Mark 4:21-34

Have you ever wondered about a seed? Think about an acorn. It has that really thin shell on the bottom and a cool looking little cap on top. If you were to crack open the little shell, it is full of that crumbly almond-colored stuff that tastes very bitter. (don’t act like you have never tried to eat one)
So, I take my acorn and I put it in the ground. I literally just stick it in the dirt. Over the next couple of weeks I make sure it has enough water and sunlight. Then, like a miracle, that little shell cracks open and sends out a twig. Looking at the acorn, you have to ask “Where did that twig come from?” There was no way there was a twig in there before. I have cracked enough of them open to know the little twig wasn’t already in there. So what’s going on?
The little twig is topped with a couple of stiff little leaves. Where did those leaves come from? Those weren’t in the acorn when I put it in the ground. Over the next couple of days the twig continues to grow, and eventually it develops branches. Under the soil, tiny little whisker-like roots fight their way deeper and deeper.
How is this happening? It was just an acorn with dirt. Perhaps it isn’t that mind-boggling for you, but I see it and am borderline mind-blown. The genetic nugget in the middle of the acorn has transformed the nutrients from the dirt and the air into life and growth.
Jesus uses the illustration of this miraculous growth of plants to explain what happens in the hearts and lives of those who hear God’s truth. Just like a seed planted in the ground, the word of God begins an unbelievable transforming work in the life of the person. Before long, their heart is bearing out growth that did not exist before. The word of God is literally creating new desires and new habits, basically, a whole new person.
Knowing then that the word of God is so powerful to transform men’s lives, we should labor to plant the seed in the hearts and minds of those around us. We should strive to water and cultivate their minds and hearts as Paul says “in meekness and in fear” (with gentleness and respect), so that the word of God can flourish in their lives. And all the while we should pray that God will cause the miraculous growth and transformation that Jesus tells us of.

Food For Thought: Read 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. Who does Paul say is the one that ultimately causes the growth in believers lives?

Mark 4:1-20

The Pastor spends weeks studying a text, digging out the truth, and crafting a sermon. Sunday morning finally comes and with boldness he proclaims the truth of the text to the congregants. Hundreds are in attendance.
However, the congregation gives mixed responses to the message. Some lean in as intent listeners and receive the truth of God’s word. Others sit with back straight and notebook open, while their poised pen outlines the text as the Pastor preaches it. Several stare blankly at the Pastor, never breaking eye-contact, but never really making full mental-contact. Still more nod, not in agreement but rather in exhaustion, only catching random illustrations as the tension or laughter of the other congregants stirs them from their task of sleep. Finally, an entire segment sits fully awake, but fully distracted with “to do” lists, lunch plans, and social media updates.
The sermon winds down, and the Pastor closes his Bible and prays for the people as one who must give account to God for their souls. The word of God has been proclaimed. God has spoken. He has called His people to holy living, to repentance, to faith, to joy, to hope, to worship; but somehow the effect the proclaimed word has on each of the congregants varies.
How come the same message has different effects on different people? The same truth fell on all of their ears. Why is there differing levels of response? Some would say that the difference in response is based upon the fact that different people get different truths from the passage. Almost as if the purpose of God’s message is contingent upon the desires and perceptions of the hearer.
In Mark 4, Jesus gives a completely different diagnosis. The issue is not that truth is irrelevant to certain listeners in attendance. Rather, Jesus explains the difference between the one who receives the word of God and flourishes in it and the one who “really didn’t get anything,” isn’t a breakdown in the message, but instead a breakdown in the heart of the listener. Using expressions like “full of thorns,” or “hard and stony ground,” Jesus diagnoses the lack of growth as a heart condition of the listener, not a relevancy problem of the text or a preaching problem of the minister.
So when the message is proclaimed, clearly from the text of scripture, not as man’s persuasion but as the authoritative, definitive, purely expressed word of the living God, the preacher has done his job. He has sown the seed of the word of God. Now the work is up to the congregants to receive it and allow the Holy Spirit to implant it. Their lives can be changed, but that change must start with the condition of their hearts.

Food For Thought: Read 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Why did Paul rejoice in God in this text?

