Certainty in Uncertainty (Mark 11:1-11)
Some time ago, I came across an article from The Futurist magazine, which listed some of the worst predictions of all time. They are very interesting. For example:
A Roman engineer, Julius Sextus Frontinus, in A.D. 100 said, “Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further developments.”
In 1873, John Eric Ericksen, surgeon to Queen Victoria stated, “The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.”
Here’s a good one. In 1893, Junius Henri Browne, a journalist, predicted that “Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed.” Don’t you wish that were true?
In 1895, Albert Einstein’s teacher said to Einstein’s father, “It doesn't matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.” That teacher couldn’t have been more wrong.
Just like the computer scientist, John von Neumann, who in 1949 said, “It would appear we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology.”
Then there was Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, who in 1954 said, “The Japanese don't make anything the people in the U.S. would want.” (What about Toyota, Honda, Toshiba, or Soni)
On June 10, 1955, Alex Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Vacuum Cleaner Company was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “Nuclear powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years.”
Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors said in 1986, “By the turn of the century, we will live in a paperless society.”
And Bob Metcalfe wrote in a 1995 issue of InfoWorld, “I predict the Internet . . . will go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.” (Laura Lee, The Futurist, September/October, 2000, p. 20-25; www.PreachingToday.com)
All these experts made all these predictions with near absolute certainty, but we laugh at them today, because they were so wrong. I for one am glad that they were wrong in most cases, but it just goes to show you that nobody really knows the future.
Now, for some people, that can be scary. It can be unsettling for many to walk into an uncertain future, especially these days with Christians coming under increasing attack in our own country, the financial insecurity of our nation and so many people, and Russia on the rise again along with terrorists hell-bent on destroying our way of life.
These are uncertain times, so how do we live in such times? How do we behave in seasons of uncertainty and fear? How are we to respond in these times in which we find ourselves?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 11, Mark 11, where Jesus’ first disciples follow Him into a city where its leaders had threatened to kill Him. It was a dangerous time for these disciples, and many of them were afraid (Mark 10:32). Even so, they show us how to live in such times.
Mark 11:1-11 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. (ESV)
Jerusalem was the place where its leaders wanted Jesus dead, but that doesn’t seem to concern Jesus one bit. On the contrary, Jesus is in absolute control here. He is Lord. He is King. He is sovereign.
Notice, He tells his disciples exactly what they’ll find when they enter the next village. He tells them what somebody will say, and He tells them how to answer (vs.2-3). Jesus is in absolute control of the situation here, not to mention that he rides the colt of a donkey “which no one has ever ridden” (vs.2). Now, if you or I would try to ride an unbroken colt, we’d both find ourselves on the ground. Not Jesus. There is no indication that this colt bucked or even balked. Jesus is in complete control! He is the King!
Look at the following paragraph and see if you can read it (on PowerPoint): The hmuan mnid is a wndoreullfy cpoemlx oargn. You see? It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aearpr, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the human mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig isn't it? (www.PreachingToday.com)
Our lives are like that sometimes. They don’t always make sense, but those are the times when we need to step back and remember that Jesus Christ is the One who controls the end from the beginning. In fact, He IS the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.
So when things in the middle don’t make sense, we can rest assured that one day it will all become perfectly clear. Jesus is sovereign. He is in control.
So the best thing to do in these uncertain times is to obey him like His first disciples did. Just do what He says.
Jesus told them to go and they went. Jesus told them to untie a colt and they did. Jesus told them what to say when somebody objected and “they answered as Jesus told them to” (vs.6). In a time of fear and uncertainty, Jesus disciples were very careful to do exactly what He told them to do. And that’s what we must do if we want to survive and thrive in these days of fear and uncertainty.
Anne Graham Lotz says that when she and her husband, Denny, attend football games at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, thousands of people cram in the parking lots, and she can't see where she's going. However, her husband, a head taller at 6’7”, can look over the crowd, so he takes her hand and leads them to their seats.
