Mark 10:17-19 - September 10, 2010

Mark 10:17-19 “As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good-except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

God is interested in obedience not flattery! This passage in Mark 10 is a story of a well meaning young man who is morally upright but has issues in his heart that are blocking him from moving forward with God. This is a picture of so many people; almost willing. This young man has come to Jesus with an introduction that acknowledges Jesus as a good teacher, but based upon the Lord’s response He discerns something deeper behind the man’s words. It is as if this young man is seeking to gain a favorable response from the Lord through flattery. Seemingly his position as a young man raised in the presence of the rich has taught him a political correctness that knows how to acquire favor through pleasantness.

To this greeting Jesus gives a redirecting response, questioning the boy’s motive in this greeting. “Why do you call me good?” “No one is good but God alone.” It is as if Jesus is brushing aside the pretense of something like a false humility so that He can get to the heart of this young man. Jesus brings the man immediately to the measuring rod of God, the scriptures! It is interesting that Jesus does not ask the young man if he knows the commandments. It is with great certainty that Jesus declares “You know the commandments,” almost as if He is questioning the man’s motives in asking. It is as if Jesus is saying with this answer, why are you asking me? Let the commandments be your measuring rod! It is as if Jesus is exposing the fact that the young man is trying to convince his own heart in his asking.

The response of Jesus addresses a second issue as He deals with this young ruler. The young man addresses Jesus as “good teacher.” To this Jesus answers “why do you call me good?” “No one is good – but God alone.” This question is rich with tension in how Jesus provokes the man. The young man has connected the words good and teacher. Jesus connects the concepts of good and God! In this not so subtle way Jesus communicates the question “who do you think you are talking to?” Are you asking me as a teacher or are you asking me as God!? The man is seeking to be justified before God but he is directing his question to a man. To this Jesus essentially answers “who are you asking… me as a teacher or me as God?” Each one of us must settle this same question in regard to Jesus. Who do you think you are dealing with? Where does your justification come from!? Stand before God and let His word be the measuring rod of your life. God’s standards are clear!

Mark 10:13-16 - September 9, 2010

Mark 10:13-16 “People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”

Oh how I love Jesus! This story falls immediately the telling of Jesus confrontation with the Pharisees over the religious legalism and hardness of heart that was behind their way of relating to the issue of divorce. And whether these stories are truly chronological in occurrence or not they each carry a significant sense of confrontation with wrong heart conditions in regard to the value of religious protocol and traditions versus the value a person! People were bringing their children to Jesus to have Him touch them and the disciples seemed to be focused on protecting Jesus from this inconvenience. Their reaction obviously diminishes the value of children in importance to not being worthy of the attention of Christ! I am so grateful to that He quickly corrects this wrong thinking.

The disciples were rebuking the parents who were bringing their children to Jesus and the intensity of Jesus’ response was so strong that a strong message is sent to the disciples, the parents, the children and to all future generations! The children matter to God! I love the fact that verse 14 says that Jesus was indignant! This is one of the only times that emotions of such strength are attributed to Jesus. In most every other case where Jesus is seen with such intense feelings it is in the face of great religious hypocrisy or in regard to a major offense against the Father, such as when the buying and selling in the temple caused Jesus’ heart to burn with fire. These are rare displays of this intensity and here we see one of them directed towards the treatment of Children.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them…” Jesus declares, removing any doubt as to His intention! “Do not hinder them…” How many times have we hindered others from coming to Jesus because we have set up a false religious standard? Jesus raises no barrier to stand in their way. He simply invites them to come and be blessed!

Jesus is a master of using every opportunity to train His disciples. He takes this misconception towards children and uses it to teach the kingdom of God! Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom… Jesus constantly brings His disciples back to the kingdom of God! Jesus not only welcomes the children to come to Him, He tells the disciples that we must become like them! The kingdom belongs to them! We cannot receive the kingdom of God without a faith and simplicity like that of a child! We cannot enter without embracing their example. This is the message that Jesus presents through this opportunity!

