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Christ’s Battle-charge (The Inescapable Story of Jesus #10b) (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

How do you respond to tense conflicts? Crack a joke? Climb in a hole? Explode with vindictive anger? Escape? One option we are loathe to try is to follow Jesus up to Calvary. True leadership is Wallace-like, being the first to charge into enemy lines.

THE TEXT

And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. […]

Mark 10:32ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Mark is quite picturesque here: Jesus ahead, the disciples fearfully following behind (v32). So, for the third time, Jesus teaches His disciples about the sufferings which await Him in Jerusalem. Instead of avoiding the cruelty which is ahead, Jesus makes it plain that this suffering is His very mission. His suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish scribes and the Gentiles rulers will usher in the resurrection life which all of His miracles and messages have been revealing (vv33-34). James and John ask Jesus for the privilege of sitting to His right and left when He obtains His glory (vv35-37). Jesus responds with two OT allusions: the image of being made to drink up the cup of God’s wrath (Cf. Is. 51:22, Jer. 25:15), and the image of being drowned in a flood of God’s wrath (Ps. 42:7, 69:2, 124:5). Jesus is going up to Jerusalem in order to stand before God on behalf of mankind and drink the cup of God’s wrath. Can Zebedee’s sons drink this cup? Can they swim in that ocean? They say they can. The Lord reveals that they will indeed face similar sufferings as He will, for to follow Jesus is to take up His cross; but their request to sit to his right and left is appointed for others (vv38-40, Cf. 15:27).

Their request for preeminence becomes know to the other ten and the static electricity of envy begins sparking amongst them (v41). Jesus reminds them of something He has taught before: greatness comes through humility, service, and selfless death. His purpose as the Son of Man is to minister unto others, not for others to minister unto Him, and this will be seen most clearly in His death as the ransom for many (vv42-45). Right on cue, Mark relates a healing story.

On His way up to Jerusalem, Jesus performs His final healing at Jericho. Bartimaeus is the only healing in Mark’s Gospel where the sufferer is named. As the great crowd flows by the blind beggar hears that the commotion is due to the presence of Jesus of Nazareth he shouts aloud, “Son of David, have mercy” (vv46-47); a dangerous thing to cry out so close to Jerusalem. This blind man sees the everlasting heir of David’s throne, thus the crowd try to silence Bartimaeus; but he shouts all the louder (v48). He gets Jesus’ attention and calls for Bartimaeus to be brought to Him. The crowd relays this message to the blind beggar and he casts aside his garment, rises up, and comes to Jesus (vv49-50). Jesus asks what Bartimaeus desires, and he asks for sight. Jesus responds, “Go where you want, your faith has healed you.” And immediately his sight was restored. Where does this once blind man choose to go? He follows Jesus in the way up to Jerusalem (vv51-52).

JESUS’ MISSION

What exactly did Jesus come to do? What is His mission? In 10:45 Jesus makes His mission abundantly plain: “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (diakoneō), and to give his life a ransom for many.” Throughout the last few chapters Jesus has been making His mission more and more clear.

What does He mean that He is the ransom for many? The OT law gives us a clear picture. Someone guilty of manslaughter (Ex. 21:30) brought a death sentence upon himself, unless he could produce a required sum of money. Another reference to this can be found in the laws detailing what is required to set a captured slave or indentured servant free (Lev. 25:51). Effectively, every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God, we all have a death sentence over us, we all have been made captive to sin.

So then, this is the service which Jesus came to render for you. You were a captive of sin, and Jesus offered Himself as the ransom payment so that as many as trust in Him might go free. The Father receives this payment and reckons you free of the debt of your sin. You are free. You can go where you please. If you are liberated, where will you go? You will follow your Liberator.

WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE

Mark’s Gospel is marvelous here. Where Jesus makes His Gospel abundantly plain, Mark punctuates it with a climactic healing story. But if we take a step back and observe the ordering of Mark’s healings we see the big picture. Man is being made whole in both body and soul through this service/ministry of Jesus.

