The Virtuous Kingdom: Evidence of the Reign of God in the Human Heart
Mark 11:1-11; 27-33
(Part 2)
Sermon Objective: This is an introductory sermon offering a composite (layered) portrait of what a follower of Jesus looks like in Mark’s Gospel.
1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks you, ’Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ’The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ "
4They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
27They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?"
29Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!"
31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, ’From heaven,’ he will ask, ’Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32But if we say, ’From men’...." (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)
33So they answered Jesus, "We don’t know." Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
INTRO
Whenever you read a story you often learn something about the author. It is usually not the intention of the author but it is almost inevitable that his/her personality, passions, and familiarities will emerge from the pages. The same is true of Mark’s story too. Granted, it is an inspired story and, thus, there is a dual or “layered” authorship and through the pages you learn something significant about those authors … The Holy Spirit and his human amanuensis, John Mark.
For example, at no time in the story does God (or Mark) ever stop and say “This is what a follower of Jesus looks like.” Nor does it offer the counterpart to that and say “This is what one who opposes Jesus looks like.” But I think, as you read the story, a portrait of each of these emerges. It is not a complete or exhaustive composite but more of a silhouette that outlines the subject and shows its form.
I thought it appropriate to begin this series from chapter 11 on “The Virtuous Kingdom: Evidence of the Reign of God in the Human Heart” by helping you to see how this Gospel understands or pictures one who is following Jesus. I would actually recommend that you take a week or two and discover the portraits for yourself. Read through the book a couple of times and keep two lists, one would be traits that consistently portray a follower and the other would be a list of traits that consistently portray one who opposes Jesus. I will, however, for the sake of familiarity, give you a glimpse of what that portrait will look like.
Last week we looked at THOSE WHO REFUSE TO FOLLOW JESUS in Mark’s Gospel and discovered a few particulars that describe them. They are:
1. Motivated by peers, fears and ulterior convictions (Mark 11:18 & 31,32)
2. Unwilling to openly declare their intentions and loyalties (Mark 3:6)
3. Rationalists who justify their actions and behaviors (Mark 7:6-9)
Is there a composite of THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS in this Gospel? I think so. That composite is multi-layered too. It will be discovered by looking at many of the cast of characters in the book. You will see it in characters like the man who was delivered from the control of demons (chapter 5), the Syrophoenician woman (chapter 7), the blind man at Bethsaida (chapter 8), the widow who gives the small offering (chapter 12), and Joseph of Arimathea (chapter 15).
As with any portrait there are many nuances and details (that’s why you should do a study yourself). In the coming weeks we are going to look at some of these specific nuances. You will notice the following six in chapter eleven.
† Worship (Mk. 11:1-11)
† Prayer (Mk 11:15-19)
† Spiritual Fruit (Mk 11:11-14, 20-21)
† Faith (Mk. 11:22-25)
† Forgiving One Another (Mk. 11:20-25)
† Submission to Christ’s Authority (Mk. 11:27-33)
These specifics give the portrait of the follower a sense of depth and practicality.
However, there are a few “larger components” of the composite that give it its general shape; and these we will look at this morning.
Those who choose to follow Jesus are evidenced by:
1. Faith (Mark 1:16-20)
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
The reign of God in the human heart is characterized by faith more than anything else. It is the absolute essential criteria of a walk with God. In fact, every other evidence is actually a fruit of faith.
Faith in the living God changes decisions, demeanor, and destiny. It has always been so.
The disciples followed and trusted in spite of incomplete understanding. They also followed in spite of consistent (and persistent) failures. Their failures were not evidence of unbelief but lack of knowledge and maturity. That is one reason it is so beautiful in this story … they really did not understand this Jesus who could multiply fish, walk on water, see the future, shackle Satan, and stand tall in the midst of accusations but they loved him, followed him, and believed Him anyhow!
That is what faith looks like. Faith is not based on knowledge or maturity (those come as faith matures). Faith is simply you trusting the claims of God in spite of objections. Faith is transferring your confidence in yourself (or someone / something else) to the Living God.
One Christian described faith with a simple and practical acronym.
Forsaking
All
I
Take
Him
I assure you that that kind of faith does indeed alter decisions, demeanor, and destiny. It is genuine evidence of the reign of God in your heart. Without that … there is no reign.
Those who choose to follow Jesus are evidenced by:
1. Faith (Mark 1:16-20)
2. Courage (Mark 15:42-43)
It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
Courage is a late bloomer in this Gospel but once it emerges it never returns to the shadows. It becomes more fully illustrated after the resurrection (take a peek and the concluding paragraphs of the story) and even more fully understood after Pentecost.
Joseph risked life, fortune, and career by openly aligning himself with Jesus Christ. Bravo for Joseph! Thanks to Joseph for being an example to the rest of us!