“The way I get from the car to my seat is just by holding his hand and following him closely through the crowd,” Lotz says. In the same way, she says, “I just try to faithfully follow the Lord step by step and day by day.” (Randy Bishop, “Just Give Me Jesus,” Christian Reader, September/October 2000, p.25; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s the only thing we can do when we can’t see ahead – follow the Lord step-by-step. That means doing what we know HE wants us to do, even if it doesn’t always make sense to us.
Jim George, in his book, God’s Man of Influence, talks about trying to sell a used boat trailer in the middle of winter. It was hardly 30 degrees outside, and no one was boating.
Then a potential buyer contacted George. The buyer was even willing to pay George’s asking price, but there was only one catch. The buyer wanted George to put only half the price of the trailer on the bill of sale. “That's the way we do it in these parts,” the buyer explained. That way he would only have to pay half the state sales tax, which amounted to several hundred dollars.
George said, “My first thought was, I really want to sell that trailer, and if I say no, he might back out, and I may not find anyone else who'll pay my asking price. If I agree, I'll be lying—not to mention breaking the law—but who would know?” George said, “I knew what I should do, but still I was having this inner struggle.”
He told the buyer he was a Christian and couldn't do anything illegal. The man went ahead and bought the trailer anyway, and George declared the full amount on the bill of sale, but he was prepared to lose the sale to be obedient to God's standards. (Jim George, God's Man of Influence, Harvest, 2003; www.PreachingToday.com)
My friends, as followers of Christ, that’s what we need to do at all times, but especially in these times of fear and uncertainty. Jesus knows what’s ahead; we don’t. So it’s best for us to follow His directions, not our own. How should we live in these times? First…
OBEY CHRIST AS YOUR SOVEREIGN.
Just do what the King says. Then second…
FOLLOW CHRIST AS YOUR SERVANT.
Imitate the Lord who humbled himself. Emulate the Sovereign king who subjected himself to his own creation.
Nearly 500 years before Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, Zechariah, the prophet said, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9, NIV).
Jesus did not come riding into Jerusalem on a white horse to conquer and rule. He came on a donkey humbly and as a servant. Earlier in Mark, Jesus Himself said, “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Sure, they’re waving the palm branches here. Sure, they’re putting their cloaks on the road before Him, but that’s not why Jesus came. Jesus did not come to be a celebrity.
Jesus came to be a servant, and He calls us to be servants too. It’s what He’s been saying all along to His disciples as they have been traveling to Jerusalem. He’s been calling them to a life of sacrificial service.
Mark 8:34 – If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Mark 9:35 – If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. Mark 10:43-44 – Whoever wants to become great among you, must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first, must be slave of all. Jesus, the greatest among us, became our servant; and if we want to walk with Him, we too must serve, especially in times of uncertainty and fear.
Once upon a time, a traveler, walking through the night, saw ahead of him in the dim, rainy mist a monastery with the lights on rising above the horizon. The weather was cold and harsh, so he stopped and knocked on the door. When the abbot came, he said, “May I come in?”
The abbot said, “Not only may you come in, but you may eat with us.” The food was wonderful; the monks were warm; it was a beautiful evening, safe and dry and warm inside, but because the weather was so bad outside, they asked him to stay the night. He agreed provided that they would supply him with a few things. “What is it you want?” they asked.
He said, “If I spend this night with you, I must have in my own room for myself alone this night a pound of butter, a pair of rubber pants, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone.” It was an unusual request, but they scurried around the monastery and found it all. Then as they went to sleep that night, they heard the most awful progression of halftones and squeaks and squawks coming from his room. The next day, the weather continued to be bad, so the monks invited the traveler to stay another night. He agreed to do so, again provided that they let him have that mysterious list of the same things he had the night before: a pound of butter, a pair of rubber pants, a poker, a cricket bat, and a bass saxophone.
Each night the traveler requested those same things, and each night the monks heard the awful noises, until finally it was time for him to leave. The old abbot walked him to the door and said, “We were glad to supply all of those things, but would you mind telling me why you asked for them?”