Mark 3:31-35

“All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.”
The sermon winds down and the congregants, packed into their assigned pews, and in rote memory, almost chant-like, mumble lifeless words of holy surrender. The passion with which surrender is sung sadly does not match the depth of the words being sung. Still yet the lyric continues on to express what the radically surrendered life looks like:
“Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken…
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine…
Lord, I give myself to Thee…
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.”
Nothing held back, in humility at the Savior’s nail-scarred feet, turning in repentance away from the sinful desires of the human heart and the immoral temptations of a degrading culture, the one who is truly surrendered, surrenders all.
There is not a chapter of life that is not surrendered. There is no room to the house of life that has a closed door to the Lord. Rather, all areas are submitted: thoughts, motivations, conversations, relationships, ambitions, actions. All of self is brought under subjection to the final authority of Jesus.
And this perspective is not a new one. Jesus has been speaking of this proper prioritization since He began His ministry here on earth two-thousand years ago. Those who desired to be known by Him and to be called His disciples were the ones who surrendered all and were submitted to the holy will of the Father. Hear His voice clearly declaring in Luke 14:33, “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Forsaking all, pursue Jesus. Chase after Him with all that you have surrendered to the pursuit.

Food For Thought: How do your priorities line up with the “all-in” perspective of Jesus? In what ways have you not “surrendered all”?

Mark 3:6-30

The alarms resound down the corridors of the west wing of the White House as Secret Service agents burst through the doors of the Presidential residence. With little more explanation than “Mr. President, you have to come with us!” In an instant three agents have secured the President and are evacuating him at an unbelievable rate. Behind him the screams of his family are muffled by the movements of other agents. His little terrier, caught up in the excitement of the moment, nips at the ankles of the fully armed Secret Service agents.
“ I demand to know what is going on!”, the President barks as the elevator doors to the Presidential bunker close. “Tell me now!”
The hesitant answer comes from nowhere and leaves the President reeling.
“Mr. President, we are under attack,” the senior officer responds.
“Who?” The president quips back, “China? Russia? Iran!?”
“No, sir. We will go into a briefing to let you know the extent of the attack, but at this point, sir, as far as we can tell, the United States Navy has launched a major attack against several major American cities along the east and west coast. Currently the Marines are headed towards the capitol to take you into custody. Mr. President, it’s a coup.”
This would be ludicrous! If the United States was attacked by the United States military, there would be no country left. Trust would be shattered, common purpose thwarted, all that made sense would be turned upside down.
This is the assertion that Jesus makes in Mark 3. “A house divided against itself, will not stand.” The accusation had come against Him that His supernatural healing, reviving, demon-banishing power had come from Satan and not from God. The religious leaders could not deny the super-natural, so they sought rather to rationalize it. Satan would not attack his own kingdom. Their disbelief had turned to illogical reasoning. Like Romans 1 says, “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
But this principle of self-destructive tendencies doesn’t just apply to the kingdom of Satan. No, believers today are subject to the same tragic friendly-fire. It may not be a full onslaught, but Christians, “in the defense of the truth,” attack other Christians. Whether it is over music preferences, secondary theological persuasions, Bible versions, or dress standards, God’s Navy turns its onslaught away from the enemy and trains its tomahawk missiles on God’s Army. In dog-eat-dog fashion that defies logic, Christians attack other Christians. May God save us from the Kingdom impeding self-destructive foolishness! May instead Christians, agreed or disagreed, press on in common purpose proclaiming the message of hope to those who lay in darkness.

Food For Thought: Why did the scribes say that Jesus had come from Satan? How can we falsely accuse other believers as “coming from Satan”?

Mark 2:21-3:5

Have you ever wondered how an infinitely powerful, self-sustaining, self-sufficient God rests? Exodus 20:11 says “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:” But what is this rest about? The word translated “rested” here, simply means “to withdraw oneself.” He had extended His massive universe-creating, life-giving hands, and now they lay folded on His lap. Isaiah 40:28 tells us that “the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” He wasn’t exhausted, or tired, He was just done.
Understanding this omnipotent, immutable God certainly leaves us with some definite perspective shifts. Just as He “rested,” establishing a Sabbath, we too should rest. But, contrary to some modern arguments, this Sabbath has less to do with taking a nap all day, and more to do with withdrawing ourselves from the daily, monotonous grind. Exodus 20:11 goes on further to say that God “hallowed” the Sabbath. Literally, He made it “holy.” It was a day that was supposed to draw people toward God and His holiness. It was a day in which people could come apart and in the words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
The Sabbath had been a day to allow the people to rest. It had been a day that God had given as a gift to all of His people. But overtly self-righteous, self-exalting, self-justifying men had perverted it. They had taken the gift of God and turned it into the burden of God. They had taken the sacred and made it the complicated. Instead of reveling in the rest that God prescribed, they legislated it and became the “holier-than-thou” judges of all of God’s people.
In Mark 2, Jesus pushes back against this false thinking. In an epic rebuttal of the false-thinking and false-teaching of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” It was a holy, special day, where no longer would they be expected to toil and ache. Instead they could come away for a time of rest, and recuperation, and holy meditation. God’s purposes had been defamed by the religious crowd, and Jesus had finally cleared it up.

