Mark 8:36 - June 10, 2010

Mark 8:36 “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

What is the value of a soul? How do we determine the worth of an individual? Mark 8:36 provides a unique contrast by which a life can be measured. Many people invest their entire lives in pursuit of wealth. The false assumption that more money equates with more happiness, more security or more peace becomes a snare to how many people spend their lives! But this verse is an arresting insight into what really matters in life.

In Mark 8:36 Jesus states simply “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” This one verse elevates the inner life far about all of the externals that most people spend their lives focused upon! We wrestle for more comfort, more pleasure, more prestige, and yet miss the fact that all of these things fade away and cease to be of any value. In this passage the Lord is turning out attention to that which is eternal to make clear what our priority in life should be. Jesus is calling the attention of all who will listen to the fact that all else is worthless if we have not first attended to the condition of our soul.

Nothing compares to it in value and there is no earthly price that can be paid for its redemption and yet so many people spend their lives neglecting the central focus of every life; the human soul. Jesus is attempting to awaken His listeners to the fact that they are in jeopardy. Their eternal soul is in danger! Jesus comes to disrupt a comfortable neglect of the real issues of life. We are called to turn from our distractions. We are called to recognize that danger that we are in. This passionate appeal is both abrupt in its delivery and compassionate in its concern. Jesus is speaking with a stern reproach yet it is the most merciful thing that He can do as He witnesses multitudes of people wasting their lives on the wrong agenda. His words make clear the fact that no man will be able to buy his way out of the judgment that awaits those who waste their life on the things of this world. His words tell us “your choices are causing you to forfeit what really matters.” They call us to evaluate what we have spent our lives on! There is still time to shift the focus of our energies to those things that really matter, but the clock is ticking!

Mark 8:38 “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Will you take a stand for Jesus? Mark 8:38 addresses one of the chronic deficiencies within the church; the fear of man! Many people believe the words of Jesus, they even embrace the message of Calvary and the death and resurrection of Christ and yet will not acknowledge their belief in front of others because of fear of reproach.

Jesus is calling all men to take a stand. The context of this exhortation in Mark 8:38 is within a social climate that Jesus defines as adulterous and sinful. It is this climate of sin that becomes the pressure point for the life of the righteous. The words of Jesus in this passage make it clear that it is not enough to simply believe. One of the primary roles of God’s people within the culture is to stand up and be a voice against the tide of sin. Confrontation is the ministry of the people of God.

This passage leaves no question as to God’s intention. In the midst of a corrupt and polluted generation it is God’s intention that the stand that Jesus took, the voice of opposition to this tide of sin that He boldly raised, continues to be raised by those who claim to be His disciples. This verse reverberates with a mandate that is placed upon the church to be bold about who we are and what we believe. No room is left for doubt. No room is left for questioning. The verdict is clear. If we are ashamed of Christ and His message before people, Christ will be ashamed of us before the heavenly Father. To receive the acclaim of heaven we must be willing to face the rejection of men.

Throughout much of Mark Jesus is seen raising a standard for the believers. Though many people present the message of the gospel in a context of grace alone, which is indeed the path to salvation, the message of Christ continues beyond the gift of salvation to the cost of discipleship! Again and again Jesus identifies the standard or expectation that is placed upon every believer and Mark 8:38 is such a standard. “Do not be afraid of men… stand up for the holiness of God… stand up for the work of Christ!” With this one verse all men are robbed of any excuse concerning their responsibility to identify with Christ in a public way. With this one verse all men are expected to triumph over the fear of man for the sake of Christ and His truth! With this one verse all men are called to take a stand for the Lord Jesus and the gospel. What will you do with this one verse and all that it implies!?

Mark 8:34 - June 9, 2010

Mark 8:34 “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

As we consider this passage it comes in the context of a great confrontation. Jesus has just been tempted by the subtleties of Satan who has influenced Peter to try to dissuade Jesus from His conviction that He will die on the cross. Satan’s voice has been silenced through Jesus’ rebuke of Peter and now Jesus invests in expanding the call of the cross to new dimensions of impact and implication. Calling the crowds who followed Him to join the disciples as they all gather close for a time of teaching Jesus reverses the damage caused by Peter’s words and then continues with the message that He was bringing to the disciples at the time of Peter’s interruption. Jesus was telling those gathered that He would soon die on the cross at the hands of the Romans. It was this message that provoked the demonically inspired reaction of Peter. But Jesus now includes every one of His followers in this call to the cross. As He addresses this gathering of curious listeners He calls them to three decisions that must be in the foundation of every person who determines that they will be a disciple of Christ.

