Blind Sight is 20/20

Mark 10:32-52

To traverse to Jerusalem always means you are going up, from whatever direction you approach. This would be particularly true when traveling to Jerusalem from the Jordan River valley, which connects the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, which is the lowest elevation on the face of the earth.

From a location just north of the Dead Sea Jesus makes His entry into Israel with the intent of offering Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

No one seems aware of this save for Jesus Himself, even though it is clearly written in God’s prophetic Word. Over the next several days, Jesus’ entire life will be given over to the visible fulfillment of the prophetic Word.

It would be incredibly important to have loyal eyes viewing the events about to transpire; loyal eyes that could bear witness to the events, and write them down for all to see. (How interesting it is to consider these loyal witnesses had no idea exactly what it was they were bearing witness to.)

Their chief concern now seemed to be holding on to Jesus, and not letting go. Confronted a third time with Jesus’ powerful explanation of the events about to transpire, (exactly as God’s Word had said they would,) His disciples remained silent, probably in fear or disbelief about His description of the pending events which would see Him betrayed, shamed, and slaughtered like a common farm animal. (In fact, farm animals could expect better treatment.)

Could it even be remotely possible Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to take the ruling throne that was rightly His? Wasn’t this ALSO written in scripture? Is this a time for covering the bases – just in case? John and James think so. What about us ruling with Him on His right and left hand? But what sort of baptism is this that He speaks of in answer?

It seems only blind Bartimaeus sees things correctly. He knows when Jesus is near it is time to cry out – and not remain silent no matter who says to. The reason is because Bartimaeus has a need he knows only Jesus can meet, and he will not be denied by his own silence. His cry? “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

-Pastor Bill

The Way In

Mark 10:1-31

I think if people spent as much time attempting to find a way in as they do to find a way out in this world life would be very different.

The greatest blessing for us is that God is about providing a way in rather than a way out.

Obviously, the Pharisees have come to Jesus to test Him in front of people. They interrupt His teaching rather than listening to it, because they are trying to find a way out of His teaching rather than a way into it.

They question Jesus about marriage, because then as now certain aspects of marriage are controversial. They knew they could divide the crowd following Jesus by asking Him to take a stand, and share His opinion about divorce.

The very root of the word we employ for divorce implies divisiveness. It divides people in ways they were not designed to be divided. What do YOU think about divorce?

This is a common question, because we choose to act as if what people think about divorce makes some kind of difference. Without knowing it, or believing it, these Pharisees have indeed asked the only One Whose opinion matters – and that is God.

So we see here what God thinks about divorce. Do we listen? Do we pay attention to His answer? (Jesus, by the way, answers the Pharisees’ question. He does not shy away from it for fear of dividing His crowd. His answer goes directly to God’s design – indeed His design - of marriage.)

If we have a “good marriage,” then we agree with Jesus’ answer. If we are in a “bad marriage,” we keep looking for a way out because it is about what we want rather than what God wants. That’s really the difference that divides men isn’t it? Some do what is necessary to be under God’s authority, and to have eternal life in God’s kingdom where He is in authority, and some will not.

This is why children are the stuff the kingdom of heaven is made of. They recognize they are under authority, and they do what they are told. The rich young ruler? You?

-Pastor Bill

Allowances

Mark 9:42-50

Jesus is teaching His disciples about the dangers of allowances we make in our lives for association with the enemy of all mankind.

Who would do that knowingly?

And this is just the point. Do we know the harm sin causes – and do we properly consider all the harm it will cause prior to committing the sin?

The answer, generally speaking, is, “No.” And we are fairly free with not only the commission of sin but with excuse-making following all of that. We may even say, “The devil made me do it.”

A better answer would be that I aligned myself WITH the devil WHEN I did it. (Whatever it was, no matter how great or how small.)

The enemy cannot make us do anything. This is the lesson. It is not about what we are made to do – it is about what we allow. Since what we allow comes to our lives in the first place as some form of temptation or other, Jesus instructs us to cut off the enemy’s incursions right there. Swiftly. Surely. Sincerely.

You would never do the sinful things you do if you knew prior to doing them all the harm that would be caused by your doing them. This is why God has warned us away from the commission of the sin He knew Satan would tempt us to. Sin is always harmful. It causes death. God loves us so much He sent His Son to DIE to pay the price for the commission of the sinful things we do.

Does that make it all okay – since Jesus has paid the price? The answer is no because of the harm sin causes in your life and in others. Stop it. Cut it off. Cut it out. Don’t even allow the tempting thoughts which eventuate in the commission of it.

And listen, think first about the others you may stumble by what you allow yourself, and who you allow yourself to be allied with. Could it be your allowances may cause someone looking on to miss eternal life in heaven?

-Pastor Bill

Down in the Valley

Mark 9:14-37

We live for the mountain-top experiences with Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater or more rewarding in this life than to know you have been in the overwhelming presence of the glory of God in power.

Hopefully, in your personal walk with Christ you have known such a time, or many such times. God desires us to experience His presence, even as He ministers to us according to His Word.

For Peter, James, and John, this has obviously been the paramount experience of their lives up to now. Jesus has literally been transfigured in their presence, and they have seen Moses and Elijah with their own eyes – two of the most transcendental figures of the Jewish faith.

In leaving that mountain-top experience behind them, (however long or brief it may have been,) they probably expected to either live on that experience or at least bask in its afterglow for quite some time.

But then they were immediately confronted with what Satan had been doing down in the valley while they were on the top of the mountain.