The stranger said, “Well, it is a family secret. It has been in our family for years and years, but if you promise not to tell another living soul, I'll tell you.” And so he told the old abbot all his heart, and the abbot, being a man of his word, never told another living soul. And so we shall never know. (Calvin Miller, “The Mind of a Servant,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 51; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s life. We don’t always know the reason why, but Christ calls us to serve one another anyway.
How are we to live in times of uncertainty and fear? 1st, Obey Christ as your Sovereign Lord. 2nd, Follow Christ as your Servant. & Finally…
TRUST CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR.
Depend on the Lord to deliver you from sin. Rely on Jesus to rescue you from ruin.
You see, Jesus came to be our savior from sin and its ruinous effects. The people are shouting, “Hosanna!” in verses 9 & 10. Now, by Jesus’ day, the word came to mean nothing more than an enthusiastic welcome or hello. Sometimes we say “Howdy” just as a greeting without thinking about what it really means – “How are you doing?” Well, a lot of the people in Jesus’ day used “Hosanna” in the same way. They shouted it to each other as they made their pilgrimages to Jerusalem without thinking about its real meaning.
But the word has a rich etymology. It’s actually a Hebrew phrase right out of Psalm 118, and it means, “Save us now! Save us now!” Though most of the people didn’t realize it, they were actually calling on Jesus to save them.
Now, had they realized it, they would be thinking in terms of political salvation, or salvation from Roman oppression. But that’s not why Jesus came. No. He came to save us from our sins.
You see, most of the pilgrims were coming to Jerusalem at this Passover time WITH a sacrifice. They were coming WITH a lamb that they were going to offer for their own sins. Jesus, on the other hand, was coming to Jerusalem AS the sacrifice. He came AS the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
That’s what the cross was all about. Jesus came to die for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to die. Jesus came to be punished in our place for our sins, so we could be preserved from judgment.
Bryan Chapell in his book, The Wonder of It All, writes about a distressed father who sat at the bedside of his comatose son. He was hurt playing basketball. At a crucial point in the game, the 16-year-old lunged for a pass going out of bounds and toppled over a spectator’s chair. One of its legs caught him in the stomach and damaged vital organs. But the teen felt little pain, so he continued to play the game's final minutes while he hemorrhaged internally. By the time the pain got bad enough to take him to the hospital, it was almost too late. The doctors worked frantically to save him, but the outcome was uncertain.
The boy eventually recovered, but those awful hours of waiting for the slightest signs of recovery forced his family to ask questions they had never before faced. The father was alone at his bedside one evening when a pastor visited. Trembling with emotion, the father asked, “Will God kill my son to punish my sin?”
“No,” said the young minister, searching for just the right words to comfort this grieving father. “The Lord is not punishing your son for your sin. He couldn't, because God punished his son for your sin.” (Bryan Chapell, The Wonder of It All, Crossway, 1999; www.PreachingToday.com)
You see, that’s why Jesus came – to be punished instead of us for our sins. He came to be our Savior from sin.
All we need to do is trust him. All we need to do is depend on Him to deliver us from our own sin. Don’t trust yourself. Don’t trust in your own efforts at self-improvement. Instead, trust Jesus with your life, and He will give you eternal life. He will give you hope in these uncertain times, and you will have the assurance of a grand and glorious future.
Several years ago, a national magazine assigned a photographer to take pictures of a forest fire. They told him a small plane would be waiting at the airport to fly him over the fire.
The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane stood waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, “Let's go!” The pilot, a tense-looking man, turned the plane into the wind, and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.
“Fly over the north side of the fire,” said the photographer, “and make several low-level passes.”
“Why?” asked the nervous pilot.
“Because I’m going to take pictures!” yelled the photographer. “I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures.”
The pilot replied, “You mean you’re not the flight instructor?” (Brett Kays, www.PreachingToday.com)
You have to be careful who you trust, especially when you’re going through the fiery trials of this life. In fact, the only one you can trust with your life and your final destiny is Jesus, our Savior from sin.
What’s the best way to live in uncertain and dangerous times? It’s simple. Just trust Christ as your Savior. Follow Him as your Servant, and obey Him as your Sovereign.