Many times people hear the words of Jesus and then spiritualize their meaning or twist the words to say something else. Jesus brings a profound closure to His emphasis on the value and heart of children in a delightful way by what He does at the end of His teaching. As if to place an exclamation point upon the things that He has just shared with His disciples Jesus takes the children in His arms and blesses them. He not only conveys acceptance and welcome, He conveys warmth! Oh that we would learn to see the Lord like that. He takes the weak into His arms without hesitance and blesses! He takes that child heart within each of us and He brings it close and defends it from the pain and unbelief of our generation. Jesus wants to protect the child inside of you! Let Him take you into His arms today!.

Mark 10:2-12 - September 8, 2010

Mark 10:2-12 “Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." 5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6 "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

Mark 10:2- 9 is a strong illustration of the religious spirit and its struggle for control of the human heart. The Pharisees in this passage are coming to test Jesus in regard to his commitment to a biblical doctrine. Verse two makes it clear that the foundation of the question that they present to Jesus is a desire to test Him in regard to His doctrine more than a desire to learn truth from Him. This is a sad reality in regard to the operation of this spirit. When this spirit begins to gain influence over the heart of man the focus of a life shifts from living in a relationship with God that is pleasing in His sight to one that is focused on external obedience. It is no longer concerned with heart issues but rather with the letter of the law, a focus that as Paul states in 2 Co. 3:6 results in death, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Jesus’ response to the testing of the Pharisees is to redirect them from their dysfunctional focus progressively to a heart focus. Verses 3-9 are a powerful demonstration of the skill of turning a poisoned question into a heart searching encounter. Jesus does not immediately rebuke the root condition in the lives of the ones testing Him. Instead, Jesus changes the nature of the discussion. The Pharisees ask a legal question and Jesus begins by responding on their own terms. He forms His response by causing them to consider the words of Moses. “What did Moses command you?” Jesus asks them. His response firsts addresses their focus on the law by causing them to provide the foundation for His answer. The Pharisees respond with the words of Moses and Jesus is now free to focus on the heart of Moses!

The words of a God versus the heart of God, this is the chronic tension of the spiritual life! The Pharisees consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to the letter of the scriptures without consideration for the heart of the scriptures. When we read the words of God without considering the heart we open the door for a deep deception to begin to damage the heart of God within us. As Paul said, “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life!” The answer of Jesus to the inquiry of the Pharisees goes deeper than they were prepared for. They are seeking to test His commitment to the words of Moses. But Jesus’ answer is rooted in the heart of God behind them! The Pharisees are content to know what Moses said, Jesus is committed to pointing them towards what Moses meant!

In this exchange in Mark 10 the Pharisees provide the legal position of Moses as they discuss with Jesus the issue of divorce. They seemingly cling to this position as grounds for putting away a wife any time she does not meet their expectations. It is as if they are seeking to justify a culture of ownership of a wife with no accountability for the relationship that comes with marriage. Jesus wastes no time in addressing this wrong foundation in verse 5 where He states, “it was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law.” Jesus quickly turns their focus from one of self-justifying legalism to one of heart reflection. Imagine the reality that Jesus is presenting to them in this passage. Moses created a law permitting men to divorce that was not rooted in this being God’s desire for man but rather because man is hard hearted!

The painful reality that Jesus is addressing in His response to the Pharisees is that there is a great distance between the standard of God and man’s heart readiness to live it! The standard of God says that a man and woman become one and should not be separated but the heart of man is so hard and distant from the true spirit of God in so many cases that the through Moses the Father established a concessionary law as it were to allow for man to receive a divorce. This passage should compel every hearer to examine their life in search of those places where we have allowed the letter of the word to be our standard rather than the heart of God behind it!

Mark 10:1 - September 7, 2010

Mark 10:1 “Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.”

Are you making the most of the opportunities that come your way? Jesus was routinely consistent in seizing the opportunities that were presented to Him. Mark 10:1 identifies one of the habitual practices of Jesus as that of teaching the people whenever the crowds would gather. From all indications He never sent out flyers, He never did a radio broadcast, nor called a special series of revival meetings. What Jesus did was live.