This passage, more than almost any other, identifies the reality that the calling of the Christian life is a costly calling. As Jesus introduces this new teaching to the ears of His disciples it is quickly clear that the decision to embrace sacrificial suffering is not limited to Jesus alone. Yes Jesus will die for the sins of all men and no one else could ever provide that precious gift. But there is something else included in the life of the believer. Mark 8:34 makes it overwhelmingly clear that ever man and woman of God is included in the calling to suffer for the sake of expanding the impact of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The three requirements of the Christian life presented in this passage are both clear and costly. The first standard that Jesus now raises for every follower to embrace is the calling to embrace a life of self-denial. From the moment that we give our lives to Jesus in exchange for the free gift of salvation we choose a life of willing surrender. Jesus calls every saint to deny himself. This message cannot be any more direct. To follow Christ is to lay down your own life, your own will, your own desires, in exchange for His!

The second calling of the true Christian is just is even more costly than the decision to deny our selves. It makes it clear that to be a Christian is not simply about self-restraint. Our goal is not just to be accountable for what we resist. Our goal is the reality of what we embrace. In Mark 8:34 Jesus calls every believer to take up the cross! What can this mean to us in our generation? Most Christians will never be asked to die a painful death for the glory of Christ, so what is the implication of this principle. Paul brings light to the impact of these words upon the life of the believer through some of His commentary throughout His writings. In 1 Cor 15:30-32 Paul speaks of his own costly embrace of this cross, “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I die every day-I mean that, brothers-just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?” To die daily is to take up the cross. To take up the cross is to live a life as if it is not your own. In fact that is exactly the concept that Paul is presenting to the people 1 Cor 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” To be a true disciple is to accept this fact that we are not our own, but have been bought with a price and to accept the responsibility that comes with belonging to another… to “honor God” with everything that we do. This is the second standard of Christ. From the moment that we embrace Him, we embrace His cross in how it affects our lifestyle and our daily choices.

The third standard to be raised invades upon our destiny like no other. A man with a free will can chose to come and go as he pleases. A man with personal independence makes his plans according to his own desire, and spends his time and money as he pleases. The third standard of Christ calls the disciple to lay these things down at the foot of the cross and follow. The believer does not lose their free will. Instead they voluntarily yoke their free will to the will of another. We do not give up the right to choose. Rather we choose to do Christ’s will and not our own! When the call to follow comes it must be yielded to, obeyed, embraced, regardless of the cost or the cross that comes with it!

Mark 8:33 - June 7, 2010

Mark 8:33 “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Wow, I would not have wanted to be Peter on this particular day! Imagine the Son of God addressing you personally, and… Satan personally in the same phrase! This verse is potent in its tension as Jesus takes a strong and confrontational stand against the temptations being presented to Him through the voice of one of His close friends and disciples.

More than most other single verses in the scriptures this passage is layered with insights that can impart wisdom for us in our pursuit of a focused life. Jesus is in the midst of His journey to the cross of Calvary. He knows His days are short and that He will soon undergo a great trial of suffering and betrayal. The Lord is seeking to prepare all of His disciples to endure this trial with Him so that they will not despair and lose faith at the loss of their leader in death. As a result Peter’s words are not just an attack against His own personal focus, they are a subtle attempt of the enemy to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of His followers so that they will lose heart between the death of Christ and the time of His resurrection. It is for this reason that Jesus wastes no time in putting a stop to this expression of wrong values.

Each person who follows the Lord Jesus will at times be asked to do those things that to the human mind may seem contradictory to our wisdom. This is a reflection of what James teaches as he contrasts the wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish with the wisdom from above that carries with it the nature of the kingdom of God. Jesus is speaking to His disciples of things that in terms of human reasoning do not make sense and yet they are rich with God’s purpose and destiny. The Lord immediately recognizes the source of the logic that Peter is using and confronts the demonic influence that is speaking from Peter in this moment. This brings us to the reality that even good, godly people can become the mouthpiece of evil simply by allowing their minds to function on the level of human reasoning apart from the Spirit of God. Imagine that; an otherwise godly person can become the voice of Satan during a particular event if they allow their thoughts to spring from the wrong source.

