THE DATING GAME
Mark 12:18-27
Sermon Objective: There are two complimentary components of a God-honored life; knowledge of Scripture and faith-motivated action.
Supporting Scripture: 1 Kings 18:20-39; Hebrews 11:6, James 2:14-26
18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ’I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!"
They are first mentioned here. This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel that the Sadducees are mentioned. That is probably because their role in religions life was limited in Christ’s time. They weren’t as influential or significant as they wanted to be. In fact, in the 107 years that the temple stood and High priests were elected there was only one Sadducee who ever served in that capacity and he only served for 3 months.
There is something telling about that to me. They wanted to be influential but they did everything wrong that would / could provide them with spiritual influence. They were great at working with human machinations and reason but they just could not get on the same channel as God when it came to ministering to the people.
The Sadducees remind me of the Laputa and the Balnibarbi in Jonathan Swift’s book “Gulliver’s Travels.” The Laputa and the Balnibarbi were very cerebral people who were devoted to the arts and science but were incapable of finding practical uses for their thought and development. They were incapable of helping people in any meaningful way. The Sadducees are the religious equivalent to the Laputa and the Balnibarbi … they never did anything of significance … they only thought about it.
The problem was that the Sadducees possessed no substance. They had a lot of activity but no life.
Theologically they were VERY conservative. They only embraced the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) and specifically rejected oral traditions like those that taught a resurrection. “If the Pentateuch doesn’t teach it,” they would say, “we will not teach it either.”
Jesus dissects the Sadducees problem in a brilliant and concise way. He says … “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?”
Jesus is pretty bold here. These were men who were VERY highly trained in the law and probably (almost certainly) had memorized the entire Pentateuch. For Jesus to say this would be akin to telling a judge that he did not know the law or a professor that he did not know his subject.
Jesus gives a very piercing assessment of their condition. “Error” means to wander astray. “You are badly mistaken” is Jesus’ way of telling them that their mistake is not trivial but egregious and frocked with dangerous consequences.
I SHALL NOT BE MOVED!
I find this story significant because we are not too far removed from it.
We too, become pretty much set in our ways and in our Biblical viewpoints; even to the degree that we will not budge theologically or leave room for God to break through with fresh insight. And by “fresh insight” I mean worldview altering discoveries. They scare us. We too can be guilty of saying “If the Bible says it that settles it” without ever stopping to realize that what we think the Bible is saying may not be ALL that the Bible is teaching. If it is a book disclosing God to us then we would be quite naïve and arrogant to think we have it all figured out and anyone who reads it differently misses it.
In hindsight Jesus’ observations from the Scriptures are obvious … God was the God of the living but the Sadducees could not / would not see it. They had already settled the question.
I suspect some of us (maybe all of us) will be in for a rude awakening someday when God shows us that what we thought was “clear” and “in black and white” in the Bible was only the tip of the iceberg. I know that makes us uncomfortable … and I am okay with that. Growth requires humility and discomfort … growth sometimes requires a “rude awakening.”
How do you respond when someone approaches you with new thoughts and insights to Scripture? How do you respond when their understanding runs completely cross-grain to your Biblical perspectives?
On too many occasions we, like the Sadducees, take pride (and find security) in our stalwart defense of our Biblical position … maybe even to our own demise and judgment.
It is just as hard for us to come to grips with this as it was these conservative Sadducees.
Jesus once said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). The problem with the Sadducees was not that they did not search the Scriptures but that they did not search them looking for truth and transformation. They did not search the so that the Scriptures could change them … they searched them to confirm what they already knew and to enforce their agendas. And guess what!? They found what they were looking for one every page!!!!
1. When was the last time you diligently searched the Scriptures?
2. When was the last time you search God’s word and came away saying … I have been wrong in my thinking about God and his world?
Ask yourself – if you never seen change in you because of the Word … why bother studying it al all?
I refer to this kind of thinking as “I Shall Not Be Moved! thinking” Not in the sense of the hymn we sometimes sing but in the sense that we think we have God and His Word all figured out and we are not open for teachable moments.
I SHALL NOT MOVE
I find this story significant because we are not too far removed from it.
We too, are more comfortable talking about religion than “doing” religion. The Sadducees problem was two-fold. Not only did they not grasp the spirit and truth of the Scriptures but they also had not experienced the “power of God.”
Traditionally there are two concerns that the Church must balance (i) orthodoxy – believing the right stuff and (2) orthopraxy – doing the right stuff. My observation is that believers (and churches) tend to emphasize (or deemphasize) one or the other. What we fail to understand is that being weak in one will certainly impact the strength of the other.
“Are you not in error because you do not know the … power of God?”
These religious people were not living a life of FAITH. You see faith is not only linked to what we believe it is evidenced in what we do and in whom we trust. If we truly trust God and believe God’s word it WILL result on actions.
Sometimes I think we are guilty of thinking God is more concerned about what we DO NOT do than what we DO. We would be wise to rethink that. You can stop doing bad things (remember “the list” we talked about in chapter 10?) and still be far from God. But, chances are, if we start doing the RIGHT things with the RIGHT heart the other stuff will take care of itself.
James 2:14-26 says:
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Way too may people live in the “oughtta” regions of life. They say “Someone oughtta fill in the blank .”
It is my observation that when God shows you a need (an “oughtta”) he is probably calling you to be a part of that need’s solution. He is not calling you to think about it …. He is calling you to act!
There are a lot of “oughttas” that go undone because we want someone else to do what God is showing us.
Ministry never happens in the “oughtta” regions. God does not bless the “oughttas.” God blesses the doers.
If you want to see the power of God really come alive – if you want to see God do something life-giving and thoroughly jaw-dropping then say “yes Lord” to the oughtta that he is showing you.
God moves and blesses when we act. I am studying Hebrews this year in my private worship time. I have re-learned a new lesson in that study … faith is only blessed when it is real faith and real faith means we follow God into circumstances where he either parts the waters or we look foolish … or die.
It is only when we are placing one foot in the water that God can really show his power and bless us. If we do not understand this then we do not understand “the power of God?”
Many of us modern conservative Christians do not believe in the power of God any more than these ancient conservatives did … we show it in how we live.
The passage we read earlier from 1 Kings 18 is a good illustration of what it means to understand and live in God’s power. Elijah knew God was calling Him to something and He so trusted God’s leading that he was willing to be placed in a situation where God would use Him greatly or he would look foolish. Elijah was NOT an “oughtta” kind of follower. I’d rather live like Elijah than these Sadducees.
I refer to this kind of thinking as “I Shall Not Move! thinking” We do not move because to do not understand or believe in God’s power. It is fine when it is a topic to be talked about to living in the regions of life that require us to depend on His power is another story altogether.
WRAP-UP
We can learn lessons from the Sadducees.
Some of us are guilty of saying “I SHALL NOT BE MOVED!” And what we mean by that is that our Biblical beliefs and views are so entrenched that they are not negotiable. Beware … you may be guilty opposing truth while all along thinking you are spiritual and right.
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).
Some of us are guilty of saying “I SHALL NOT MOVE!” And thereby we fail to see God’s power work through us. We are content to be an “oughtta” rather than a “doer.”
Christ calls us to better things.
He Who Has Ears to Hear
Let Him Hear.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam (New York) Church of the Nazarene
www.potsdam-naz.org
