Haves and Have Nots – Mark 12:35-44

Perhaps you’ve read or heard the hoopla and accolades for Bill Gates and Warren Buffet this past week, as they reportedly persuaded 11 more of their billionaire peers to give their money away, or at least a portion of it.  Gates and Buffet have been on a quest to have other billionaires sign a pledge to give away half of their income while they are still living, and they currently have 92 billionaire families on board.  This represents quite a donor powerhouse, especially as they begin to coordinate and collaborate on how it will be donated.  As you read the list of donors, it is a who’s who of influence, privilege and status.  They are living examples of the “American dream” and serve to encourage others who want to be like them.

I don’t necessarily intend judgment on or applause for Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the other 90 billionaire families, their lifestyles or their values.  I would, however, like to suggest that we think about the values and lifestyle Jesus implies are representative of the kingdom of God, according to our passage from Mark’s gospel this week.  It’s not too surprising that the things most valued by the world are often of least value in the kingdom of God.  Similarly, those who seem to have it all, we sometimes find out, have very little at all, while those who seem to have very little are those who have it all.  Please consider the values and qualities Jesus implies are representative of His kingdom and how that may challenge you (it certainly challenges me) to live by grace for Him.

“Decision 2012” – Mark 12:13-17

Has this been one of the nastiest campaign seasons in recent memory or is it just that I’ve forgotten how ugly these political cycles can be?  There have been barbs, false accusations, violent acts and deceiption at the local, state and national levels.  Yet, the political temperature in this country is, at best, lukewarm compared to the political temperature in Israel during the decades surrounding Jesus’ life and earthly ministry.

Thankfully, in God’s providence, we find ourselves at a spot in Mark’s gospel where Jesus provides us with a relevant and foundational truth on this issue of politics.  There is much to be learned from it and applied to our own lives, especially as the fire gets turned up during the march to the general election in November.  If you find yourself getting enraged by this or that candidate, Jesus has something to say to you.  If you are not sure what you’ll do if your candidate loses, Jesus has something to say to you.  If you’re thinking, “if things don’t go my way in November, I’m going to ignore the results,” Jesus has something to say to you.

Jesus is not impartial with regard to politics.  He didn’t say “revolt” but He also didn’t say “roll over.” What Jesus reveals about the nature of politics, in this week’s passage, will have ramifications for the decision you make on November 6th and far beyond.

Join us for worship on Sunday morning at 10:30.

“The Most Important” – Mark 12:28-34

 

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)  How I wish that would be so of me, and all of us.  How wonderful it would be to instantly know that someone is a disciple of Jesus by the way they love others.  Imagine how attractive that would be to those outside the Christian faith.

I did a fair amount of dreaming, this past week, about what the world would look like if everyone obeyed the two most important commandments, cited by Jesus in our passage this week, to love God and others.  We will certainly experience this kind of “dream come true” in heaven, where the perfect love of God in Christ brings us to the throne and we express our love in praise toward God.

But here and now, love is hard and can even crush us.  Unless, that is, we understand the message of Jesus in this week’s passage.  It was a message that the scribe examining Him came so close to grasping.  He was so close to the kingdom of God, yet not close enough to enter in.

Take some time to search out Bible verses that speak of loving God and neighbor, and consider how the two most important commandments are working, or might work out in your own life.  Then join us for our last summer service, at 9 AM on Sunday.

“Eternal Life” – Mark 12:18-27

 

We are within a week of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and, at this point, the Jewish leaders have declared all out war on Him. Their first strategy is to challenge His presumed authority in three different waves using three different interest groups.  This week, we’ll be taking a look at the challenge that came from the Sadducees.

The Sadducees were the party that included the chief priests and had the greatest influence at the temple.  They were the most wealthy, aristocratic and influential of all the sects.  They were extremely conservative and only believed in the authority of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament).  They ignored oral law, traditions, and the regulations prescribed by the Pharisees. They even discounted the authority of the prophetic books of the Old Testament.  Jesus and the Pharisees spoke of a resurrection from the dead, and as far as the Sadducees were concerned, this was not to be found in the Pentateuch.  Such a belief, they thought, was from the imagination of man, not from God.  Hoping to catch Jesus on this matter, they put His belief in the resurrection on trial by a question they assumed would show the absurdity of His belief.  Jesus’ own authority hinged on His response.