Every believer who is living in pursuit of God’s purpose must take this lesson to heart and learn the reality that even our friends can become a distraction from God’s purposes. Even other leaders can become diluting force that robs those who follow us of the resolute conviction that is needed to make it through the hard times. If Satan can plant in the minds of those we are walking with the thought that perhaps we have made a bad decision and that is why things are difficult right now then our capacity for unity under trial is greatly damaged.

The reaction of Jesus to Peter’s words should be a lesson to every leader. Jesus assesses the words of Peter very quickly. He wastes no time in considering the source of these words and the impact they will have on the rest of His disciples. Verse 33 tells us that Jesus turned and looked at all of His disciples before addressing Peter/Satan. He sees the tension in the air as the disciples wait to see the Lord’s reaction to Peter’s rebuke. In one short response Jesus speaks on two levels. Immediately He addresses Satan who He discerns is now speaking from the mouth of Peter, one of His closest friends and strongest allies! He commands Satan to “get behind” him, silencing this line of reasoning before it can go any further. In His second phrase He also identifies how this demonic interference is able to operate through even a believer: “you don’t have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” It’s a problem of the mind! When we let the wrong values become the focus of our thought life it becomes fertile ground for the seeds of demonic influence!

Jesus demonstrates how to rebuke this carnal thinking and resist the influence of Satan in this one passage. He does not shelter Peter from this strong rebuke. He confronts directly and firmly! In this moment He esteems the importance of breaking the power of these words over protecting Peter from embarrassment or humiliation. So much so that this encounter has been recorded in scripture for the last 2000 years for all to read! Imagine this fact that God would allow one man’s mistakes to become the training ground for the rest of His disciples for thousands of years. Obviously what He places value on in this situation is something greater than protecting Peter’s ego or bruised feelings. This passage more than many demonstrates the truth of Isa 55:9 that declares "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Mark 8:31-32 - June 2, 2010

Mark 8:31-32 “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” NIV

Have you ever told somebody something that they didn’t want to hear? This is the extreme version of one of those moments. Imagine this scene. Jesus has just completed taking the disciples through an exercise in discovery. He has led them all to the dramatic conclusion that He is the Christ, the long awaited Messiah. Imagine their hearts bursting with this revelation and this sense of destiny. It is certain that every tradition, all the mixture of legend that surrounds a promise that has been awaited for centuries, is now flooding their minds and here they are positioned as primary leaders in this new Messiah’s coming kingdom, or so they think!

Each one of them had been raised on the stories about that day when the Messiah would come. Each one had probably filled their mind at times with the possibilities or deliverance from Roman rule, of the hope of a new independent and powerful kingdom for Israel like in the glory days of David. Here they are now standing in the presence of promise. They can see themselves in triumphant procession with Him, each one imagining their own position of greatness. We know this was in their hearts because of their arguments over who amongst them was the greatest. Their focus was on the promotion and blessing that would come to each of them because of their affiliation with the Master.

Jesus is so good and confronting the vain imaginations in our hearts and replacing them with a kingdom minded reality! He has given the disciples very little time to enjoy the rush of self-importance that is flooding their minds as they let the knowledge that He really is the Messiah take root in their hearts. Jesus wastes no time transitioning to a new topic that shatters their idealistic imaginings. Verse 31 tells us that shortly after concluding His lesson on His identity, Jesus crushes all of their false thinking by shifting to the topic of His destiny. They have been picturing a glorious king. Their minds have been filled with cheering crowds, victorious conquest, Roman overthrow and Jesus replaces all of that with a new image. In place of cheers He warns them of jeers, in place of victory He describes suffering and death, in place of Roman armies vanquished and fleeing, He describes Roman soldiers with hammers in their hands, nailing Him to the cross. And vanity is blown away like spilled flour on a windy day.

Verse 32 describes Peter’s reaction. I am sure that ours would not have been that much different. Peter is compelled by this abrupt shattering of their false perceptions to try and correct Jesus. Perhaps the master is being melancholy. Peter is so moved by His concern for Jesus that He pulls Him aside. Peter would never correct Jesus in front of others. And so Peter begins to rebuke Jesus. The question is, is Peter really concerned about Jesus or is He speaking in a panicked reaction to the shattering of his false dreams. It seems that all of the fantasy that has been accumulating in Peter’s mind is so upended by this announcement of Christ’s sufferings that Peter doesn’t really know how to act or what to say, so he begins to fight to hold on to these lying thoughts as the pain of losing them becomes too much to bear. This is how most of us are when confronted by painful truth. Are we ready to let the Lord tear down our religious fantasies and allow Him to replace them with the sobering realities of a life of sacrifice, a life of true surrender to the cross of Christ? Jesus did not call us to Himself to bring about our personal fame and prominence. Jesus calls us to the cross. He calls us to the valley of service and the Garden of surrender where we yield as He did to the Father’s plan and declare “not my will, but yours be done.”