1st Set A. Peter’s fevered mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-31)

B. Healing many at evening (Mark 1:32-34)

C. Cleansing a Leper (Mark 1:40-45)
2nd Set A. The paralytic (Mark 2:1-12)

B. The man with a withered hand (Mark 3:1-6)

C. Healing many by the Sea (Mark 3:7-12)
3rd Set A. The woman with 12 yrs. internal bleeding (Mark 5:25-34)

B. Raising Jairus’ 12 yo daughter (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43)
4th Set A. The deaf/mute man (Mark 7:31-37)

B. The blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
5th Set A. The boy with a deaf & dumb spirit (Mark 9:14-29)

B. Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)

 

Mark has arranged these healings strategically. Imagine putting a match to the corner of a piece of paper. At first it spreads slowly. Then it rapidly engulfs the entire paper. The entire body is being restored by Jesus. His salvation was not a disembodied salvation. He came to make mankind whole, and to restore us to true service of the Living God. This final healing completes the cycle. Jesus has healed outward uncleanness, feet, hands, multitudes, internal uncleanness, death, ears, mouths, and eyes. Is there anything left? What affliction is there that is not encompassed by these? Like the stone statues which Aslan makes live, Jesus has breathed upon dead, lifeless, deaf, dumb, paralyzed, unclean, blind, mute, maimed mankind and now they are restored.

Our therapeutic age insists that you carries your traumas and sufferings with you. Your victimhood is a fossilized part of you. But the Son of David came in order to take mangled humanity out of the jaws of evil, and restore wandering lambs.

THE RICH MAN & THE BEGGAR

Contrast the Rich Young Man with the blind beggar. He was unwilling to relinquish his wealth to follow Jesus, but Bartimaeus casts aside his cloak. When given his sight, and thus freedom to go where he pleased, he follows the Son of David into danger. The Rich Young Man is unnamed, but the blind beggar is named. And Mark seems to indulge in some Greek & Aramaic wordplay here with Bartimaeus’ name. “Bar” is the aramaic prefix which means “son of”. So, a literal rendering of the text would be: “the son of Timaeus, Son-of-Timaeus the blind”. In Greek, Timaeus means “highly prized;” but the Hebrew root for “unclean” is tame (טָמֵא). Putting this together, Mark wants to underscore the contrast between what is highly prized and what is unclean along with his first/last last/first Kingdom (10:31).

This “son of uncleanness” shouts out for mercy from Royal David’s lawful heir. Isaiah had foretold that the Gentiles (the unclean) would cry out praise and cling to Yahweh’s Messiah for mercy and that this Messiah would make the blind to see (Cf. Is. 35, 42-43:7). This blind son of uncleanness begins the chorus that carries over into Christ’s triumphal entry in the next chapter. When David’s Son, the Christ, opens your eyes, it isn’t so you can return to your begging, or to your ratty cloak. He opens your blind eyes so that you follow Him to the cross.

RANSOM FOR MANY

Jesus is the ransom for many. High and low, rich and poor, adult and child, Jew and Gentile, the first and the last. Jesus is about to march into Jerusalem as her King, yet He is a King who serves. He is a King who serves by laying down His life in order to ransom many. There was an un-payable price upon your head. You deserved death, and so does your rival. But Jesus paid it all. If you are free, will you to follow Him and serve those you are called to lead like Jesus did. Can you see yet?

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The Good News of Jesus Christ (KC)

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SERMON TEXT:

1 Cor. 15:1–11

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

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The Conquering Word (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #34) (KC)

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INTRODUCTION

Paul begins his third missionary journey in Ephesus, and the Lord confirms His presence with Paul through extraordinary signs, causing the Word of God to overcome all opposition. It was true then, and it is true today. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Whatever you face, whatever you need, Scripture is your light, your power, your peace, your wisdom.  