The youth group of our past church took a video camera and went out  onto the Boston Common asking adults, “Do you believe in life after death?”  There were almost as many responses, and ideas about what that might look like, as there were interviewees.  I don’t remember any of the responses matching up with what the Bible has to say on the topic.  I imagine it was the same in Jesus’ day and that probably prejudiced the skepticism of the Sadducees.

Please take a few minutes to read this week’s passage and ponder the three questions we’ll be examining on Sunday morning at 9:00.

• Is there a resurrection from the dead?
• If so, what kind of resurrection?
• What difference does it make?

“Authority” – Mark 11:27-12:12

 

“Who does He think He is?  What gives Him the right to say and do these things in the temple?”  These are the types of questions the chief priests, scribes and elders were asking about Jesus.  They were infuriated with Him.  Previously Herod had declared himself king of Judea and now the Romans were muscling in militarily and politically.  The Jewish people sure could use a messiah to save them from their oppression, but there had already been so many false messiahs.  Fed up and caught up in a desire to perpetuate their own authority, the religious leaders failed to recognize the rightful King.  Worse yet, they planned to destroy Him.

Yet none of this surprised Jesus (Mark 8:31), and all of it was part of God’s plan to validate Jesus as the true King and ultimate authority.

Please take a few minutes to read this week’s passage and, as you do, try and determine the identities of the various characters in the parable of the vinedressers (or tenants).  Also, give some thought to to the role of Jesus’ authority today.

“Authentic” – Mark 11:1-25

 

Do you wonder if you can ever be a good enough Christian?  Many of us work very hard to do what God expects of us, especially to love Him and our neighbors.  But we all fall far short of the righteous standard that God has set.  The culture around us certainly sees it.   We are often called “hypocrites” when we fall and it seems as though many non-Christians are just waiting to catch us when we do.  Many of us work so hard to make it seem as though we are far better than we are, yet we know if anyone knew what we’ve done in private or the thoughts we’ve had, they would probably be shocked.  It really makes each of us wonder, “Can I be a good enough Christian?”  The answer to that question is both “no” and “yes.”

The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Each and every one of us is unable to be good enough to merit eternal life.  We just cannot be good enough on our own.  However, we will be considered good enough by God when our faith is in the perfect righteous record of Jesus, His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection.  In fact, there is only one type of Christian, those who have been washed clean and declared “perfect” by the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Thankfully, our not so good track record, which is seen by others, is not what God will look at when we are judged.  He will see that we are justified based on the record of Jesus that has been imputed to us. When we are called a “hypocrite,” we are provided a tremendous opportunity to explain that we are not justified before God on our own pathetic record, and that’s exactly why we’ve decided to become a Christian.

So while we cannot be perfect or even good enough on our own, God has called us to be authentic Christians.  Being an authentic Christian isn’t about keeping up appearances, it’s about a life surrendered to Jesus.  We’ll be looking at what a faithful life surrendered to Jesus looks like on Sunday morning.  We’ll learn it’s not easy, but that we can and will make surprising progress as God works in us.

Please take a few minutes to read this week’s passage and consider the steps you may need to make in order to surrender or more fully surrender your life to Jesus.  Hope to see you on Sunday morning at 9 AM!

“Kingdom Value” – Mark 10:32-52

 

If you served or stopped by the church this week, you know that the King is Coming.  In fact, I think every person in the village or driving by knows it.  This church’s vacation Bible school, The King is Coming Kid’s Camp, has been an amazing testimony to God’s presence in the body of Christ here in Goffstown.  There has been singing, dancing, praising, playing, learning, Scripture memorizing, crafting, eating and praying all to the glory of God and for the sake of magnifying Christ this week.  Nearly the entire congregation has been involved up to and during this week.

Rewind nearly two thousand years and we will notice that a similar sort of pilgrimage was unfolding as Jesus and the crowds began to journey up to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival.  Entire families would embark on the journey traveling 6-8 hours a day (you think it’s tough traveling with kids in the car for 8 hours, try it by foot, horse or camel!).  The kids would often be playing, singing, dancing and eating in the caravan as they traversed the rugged terrain up to the holy city.  All of this was done with triumphant expectation as the looked forward to the day when the King would finally come.  This Sunday’s passage describes a scene in which the King had come and was on His way now to Jerusalem.  But not all would view His arrival as an occasion for praise.  Even His own disciples, despite Jesus’ efforts to prepare them, fell short in their understanding of God’s grand plan for victory.