Mark 8:27-30 - June 1, 2010

Mark 8:27-30 “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.” NIV

Mark 8:27-30 is an intriguing moment in the lives of Jesus and the disciples. It is an example of the heart probing inquiry of the Lord. When Jesus asks a question it can always be assumed that the answer has many layers and is being asked to accomplish a variety of purposes. This example is no different. Jesus possessed a unique capacity to utilize the moments between events. His life was busy with one miracle, public teaching or dramatic confrontation after another but it was often the moments between the moments that created some of the most compelling insights.

In this case they are simply in transit, walking on to a new set of villages in which to minister. As they were walking it might have seemed that He was just making conversation with His disciples to kill the time as He inquired “who do people say I am?” But with Jesus there is something much deeper going on. Jesus is pushing the disciples to think more deeply about the man they are walking with. On more than one occasion the gospels reflect on this perplexing question. After calming the storm in Mk. 4 the disciples sit in amazement as they ponder this same issue “who is this man that can calm a storm by a word.” In Mt. 11:11 John sends his disciples to ask “are you the one?” not for his sake, but for theirs. In many passages the religious leaders of the day and others who heard His words asked amongst themselves who He was that gave Him the right to teach things that contradicted the teachings of the Pharisees. This time however, it is Him who is stirring up the subject.

In Mark 8 Jesus is causing His disciples to consider what they have seen and heard. He has never before really pressed this issue to bring them to a place of firm conclusion but the time is now. It is fascinating that these men have walked with Jesus for many months now and He has yet to put them on the spot to conclude about who the man they are walking with really is. This is a very powerful teaching point. Jesus allows them to relate to Him and learn from Him without pressing this main issue until He senses the specific moment to make them form concrete conclusions, as if to say “all right, you have seen enough now. Make a decision!” With this one set of questions Jesus pushes them over the edge to a place of commitment. “State your belief and stand by it!”

When Jesus asks them to reflect on what people are saying it is to press them close to the subject of who He is without having to start with such an abrupt personal confrontation. He allows them to reflect on what others believe and are saying before He presses them to conclude about their own convictions. The disciples give a few diverse opinions about how others think and then Jesus brings the point home! “What about you!?” Now they must form concrete opinions. Now they must point themselves on the line for what they really believe. Until this moment they could avoid the charge of heresy or deception because they had never stated a firm conviction regarding who He was. They could always bow out gracefully by saying “we thought he was just a good teacher or some such thing.” They were never asked to make a commitment before now! From this moment on the consequences of following Christ have multiplied greatly, the disciples are now on the line. No more maybes! Their confession has now condemned them to whatever fate He endures.

Jesus takes every believer through this same process. He attracts us first as followers. He brings us in and exposes us to the reality of His words, His presence, and His power. But He doesn’t ever stop there. He is searching for full commitment, total abandonment to His cause! It is only a matter of time before the pressure of His questioning begins to touch every life. He will always bring you to the point where you have to choose to identify with Him as the Son of God, the Messiah. He will not allow you to hang around the edges of faith. Sooner or later He will always turn you away from the opinions of others to ask with glaring intensity “What about you!?”

Psalm 67:3-7 - May 31, 2010

Ps 67:3-7 "May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah 5 May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. 6 Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. 7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.:" NIV

Oh, how the earth longs for just government! It is man’s injustice towards his fellow man that is the source of so much of the division and conflict that is raging throughout the earth. As men corruptly pursue their own ends in the various nations of the earth heart after heart is filled with a longing for truly righteous and just leadership to arise in the nations. Instead of one nation rising up against another, the hearts of simple men and women are longing for a day when we may all enjoy peace and love in the context of mutual blessing. This is the cry of hearts throughout the whole earth. Man’s selfishness is at the center of division in families, communities and nations. The Apostle James diagnoses the problem clearly in James 4:1-3 when he says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Psalm 67 gives us hope of a better day! There is a time coming when the Lord our God will rule the earth with justice and righteousness. The day is declared when the Lord will establish a righteous rule over all the earth in complete love in complete trustworthiness. Imagine leadership that can be truly trusted to not act with any seed of jealousy, self-promotion, greed or lust. Imagine a government that will bring forth abundant blessing for all. This is the hope of the millennial reign of Christ. This is the vision of a better day. Our hearts cry how long as we watch the nations decay into greater and greater chaos. But Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man will return. And so our hearts are destined to live in hope, in faith of a better day.