Food For Thought: What is the purpose of the Sabbath? What does it say about God that He would give His people a Sabbath?

Mark 2:13-20

Physicians heal patients one at a time. Jesus is the great Physician. And while the droves of people hurried after Him to watch His every move and to hear His every word, He did not glory in the mass attention, but rather continued to exist and operate, never minding the overwhelming audience.
Verse 14 tells that as the crowd followed behind Him, He walked past a publican, Levi. Publicans were a special breed of Roman citizen. The word “publican” comes from the Latin term of the day that would indicate that they were loyal first and foremost to the “Res Publica” (the Roman government known as "the Republic"). Often these Publicans came from lower aristocratic families, and inherited their family’s contract with the Roman Republic to levy taxes and impose tariffs and duties. In essence, they would work amongst their own kin, charging the Roman fees plus a little bit extra for their own pocket book. As far as family business was concerned, these families often became the wealthiest in the community, at the expense of acceptance by all of their own people.
Levi, like his father Alphaeus, had this reputation. He was a swindler. He was a cheat. He was a crook. He used coercion and threats to extort money out of his own neighbors. He may have had the nicest house around, but no self-respecting Jew would darken his doorway. The only types that would associate with him would be the other outcasts, other tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards, the low-lifes.
But today everything changed. Jesus walked by. The people were pouring over each other trying to reach him, but he kept in stride and moved directly past the booth of taxation. He slowed and spoke to Levi a simple message, “Follow me.” Drawn by a force he could not explain, Levi abandoned his post, never to return again. Later that day they sat at Levi’s house and Jesus taught him the gospel. In repentance and faith, Levi turned from his sinful lifestyle and to the obedience of faith in God.
The physician had made his visit. The patient had been healed. The healing had not been a physical one; it had been a spiritual one. But just because it had been a spiritual one didn’t mean it didn’t have physical consequences. The sinner, Levi, had been converted. His life would never be the same. Jesus called Him that day to be His disciple. For the next three years, Levi (also called “Matthew”) followed Jesus. He would no longer extort God’s people, rather, this disciple would preach to God’s people and ultimately write the first gospel account to God's people. Jesus had chosen Him and called Him to a greater purpose.

Food For Thought: Read Matthew 9:9-13. What did Jesus answer the Pharisees when they asked Him why He was with swindlers, prostitutes, and drunkards?

Mark 2:1-12

In Mark 2, Jesus travelled back to Peter and Andrew’s hometown, Capernaum, and was most likely staying with them. He had called Peter, Andrew, James and John as His disciples and no doubt there was some theological restructuring that needed to take place in their minds. They had been raised in Judaism. They had learned the faith of their people and were probably doing their best to abide by all the extra standards set out for them by the religious leaders of the day.
Jesus’ teaching must have been liberating. The years of inbred, preference-based standards that had bound the people of Israel disintegrated as Jesus explained how man truly obtains right standing before God. As he taught, people slowly sifted into the room and listened. Soon the room was full and people packed in the doorway to hear His words.
Jesus continued to teach. “The Kingdom of Heaven has nothing to do with…” His message came as a shock to some, but as freedom to most. Suddenly, pinholes of light shone down on Jesus. The listeners looked up in amazement as the roof to the room suddenly started to peel away. Hands were pulling piece by piece off the house. For a moment Jesus paused, as four men lowered a man wrapped in a sheet down to Him.
Without hesitation, Jesus looked at the man in the sheet and said, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The religious crowd that had recently arrived to hear the new theology of Jesus was appalled. In their hearts they were screaming, “Only God can forgive sins!” Knowing their hearts, Jesus looked up to them and said, “Would it have been easier for you if I just healed Him instead of forgiving His sins?” They had no response, so, Jesus continued, “Then to show you that I am the Son of man, watch this.” Jesus turned His gaze back to the poor man who had now been objectified by the religious crowd, “It’s ok, get up. Pick up your sheet. Walk home.” And the man who before was a crippled mess now arose healed, and left.
Jesus truly was the Liberator. He had come to liberate the minds of God’s people from the binding lies of generational ignorance. He had come to liberate the bodies of God’s people from the devastating effects of Adam’s fall. He had come ultimately to liberate the souls of mankind from the horrible consequence of sin. This thing had been broken for long enough. He was here to fix it.

Food For Thought: Reread verse 12. How did the people respond to this miracle of healing? List some ways this entire occurrence differs from the modern-day, charismatic, faith-healer movement.