As you read this week’s passage (above), try and imagine what it would be like to be part of the crowd as they journeyed to Jerusalem with Jesus in their midst.  If you were one of the Apostles or even the blind man, Bartimaeus, how would you feel as Jesus spoke to you?  What would you say and do?

For those of you who like word searches, try and find where Jesus says the exact same thing to two different people in our text.  Why do you suppose He did that?  How are these two instances related?

I suspect there will be much praising, singing, learning, eating (at the Lord’s table) this Sunday as we worship our Lord together at 9AM.  Come join us as we celebrate the King’s coming!

“Straight to the Top” – Mark 9:2-29

 

Lord willing and weather permitting, just over a week from now I will be enjoying the breath taking view from Pike’s Peak.  As spectacular as that view is sure to be, I know it will never compare to the mountain top experience the disciples witnessed in our passage from Mark’s gospel this week.  I’m fully expecting, when I pause at the summit of Pike’s Peak, I will find myself in awe of the power and awesome nature of our God.  Yet, I don’t believe, unless Jesus returns at that very moment, I will actually see God in all His power and glory, as Peter, John and James did on their day on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured.  Short of Christ’s resurrection, that had to the greatest moment in their lives.  A real high point (pardon the pun). Meanwhile, down below in the valley, the other nine disciples were experiencing their own memorable moment, a botched exorcism and a heated confrontation with the religious experts.  What happened down below didn’t seem compare to the spiritual high a few thousand feet above them, or did it?  It’s hard to imagine a bigger contrast than these two events, yet they share a common theme in the power of Jesus.  The passage is a stark reminder that our daily struggles are not so much against the world as they are struggles for faith.  The realities of life’s struggles are what we’ll grapple with together on Sunday morning.

“The Biggest Loser” – Mark 8:27-9:1

We’ve reached the point in Mark’s gospel where the disciples have discovered the identity of Jesus.  He is the Christ, the anointed King of the kingdom of God.  He is the Messiah and Son of Man.  But it becomes quite clear that He was not the sort of Christ the disciples, or anyone else, were expecting.  He explains that He will suffer, be rejected by the Jewish leaders, die and be raised up on the third day, all of which Peter finds appalling.  Within seconds of his good confession, Peter slaps his Savior with a rebuke.  What do you suppose was going through Peter’s head at that moment?  Why did he react this way?  How do we sometimes react when God’s ways do not conform to our own expectations?

After Jesus returns the rebuke to Peter and the watching disciples, He begins to explain the ultimate cost of discipleship.  This is not a passage to pass over quickly (read it carefully).  Jesus requires more than a lot, from those who follow Him.  He requires everything!  If you really believe that Jesus is who Scripture and He Himself claims to be, what’s holding you back from giving Him your all?

“Seeing Clearly” – Mark 8:22-31

I hope you had an opportunity to witness last week’s amazing youth skit, which served as a powerful reminder of the depth of man’s spiritual blindness and of God’s unfailing love, compassion and provision for those who seek Him.  This Sunday, at last, we get some resolution on the whole issue of spiritual blindness, as the disciples finally understand who Jesus is, the Christ.  They finally see that Jesus is the King of the kingdom of God and the Savior of those who seek Him.  This passage, and the disciples’ acknowledgment that it contains, is an important hinge point between the first and second sections of Mark’s gospel.

But there’s this odd little story, all of about five verses, that seems to be inserted right in between two passages on spiritual blindness.  It is a passage not mentioned in any of the other three gospels, and appears to be a classic Markian sandwich, thrown right in the middle of things to heighten emphasis.  But to emphasize what? Do you notice any similarities between the story of the blind man and the passages immediately before or after it?

Take some time to skim again through Mark’s gospel up to chapter 8, verse 30 and reflect on the topic of spiritual blindness.  Who seems to be susceptible to spiritual blindness?  Only Jesus’ enemies?  Only His disciples?  What might Mark be telling you or us about our own spiritual blindness?

I hope you will join us for worship on Sunday morning at 9AM, as we transition to our summer hours.