However, we are not without hope in this life as we await the Lord. There is great blessing promised to those who will live for the kingdom of God. For those who will fix their eyes on the heavenly kingdom of God and live with a whole heart for God’s purpose there is great promise, great reward. Jesus said in Matt 19:29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” As God releases blessing on His obedient servants, the result is a testimony that goes throughout the earth to speak into the hearts of those who would listen to make known the goodness of God. As we praise God through the voice of an obedient life God’s blessing accompanies us and world discoverers the living God.

Mark 8:22-26 - May 30, 2010

Mark 8:22-26 “They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" NIV

24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village." ‘

For every activity there is a right place, a right time and a right way, but can you tell what those are? This passage from Mark 8 is a complete paradox in the context of conventional thinking. Even the Lord’s own brothers had a philosophy the common wisdom of the day. John 7:3-4 “Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." This exchange reveals something very simple but very powerful. It was not Jesus who was seeking to become a public figure. It was the Father who was determined to make Him one.

What this passage demonstrates is that when your heart is free from self-centered agendas you can obey God and let Him worry about the consequences. Because Jesus’ primary motive was to please the Father, not to build His ministry, He was able to step outside of the realms of human reasoning and minister from a place of consecrated obedience. He embraced the concept that if it was the Father’s will for Him to become well known this would take care of itself provided He remained in a place of obedience. We never see Jesus striving for prominence. The prominence followed after Him and sought Him out everywhere He went. As a result we never see Jesus striving or becoming manipulative to reach the goal of being known.

In the case of Jesus the fruit of a life committed to obedience was a variety of choices that did not reflect logic but rather inspiration. Jesus’ own words were that He only did what He saw His Father doing, Jn. 5:19. In Mark Chapter 8 Jesus is visited by a crowd seeking a miracle of healing for a blind man. Jesus’ first decision is to remove Him from their midst so that the miracle is a personal exchange between He and the blind man. He doesn’t turn this opportunity into a show before the crowd. Instead He takes the man outside of the village. He knew the right place to reach His goal. Once He has found the right location for a more discreet encounter Jesus then does the unusual. Can you do the unusual if God asks you to? Jesus turns to the man and begins this time of ministry by spitting on Him! Now that is a sure way to win someone’s heart! If you are going to spit on somebody in a time of personal ministry, you had better be hearing God!

Jesus spits and then lays hands on the man. This is a great starting place for a conversation and it is interesting to note that Jesus steps into a different ministry model than most other occasions. Many of the Lord’s miracles flowed out of a powerful command where there was only the expectation of the person’s body immediately obeying. In this case Jesus chooses a different approach. The Lord chose to interview the person during His time of ministry. “Can you see anything?” Never before do we see the Lord asking the person if there has been any change in their condition. But here a new ministry model is established for inquiring of the recipient as to the progress of their healing. It is important to note that this interview also reflects the fact that this person’s healing was neither immediate nor initially complete. It was only after a process of ministry that this person was brought to complete healing! Through this Jesus exposes us to the reality that God may choose diverse means to reach similar goals and therefore we must keep our hearts open to the Lord’s voice. Many people fall into patterns of routine method in doing the work of the Lord. These patterns rob the ministry of a sense of relationship and the possibility of inspired direction that could bring about a supernatural encounter. Jesus didn’t assume a method He listened and did what the Father showed Him to do! And in this case it was strange but effective.

In the conclusion of this unusual exchange there is an additional feature that provokes thought. Jesus brings this blind man to complete healing and then instructs him not to go back into the village but to go straight home. Jesus has a goal of quietly slipping away to another village to minister rather than a goal of using that miracle to draw a crowd. For most ministers today one miracle of healing from blindness would be enough for us to set up a tent and take an offering! Immediately the question would be, “how can we turn this event into something more?” “How can we capitalize on this healing to build something big?” “Should we write a book, or maybe start a talk show!” Jesus was simply focused on quietly moving on to touch the next town. He was not after hype and publicity. He was on His Father’s mission. May we possess this same heart as the Lord directs us into seasons of favor and fruitfulness!