. hocking

every day when a priest would offer sacrifices

They would or should hear the voice of God

Audibly,

But since the captivity in Babylon

Complete silence

This is what scholars call the Intertestimental period

or the 400 years of silence

And the only conclusion that the Jewish people

or the Jewish priests can make

Is that they have been abandoned by God due to sin

And while this assumption may ring true

It helps you to understand

why they take the Jewish law to the 28th degree

Even to the point that they begin to add to the law

Let me just give you a few examples:

Josephus records that Ptolemy I Soter (323–283/2 bc) captured Jerusalem when the Israelites refused to fight on the Sabbath (Antiquities 12.1.1).

Second Maccabees 5:25–6 states that Apollonius waited until the Sabbath day to assault the city of Jerusalem because the people would not fight on the Sabbath (168 bc).

And these are just a few examples

Of the mentality that was predominant in Israel at that time

And so when you see people being healed

Being forgiven

Being raised from the dead

And you see the Pharisees

Flipping out

Calling him blasphemous

And even accusing him of doing such things by the power of Satan

You begin to see

What Jesus is up against.

And whats unique is that you can actually take this mindset

Take this abuse of the law

And add this to every encounter

Jesus has

Because this is the mindset or the mentality

That is truly brought into the picture

When it come to passages such as you’ll see today.

And so when it comes to John’s disciples

As you see in verse 18

You see a following

That is truly setting the example

Following not only the law as seen in the Bible

But even as seen in ancient Jewish tradition

Look with me real quick at verse 18

Mark 2:18 NLT

Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees do?”

And if you can imagine,

Pharisees would be all over fasting

Because it plays right into the mind set of where they are... make sense?

Now to go a bit further

And if you’re not familiar with fasting

Fasting is basically

Keeping yourself from food or some type of pleasure

In order to try and gain the favor of God

One author says

Mark (3) Over Fasting (2:18–22)

Jews sometimes fasted as a result of personal loss, sometimes as an expression of repentance, sometimes as preparation for prayer, and sometimes merely as a meritorious act.

And so the idea is that you would deny yourself of something

In order to appreciate God more

Or in order to draw closer to God in a way

If that makes sense

And so its quite possible that John’s disciples are fasting here

Because John is in prison

If you recall back in chapter 1

John was taken into prison for knife handing the king

For sleeping with his brothers wife

Everyone remember that message?

But the point being

That fasting is more of a solemn or serious matter

Something that was meant to be conducted with a different attitude

An attitude of want or sincerity

Make sense

And this is the entire contrast that Jesus is drawing up here in these next verses

Look with me at verse 19

Mark 2:19 NLT

Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them.

I want you if you can

To try and draw a comparison

To what Jesus saying

And to how we live our lifes on average

And truly truly begin to ask yourself

Why don’t we celebrate Jesus more often?

Think on this

Do you value what you have in Christ

Do you value what you have gained from his finished work on the cross?

