Text: Mark 12:35-40, Title: I’ll Have the Combo, Date/Place: NRBC, 11/23/08, AM
A. Opening illustration: talk about going to Wendy’s and getting to select your side item in your combo meal to make it what you want, and how many restaurants are going to this idea, b/c everybody like to personalize…
B. Background to passage: After the religious leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, elders, etc.) stopped questioning Jesus, Jesus finishes his day of public teaching with a question for all the religious leaders about his own identity, or that of the Messiah. And in this question, he calls them to task for their lack of an adequate understanding of who the Messiah would be with scripture. Then he warns the people not to follow after their example.
C. Main thought: Jesus tells us that we must have correct theology AND correct practice—a combo pack
A. Know the Messiah (v. 35-37)
1. Again we must remember that He is speaking in the temple to the religious leaders of His day. And so He quotes Psalm 110:1, and asks a pointed theological question. His question relates to their understanding of the Messiah’s nature. Messianic anticipation was high, and there were many things that people were looking for as commonly accepted signs of the Messiah. And certain catch words and phrases were used to promote what they thought about Him. But here Jesus asks them to explain why David calls his son “Lord,” for this was not even remotely common in their culture, neither in David’s day, nor in Jesus’. Explain the Hebrew text. They were stumped—no answer was even proposed. This really messed up their view of Messiah publicly. And these were the experts! Can you imagine telling the seminary professors that they don’t know their own subject? And of course, the implication of His interpretation was that the Messiah was not only the Son of David, but the Son of God—which was way bigger.
2. Luke 24:27, John 5:39, 1:45, Judges 2:10, 1 Sam 2:12, Jer 31:34,
3. Illustration: "Well, I don’t see why I should get my hair cut to drive the car. Jesus had long hair, didn’t he?" The father looked at his boy and said, "That’s right, son and Jesus walked everywhere he went." Tell about the Dear Abby column this week with promiscuous old high school friend/roommate, “Balanced biblical Christianity is a rare phenomenon. It seems to be a characteristic of our fallen minds that we find it easier to grasp half-truths than to grasp the whole truth, and in consequence we become lopsided Christians.” –John Stott, You don’t know how much do don’t know until you start trying to teach something adequately to someone else,
4. Scriptural knowledge, interpretation, and systematic theology are all areas of weakness in the contemporary church. And the congregations approach has been, “that’s what we pay you for.” Unfortunately this attitude has created the mentality that only ministers need training, and training from a school is good enough. And all the bible questions can be answered by the one that we pay for that. One obvious implication is that the paid staff could be wrong! Of course, not many people around here blindly follow the staff, most don’t follow at all. Why would God give us leaders, and give leaders vision, and appoint them as undershepherds if He didn’t want them to lead. But back to the original point. But biblically the fathers (specifically, and parents generally) are presented as the teachers in the home. And the bible promises that the disciple will be just like his teacher. So, if mom/dad know no bible, kids will know no bible. Seize opportunities to teach your children spiritual truth from scripture. Make them if there aren’t enough. Family church is a great place for this. You don’t know enough about Jesus. There is always more to be learned, to be studied. Don’t be afraid to question the answers you already know. If you question truth, and you search it out, you will find more truth. Make sure that what you know about Him is accurate. Make Him known to others as He really is. And knowing theology, interpretation, and scripture will greatly benefit our church as we grow in depth. It will cut down on drama within the church. It will focus our eyes upon the proper priorities. It will spread the labor around from the few to the many. It will guard and protect your life and that of your family.
B. Live out His Commands (v. 38-40)
1. Jesus seizes the opportunity to instruct the crowd against the hypocrisy that had infiltrated the religious elite. So now not only had Jesus called into question the fullness of their knowledge of serious matters, but was exposing their false fronts and impious motivations for what they do. He said that they long to walk around in long robes, receive greetings, sit in the best seats, and prayed long prayers for show. All these things pointed to their main desires—fame, prestige, and men’s applause. The other thing that He pointed out was their greed at the expense of the easily taken advantage of. This was blasphemy. Remember Jesus was the harshest against those who claim to be believers, and who didn’t back it up. Jesus says don’t be like the hypocrites who bring shame to my name by their actions, attitudes, and lifestyles. He promises that they will receive a greater condemnation.