The Text: “And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Gost since ye believed?” Acts 19:1-20

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

When Paul returned to Ephesus, he found certain disciples of John who did not know that Jesus had come and had not received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-4). When those twelve disciples believed in Christ, they were given Christian baptism, and Paul laid his hands on them and prayed for them to receive the Spirit and they spoke in different tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:5-7). From there, Paul began preaching the Kingdom in the synagogue until he was forced to separate from them and began teaching daily in the school of Tyrannus for about two years (Acts 19:8-10). 

Some really extraordinary miracles happened during this time, which caused even some of the unbelieving Jewish exorcists to invoke the names of Jesus and Paul, which seriously backfired, causing a great reverence among the Jews and Greeks for the gospel (Acts 19:11-17). And many believed in Jesus, confessing their sins, and publicly repenting, particularly of their superstitions, and the word of God grew mightily (Acts 19:18-20). 

THE BAPTISM OF JOHN

Last week, we said that Apollos was a disciple of the school of John the Baptist, but he clearly knew the Lord and only needed some minor instruction. But here we have twelve disciples who don’t appear to know that Jesus had come and had not heard of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2-4), which was the particular promise of John that would accompany the Christ (Mt. 3:11). While this variation may seem strange, it also underlines that baptism really is tied to discipleship and teaching. To be baptized into Christ or in the name of the Lord Jesus is to be baptized into His school, His teaching, His way. Those twelve had received John’s baptism of repentance, but they were only taught to look forward to the Messiah. When they believe and receive Christian baptism, God sent a mini-Pentecost in Ephesus confirming the presence of Christ and the apostolic authority of Paul (cf. Acts 8:17). This was now the fourth “Pentecost” in the book of Acts: Jerusalem (Jews), Samaria (Samaritans), Cornelius (God-fearers), and Ephesus (Jews and Gentiles) (cf. Acts 1:8). 

SOFT CESSATIONISM

One of the questions that Christians have wrestled with over the centuries is whether we should expect miracles and signs of the Holy Spirit. Broadly, those who believe that the sign gifts have ceased are called “Cessationists” and those who believe they continue are called “Continuationists” or more popularly “Charismatics” or “Pentecostals.” We are what you might call soft-cessationists. A significant part of the reason for the extraordinary gifts given to the apostles was to prove that they had the right to speak for God and write the New Testmant (2 Cor. 12:12). When the New Testament was finished, that particular apostolic gift ceased, but we don’t at all believe that the Holy Spirit has ceased or that miracles have ceased. We simply don’t believe that anyone has that apostolic authority any longer, because Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation (Heb. 1). 

BATTLE WITH THE POWERS

A bunch of this passage echoes earlier stories in Scripture on purpose, underlining that this is the same Jesus at work bringing His Kingdom further into this world. We have “twelve” who receive the Holy Spirit and speak in different languages (like the twelve apostles), followed by extraordinary miracles (like Peter), followed by an inverted “seven” (Acts 6), and people trying to “buy” the Holy Spirit (Acts 8). As Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (Jn. 14:12). When God rises up to deliver His people, the “magicians of Pharaoh” often attempt to mimic that power as the Jewish exorcists attempt to do here. But this always backfires, as is currently happening with secularism. 

APPLICATIONS

The central miracle of the Holy Spirit is regeneration. As Jesus said, “you must be born again.” This is not merely a spiritual experience. We preach repentance in Christ – death and resurrection in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:20).

This is the power to be delivered from the powers of darkness through the forgiveness of sins. This is what baptism proclaims, and this is what the Holy Spirit confirms. But just as there were disciples who had been baptized that did not know Christ, we must constantly preach this Christ who gives His Holy Spirit without measure. 

And this change always has public ramifications. The Word of God rules in the Kingdom of God and so restores and glorifies nature, colliding with the Kingdom of darkness, setting the captives free.

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