The disciples who had been left behind while Peter, James and John had been summoned to the peak were engaged in intense Spiritual warfare, and they were in the midst of an embarrassing public defeat. It must have been very disappointing for them to find themselves mired in a mess immediately upon leaving the blessed.

But this is the way ministry often is. A life in Christ is life WITH Christ, and life with Christ is a life of fairly constant conflict because the enemy constantly attacks the unprotected flanks of Jesus’ ministry – (the flanks guarded by people) – and this is where he attempts to bring shame upon Jesus. It often happens in public, and it is designed to have people look at YOU as a means of inviting them to doubt Jesus’ power.

While we may sense despair, and even defeat in these moments of parrying with Satan in our own strength, we must remember Jesus never invited us to follow people, or to look to people for solutions. He invited us to follow Him. Keep the faith!

-Pastor Bill

The Way It Is

Mark 9:1-13

Jesus brings His disciples to the brink of desperation, realizing they have left all to follow Him - and He is going away. And not in a good way.

“What have we done?!” I can imagine them thinking to themselves. Peter even had the audacity, (and the love for Jesus,) to take Jesus aside and rebuke Him for His proclamation He (Jesus,) “would suffer many things, be rejected by the chief priests and scribes and be killed…”

Oh, and by the way, “…and after three days rise again.”

The rising after three days part was the bit the disciples seemed to miss, or even worse dismiss, every time Jesus said it, but particularly this first time.

How could it be that Jesus would even think of allowing Himself to be killed? The fact He said it the way He said it even made it appear as if it were part of some plan that He had, as if it were certain, as if He would make sure it was certain. Is this just the way it is? The way it is going to be? Irreversible? Surely not!

Surely yes.

To offset the news of His soon and certain suffering, Jesus had an amazing revelation to share with His closest followers. Indeed, another promise was made which would seem designed to allay the news of His suffering – and this news was that certain ones of them would see Him in His glory prior to tasting death. After six days Jesus made good on His promise.

Jesus’ transfiguration is one of the greatest, most amazing, most meaningful revelations in all of God’s Word. It must have been impossible to explain, and impossible to even begin to take in all that was being explained in Christ’s transfiguration.

Sometimes people ask if Jesus Himself knew He was God in the flesh. His transfiguration is Exhibit A that He was self-aware of being our All In All. That’s just the way it is. Take it for ALL it means.

-Pastor Bill

Living a Sacrificial Life

Mark 8:22-38

Living sacrificially is not something normal or natural to any extent.

Living sacrificially means living against the grain of human existence, and living against the grain of your own nature.

This probably had something to do with Darwin’s Theory being accepted to any degree when it was first presented. Though it has many tragic flaws and errors, Darwin did present one thought that rang clear as a bell in the human mind: Survival of the fittest.

The whole concept of ‘survival of the fittest’ is a reflection of a ‘me-first’ lifestyle all of us have been living all our days. And so we hear the concept of evolution being based on the “survival of the fittest” and our mind is immediately reminded of all we have ever seen or experienced. People are naturally selfish, only concerned for their own welfare, and certainly chiefly interested in their own survival.

Who would you die for?

This is where Jesus begins to separate us from the crowd of all human existence. Who would you die for – or, better put - is there anyone you would die for? (The list is probably very short.)

The reason is because you don’t know many people worthy of you dying for them. You either don’t know them well enough to make that degree of sacrifice even a consideration or you do know them well enough to know they are not worth it.

Along comes Jesus, and He establishes the minimum requirement for being His follower your sacrificial death. In an era when others are killing people because they refuse to believe in what they command you to believe, Jesus says, “I willingly die for all men that they may believe in Me.”

What could better exemplify Godly influence upon a life than sacrifice? Service? A sense of concern for the eternal rather than the temporal? Not me-first, but you-first – and in every arena of life. This is life in Christ. If you lose your life you will find it.

-Pastor Bill

Consistence

Mark 8:1-21

There is a consistency to the miracles of Christ. They are consistently inconsistent.

They are NOT inconsistent in their wonder, impossibility, glory, or any other way that makes them even remotely possible in the natural realm – but they are never the same – at least in how they are recorded for us.

He we are in the region of the Decapolis, and a great multitude has sought out Jesus for healing. These people have probably heard of Jesus from the demon-possessed man Jesus healed at the Gadarenes.

It is very interesting to think of how it is Jesus healed each one who came to Him. The deaf-mute had been healed (by appearance,) by Jesus sticking His fingers in His ears, and spitting and touching his tongue. Fascinating.

Now we have the feeding of the 4000. The crowd which came to Jesus for healing will now be fed. Would it be as it was in the feeding of the 5000?

Here we learn an important lesson about serving Jesus. Under similar circumstances, we are very much inclined to “do things as we did them before.” After all, what worked previously, (especially if it worked wonderfully,) is going to work again – isn’t it?

But when we read carefully, we see that is NOT how Jesus performed ministry, and so we should stop thinking the way we are most inclined to think about it.

It becomes obvious with practice ministry is meant to be performed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that each ministry experience, no matter how similar to a previous ministry experience – is unique.

How would you respond to Jesus telling you to feed 4000? Would you have it down now, understanding it would go down exactly as it had been with the 5000? (I know that’s how I would think about it.) Where can we find 5 loaves and two fish? Strangely, wonderfully, though the circumstances were SO similar, the miracle was completely different in its carrying-out.

-Pastor Bill