2. Matt 20:26-27, 23:13, 7:5, Titus 2:5, 10, 1 Tim 6:1, Acts 2:24,
3. Illustration: “Those who present to God a few moments worship in church once a week while ignoring God in the rest of life—at work, at home, at play—will suffer from religious schizophrenia.” –commentator, Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble." Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, "critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive." "There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news, Zander said. "We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence. Everything counts--all the time." "With previous generations, a strong preacher could give a good message, even if the church was hypocritical and critical and people would still get saved," Zander continued, "but not any more. I’m seeing a change in what seekers are looking for. Not something they can relate to. They are looking for a transcendent God. They don’t want to be entertained they want to be transformed." “The indictment that we must receive is that the Christian faith as we express it is no longer seen as a viable spiritual option. Masses gave the church a try and left wanting. We accuse them of not being willing to surrender to God; they accuse us of not knowing him. People are rejecting Christ because of the church. Once we were called Christians by an unbelieving world, and now we call ourselves Christians and the world calls us hypocrites. Is it possible that it wasn’t the nation that was becoming dangerously secular but the church? We were neither relevant nor transcendent. We have become, in the worst of ways, religious. We are the founders of the secular nation.” What an indictment But I believe that he may be putting his finger on where the problem possibly lies. The world is drawn to Jesus (as we saw when millions went to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ), but the world is often put off by the church. We have to take an honest look to see why this is happening. Are we fulfilling the mission and purpose of the church, or have we missed it in some significant way? Are we turning people to Christ or turning them away from him? It is an uncomfortable question we must face.” –Erwin McManus, A salty pagan, full of the juices of life, is a hundred times dearer to God, and also far more attractive to men, than a scribe who knows his Bible ... in whom none of this results in repentance, action, and above all, death of the self. A terrible curse hangs over the know-it-all who does nothing.
4. In my humble, but accurate opinion, hypocrisy is probably the greatest problem that the modern, western, evangelical church has. We have thousands of so called believers that do not act like believers. I was explaining the concept of redemptive accountability to someone the other day, and they stood in awe, confused, but willing to listen. Jesus wants real disciples, some churches want real disciples, and the world really wants to see something real. We must declare an all out war against hypocrisy. We must not tolerate it in the least. Tolerate mountains of sin from unbelievers not claiming to be Christians. But nothing from believers. And we must begin with ourselves. Rid your life of things that don’t adorn the name of Christ with accolades of praise and honor. Confront it lovingly in others. Get back to biblical life choices
Closing illustration: However, I wonder. Could there be more to the Christian life than just correct belief?
The early Jews thought so. To the Jews it was not only about what you believed, but how you lived it. They had law after law that dictated daily life, and the whole purpose of the rabbi or the spiritual leaders of the time was to teach orthopraxis, correct practice.
Jesus thought so. To Jesus, it wasn’t enough just to preach the Kingdom, but to live it. He lived out every single one of his teachings, his beliefs. He healed, he lived in poverty, he dined with the undesired. When there wasn’t enough bread and fish, he told the disciples, “you feed them,” before teaching them the significance of the moment. And in the ultimate act of correct practice, he died on the cross for you and me to live out that “there is not greater love than this that a man would lay down his life for another.”
The early church thought so. Has it ever occurred to you that one of the first biblical texts ever written after the gospels were on the “acts” of the apostles. It was a book on correct practice. It was a book that showed what living the right way could do in our lives, but more importantly in the lives of those around us. It was a book that showed how to live out the teachings of “the last will be first,” the belief that “you shall do greater things than these,” and the challenge to love to the point of death.
And then I look at the church today, and I wonder are we really living out the beliefs and truths that we so desperately cling onto. Can we as easily say that we seek orthopraxis as we can say we seek orthodoxy? When we visit and evaluate a church, how often do we ask what is the church doing for the poor and marginalized of the community? When we look for a “statement of faith” how often do we look for a “statement of actions?” When we evaluate a minister, how often so we ask ourselves about his/her character, his/her love for God and people, and his/her praxis? Or even in our own lives. As often as we attend bible studies and listen to sermons, how often do we go and feed the poor or love the unlovable? How often do we ask how can I live better? How can I represent Jesus better? How can I live up to the call to be his hands and his feet?
I have a growing realization that as good as it is to seek truth and proper belief that often the over pursuit of these things can leave us in a state of physical paralysis. A state where our mind is being engaged, and perhaps even heart being shaped, but where we are unable to be the Church God had in mind. That instead of being a blessing, we are more of a curse to those around us. And I often wonder if perhaps the angst of this pent up longing for action is what causes out to lash out at each other. That instead of being the blessing to this earth that Jesus called us to be, we become dogmatic and our zeal and passion is turned into criticism and rage against one another.
And so at the end of this drawn out thought, I end the way I started in saying that I am also an Orthoprax Christian. In the strictest sense of the word. In the original language, ortho meant “correct” or “right.” Praxis meant “practice.” So I am orthoprax. At least I seek to be. I seek to live correctly. To live out what I belief is true. I seek to feed the poor, find the lost, and set free the captive. I seek to heal and bring miraculous restoration to the sick and broken. I long to love those to are unlovable, and extend grace to those who are unforgivable. I seek to sell all my possessions and count nothing as my own. To live up to the challenge to feed His sheep. I live in the Kingdom that is here and is also coming. I eat the body, and drink the blood of Christ as I consider those around me better then myself, and I wash their feet. I follow God in all things, and try to listen to what he is saying over me. I not only seek believe, but I seek live.
A.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