What can be seen in the life of Christ over and over again is a divine response to divinely orchestrated circumstances. Jesus expected the purpose of God to go before Him. Many times He saw it in advance in times of prayer but in all cases He lived with an expectation that the Father would lead Him into fruitful situations and then direct Him in His ministry.

Jesus taught His own disciples not to prepare ahead of time the words that they would say when they stood before kings and governors. He trained them to expect the Holy Spirit to deposit the right things to say into their hearts in each given situation. He taught them a true God dependency! It is also clear that He taught them the lifestyle that He himself had learned before the Father. He did not teach them a static theory that He had never applied in His own experience. This is not to say that He never knew ahead of time what He was going to speak about, but that He was able to live with a responsive flexibility that allowed Him to speak and act spontaneously at the direction of the Holy Spirit when He recognized a “God moment.”

Can you recognize a God moment? Have you allowed your spiritual senses to become sharpened so that you can be the tool of God for divinely orchestrated opportunities? The writer of Hebrews identifies a part of the characteristic of spiritual maturity in Heb 5:14 by saying, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” KJV In essence the writer is saying that one of the signs of spiritual maturity is having trained your spiritual senses through consistent use to the point where you are able to discern accurately. As each one of us grows in our capacity to discern God moments we will see the harvest of fruit from our lives consistently increasing like the Lord Jesus. The good news is that this does not come through some deep mystical encounter reserved for only a few. According to He. 5:14 mature spiritual senses are developed through practice! Soooo practice!

Mark 9:49-50 - September 5, 2010

Mark 9:49-50 “Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

What is this connection between salt and fire? How can fire touch our lives and become like salt to us? By the way… what is this fire that Jesus is talking about? Let’s answer scripture questions with other scriptures. In I Peter 4:12 Peter wrote “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” KJV From this it is clear that the fires that will salt our lives are these fiery trials which try us. Peter clearly confirms the reality that these fires will touch each one of us and are a common part of the Christian life. He speaks with such certainty that he says “think it not strange” that these trials are a part of your life! Don’t question them. Don’t fear them. They are normal. They bear fruit in our lives.

So how can a fiery trial become a fruitful part of our life? Wouldn’t it seem logical that these things should be avoided and disdained? Not according to Paul! In 1 Cor 3:11-13 Paul develops our understanding of the purpose of trials: “If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.” The trials that touch us test the quality of the life we are building for God! When pressures and trials come we have an opportunity to discover whether the life of God within us is maturing or stagnant. We are allowed to see a momentary glimpse of what Jesus sees about us all of the time! The revelation is not for God’s insight but rather for our own lives and the lives of those who are watching us. Trials remove pretense and façade. As Paul said, trials cause our life in God to be “shown for what it is!”

In Mark 9:49-50 Jesus relates these fires to the work of salting something. Salt has two primary functions. Salt preserves and salt flavors! When Jesus presents this concept of salting our lives with fire He is preparing each heart to embrace trials as a gift from God not to complain against them. As Peter exhorts the church to embrace the trials of life as an expected part of our training and preparation he presents a one word response that confronts every spirit of complaint and every temptation to make excuses for a sinful heart in the midst of suffering. The one word foundation for responding to trials is simple: “Rejoice!” Let the fires of this life do their work and rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ’s glory.

Continuing with this thought Jesus says “salt is good!” Can you say that with me? “Salt is good!” But there is still another caution from Jesus. Salt can lose its saltiness and then it is of no value. The point is this: do not let the trials that you go through amount to nothing because you lose the lessons learned in the fire!

To conclude this Jesus once again says something thought provoking: “have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other.” Once your life has been salted the salt is now a part of you. It is in you. It can be nurtured and cultivated to stay a living part of your life in God. Do not allow the lessons to fade so that you must learn them over and over again. In so doing the fruit of the lessons learned in the fire will be peace in your relationships. When our hearts have learned through suffering the trivial things that tend to stumble us lose their power to influence our hearts. The brighter the fires you have triumphed over, the greater the peace in the trials that follow!