And this is where the teaching style of Jesus

Really comes into the picture

and I love what He does here

So first off

How many of us would agree

that wedding are perhaps

one of the most joyous occasions

within nearly every culture since the beginning of written history

You know within the Jewish culture

it’s amazing how important wedding truly are

In fact usually they lasted seven days

Seven days of partying

Fellowshipping

Eating and drinking

Seven days of pure joy

And so what you’re seeing here

is a comparison to the joyous occasion

One that brings about an entire town

brings about an entire family

In fact brings everybody into a certain joyful mentality

A mentality that is incomparable to every day life

And Jesus is looking at the pharisees

and he’s saying why in the world

would my disciples fast

why would they mourn

why would they cry

Cover them selves in ashes

Mourn and lement

Why would they come in to a position of desperation

when the individual that was promised for all time

the head Guest

the king of Israel

the Messiah that was promised from beginning of the Bible

the fulfillment of genesis 3:15

Psalm chapter 2

everything that we had hope for

Is here right in front of them

why would they mourn in this moment

And what I find unique

Is the correlation or comparison

to our own lives

in modern day times

because if we actually realized

what we had in Jesus

we would be dancing

we would be celebrating

we would be joyful 24 / 7

In that is what Jesus is saying here

Do you realize what you have in me

do you realize what I have come to do

And yes while I understand the characters in this story

May not have been able to fully understand or comprehend

What Jesus was tyring to get at

jump forward to thousand years from this point in time

and you and I have full view

of what happened in the life of Jesus

in the death of Jesus

in the resurrection of Jesus

in the blood spilt on the cross you and I have the benefit of being able to see

The fulfillment of every promise

that God made throughout the Old Testament in the person of Jesus come true in Jesus

And so you have to ask yourself

Why don’t we celebrate

why are we so scared

why are we so timid.

Why are we losing ground amongst our own people,

why are we losing ground in our schools

why are we losing ground in our churches

Every church denomination is in decline

why is it the most pastors have to beg and plead

to get people to come to church,

why don’t we see what we have in Jesus

The reality is friends

Jesus is everything you’ve ever hope for

he is our guarantee into eternal life

he is the reason why we don’t fear death

he is the only way to the father

he came and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross

so that we can spend eternity with him

in absolute and complete paradise,

THIS IS JESUS

AND THIS IS WHY HE CAME

And so when you look at the Pharisees

when you look at the Jewish people

and when you look at our own people

in our own time

you have to see that Jesus is asking the same question

to all of us

why would we fast

He came to fulfill the promises of God

To bring about a completion to the law

to bring about a new way a new covenant

which brings me to the last point of a sermon

And is found in the complicated verses of 21 and 22

Mark 2:21–22 NLT

“Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Confusing for anyone?

You know my wife told me last week that she enjoys the fact that i research

These sermons

And I have to be honest

This is one of those times I am glad as well

Dr. John Walvoord puts this passage in perhaps the most

Simplistic manner I have read to date

The old legalistic way of Judaism is not compatible with the freedom and grace we have in Christ

Go back to the beginning of the sermon

and if you recall I said the Christianity

is marked

is stamped

is identified

in joy and happiness and

in love and

peace and

kindness

it is not compatible with mourning, loss, depression, and anxiety

Don’t get me wrong here

I’m not preaching a prosperity gospel

I’m not saying that everything in your life

is going to go the right way 100% of the time

but what I am saying

is it the old way of trying to earn your self a spot in heaven

by completely and utterly destroying yourself

through selfish ambition in keeping the law

in trying to earn the favor of God,

this is exactly the mentality that Jesus is trying to point you against

And let me quickly explain

As Christians we live our lives out

desperately trying to please God

desperately trying to keep from sin

desperately trying to love one another

the best way that we know how

but we do it through a different motivation

than the old legalistic ways required,

We do it because he first loved us

We do it to say thank you

we do it because in spite of ourselves

he died on the cross for us

So we live our lives out desperately trying to please him

Because we want to say thank you for the cross.

Ladies and gentlemen what you are hearing right now

is at the juxtaposition or contrast

to every other religious belief on the face of the planet.

What you see in other religions

is a desperate attempt

to try and earn

the favor of God

and yet in Christ

you the Bible says that you have been accepted

You are made new

you are loved

And all he asks is that you have faith Him and His finished on the cross

Once you get this

your motivation changes

your life changes

everything about you begins to change

We live out the heart of God

because we are joyful in the promises of God for salvation

We are joyful in the fact that we don’t see this life

As our permanent home

That we don’t have to fear death

That we don’t have to fear anything

that this world can throw at us

And you can have joy in knowing

That you have Christ Jesus on your side in every way

one final passage Romans chapter 8 and we will close with this

And its a bit long but well worth it

Romans 8:31–39 (NLT)

31What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

32Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.

34Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?

36(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)

37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lets close in prayer

Numbers 6:24–26 NLT

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’