Courage is certainly meant to describe those who follow Jesus. It is a theme throughout the book of Acts. Acts 4:31 says: After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Paul commends the Philippian the church for praying for his boldness. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death (Philippians 1:20).
And asks the Ephesian Church to join him in such prayers. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19-20)
Too many times we miss opportunities to touch lives because we are intimidated or afraid of the responses and reactions of others. We would be well-advised to take a cue from Joseph of Arimathea and live for the approval of God instead of responding to the rejection of men.
Sometimes we are even intimidated to share with each other about the good things God is doing in our lives. We are among friends and we can’t even share Jesus’ love. Well, today you get to practice. I want you to turn to the person next to you and share a testimony with them about what God is doing in your life. Don’t be afraid, they will not throw stones at you. Even if that person is a stranger I want you to take the risk.
Mike and I are going to do it right up here on the stage and then he’ll play some background music on the guitar afterwards while you do so.
Those who choose to follow Jesus are evidenced by:
1. Faith (Mark 1:16-20)
2. Courage (Mark 15:42-43)
3. Community (Mark 3:31-35)
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother."
Community is a thread that runs throughout this story. It is like a thread … to remove it would result in the entire garment unraveling. Everything Jesus does in this story emphasizes, illustrates, and endorses spiritual relationships. It cannot be removed without doing injustice to how God understands His reign in a human heart.
The disciples had a lot to learn about spiritual relationships. Much of the last half of the book is devoted to teaching them about what it meant to be church. But at least they were engaged! Failure to engage is a guarantee that you will miss God on this. That investment helped them work through the rough and tumble of interpersonal relationships. At no time did Andrew ever tell Jesus he was leaving because Peter offended him – however, I have no doubt Peter offended many of the disciples at times. Investing in community can be painful and messy – but allowing God to bond spiritual relationships is also rewarding and transforming.
Proverbs 18:24 (KJV) says: A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. And there is a friends that sticketh closer than a brother.
I have discovered that whenever someone who tells me “I am leaving the church because I just don’t feel like I am part of the family” that it is almost always because they have remained aloof or disassociated. If you remain apart you will never feel like you are a part.
Throughout Mark’s book we learn a lot about what it means to be in spiritual community. Your study will reveal that community is THE expression of Divine love. It will also reveal that:
1. Community requires humility.
One of the subtle ways that community is subverted at the Naz is through overly string opinions on less-than essential issues. Some of us (like some of the disciples in Mark 9) do things that exclude people rather than give them a sense of welcome.
Our church is not the only church that places too much emphasis on doctrine and not enough emphasis on fellowship. There are very few things that are worth parting fellowship over. Issues like the resurrection, the atonement, the deity of Christ are essential for Christian fellowship but there are plenty of others that some make into litmus tests that are not. Did it ever dawn on you that you might be wrong? It is spiritual arrogance to think you are right on all your Biblical interpretations and those that conflict with you are wrong. It is spiritual pride to think you somehow have special insight from God and others don’t.
Have you ever seen Emo Phillip’s stand up act on Christian doctrine? You can find it on Youtube.com. It gets at the heart of one of the divisive issues here at the Naz.
2. Community requires tolerance.
What would happen if we operated out of love rather than doctrinal criteria? What would happen if we really liked each other more? It boggles the mind!
3. Community requires a unified vision.
4. Community requires forgiveness.
5. Community can be described as FAMILY. That is why we use it to help us describe our spiritual aspirations here at the Naz.
Focusing on Christ and His Word
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
Affirming each other as we grow in grace
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. (Acts 2:46)
Magnifying God through lives of worship
Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. (Acts 2:47)
Imagining the nations won for Christ
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47)
Loving people
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. (Acts 2:45)
Yoked together in love
All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:44)
WRAP-UP
Those who refuse to follow Jesus are
1. Motivated by peers, fears and ulterior convictions (11:18 & 31,32)
2. Unwilling to openly declare their intentions and loyalties (Mark 3:6)
3. Rationalists who justify their actions and behaviors (Mark 7:6-9)
Those who choose to follow Jesus are evidenced by:
1. Faith (Mark 1:16-20)
2. Courage (Mark 15:42-43)
3. Community (Mark 3:31-35)
Just as any human author’s story is prone to disclose personal insights beyond just the page’s story; so Mark’s Gospel discloses truths about how God understands those who follow him.
Did you know you are drafting a story too? It is being recorded in Heaven (Matthew 12:32). Your life story discloses truths to anyone who “reads its pages” about your passions, loyalties, and familiarities. Your deeds follow you (Revelation 14:13) and they show the real you.
It is only after we have experienced the cleansing and empowering work of the Holy Spirit that we can live a life that consistently and “naturally” paints a portrait of one who has the reign of God living within.
I pray that you are a citizen in “The Virtuous Kingdom.” And I pray that it is evidenced by “The reign of God” in your heart.”
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
