The Secret, The Reason, The Realisation, The Sacrifice
Get everyone to stand - Need to conduct a bit of a survey, People think better on their feet
Q1 Sit down if you’ve never had a secret before.
Q2 Sit if you don’t have some secrets in your life now that you don’t want anyone else to know about.
Q3 Sit if you have always understood why God does thing.
- That is great because those people left standing might find this mornings sermon relevant because it means you have at least one thing in common with Jesus (Secrets) and another thing in common with the disciples (not understanding why).
- Before you sit, I’d ask one more thing. If you’ve got a bible, reach down and pick it up (If you don’t, we hopefully someone near by will let you share or maybe loan you one. And look, if all else fails, you are already standing so it won’t be much energy expended moving somewhere where you can look at one.
I’ll let you all sit now - but don’t put down those bibles because I’d like you to help me out today and to do that you’ll need your bibles.
Usually, a preacher starts by reading a passage of Scripture and then pulls it apart. Well I’m going to do things a little differently and we’ll get to our key passage a bit later. First up, lets try setting the scene
Hopefully there’ll be 4 distinct sections to this morning’s sermon and the passage I really want to focus on will come in at about the revelation or sacrifice.
Before we have a look at the secret, lets just pause and pray.
The Secret
We’ve all had secrets at one time or another. Jesus was no exception, but his was a curious one. For the first 30 years of his life, Jesus Christ lived a secret. He was God in a man’s body and everyone knew that he was an extraordinary child - perhaps even it had been remarked that he was a perfect child. But the fact that he was God remained a secret.
How do I know? Turn to Mark’s Gospel Chapter 1: 21.
Lets read a bit ... Read 1:21-28
vs 21 Capernaum - about 30km from Nazareth.
vs 22 The People were amazed (vs 22) - If God lived 30 years away for 30 odd years, I think news would have spread. Jesus Christ had a secret that had been kept hidden for the last 30 years. But now that he was about to begin his ministry, he would surely want the whole world to know who he was and what better place to reveal it than in a synagogue. Let’s read on and find out what happens.
vs 23-24 - The secret wasn’t a secret to everyone. Satan and his demons weren’t caught by surprise and this demon let the cat out of the bag - here was the holy one of Israel - God’s own perfect Son. Don’t you just hate when someone steals your thunder like that! But I guess that this was okay as Jesus was about to reveal it himself anyway.
vs 25 - What does Jesus say? Well I don’t think it was in that tone of voice, because Jesus said it sternly - with authority and perhaps a hint of annoyance that his secret was being threatened here. As I read this, I wonder whether the shaking of the man as the evil spirit left was the evil spirit’s fear at encountering and being instructed to do something by God’s Son.
Now this is fairly strange - Jesus Christ was supposed to be here to seek and save everyone who needed saving (the lost people). That’s right isn’t it? I’ve got some blank looks here. Are you still awake? You haven’t put your bibles down have you? Okay. lets just make sure of this so we don’t jump to any wrong conclusions - keep your finger in Mark and turn over with me to John 3:16. You are saying I know that, I don’t have to turn to it, but do you know the 2 verses after it??? Turn with me so we can all read it together John 3:16-18 - Those who have got the NIV version, read loud. Those with other’s read even louder. Let’s go
Who ever believes will be saved. Who do we have to believe in? - Jesus as God’s Son.
Rhetorical question coming up (don’t answer me ....) How can I believe in some one who I know nothing about - who is living a secret and trying to keep that which I am to believe hidden?
Lets go back to Mark 1 and see if this was an isolated incidence... Look in Verse 32. Jesus had just healed Peter’s mother-in-law and news was spreading that there was a new healer in town that had some pretty effective remedies. All the sick and diseased were queuing up to be healed in turn and Jesus was healing all of them. Lets read from verse 32 - 34. Same thing - Jesus was trying to keep his secret.
Going on a bit to Verse 40 - A man with leprosy approaches Jesus.
- Verse 42 - Does he get healed?
- Verse 43 & 44 - after being healed, Jesus told him to go out and tell everyone what had happened. Right? No it wasn’t. Who was he allowed to tell? - No one
Do you see a trend here? Let me complete the picture. In the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, out of 7 accounts of healings, 5 are sworn to secrecy. Only 2 don’t have this condition recorded.
Application: Why didn’t Christ reveal himself to all those around? If it was us, everyone far and wide would have known before we left the toddler stage I’m sure. God often works in mysterious ways that we don’t understand. Too often, we condemn him because we don’t understand the big picture and believe that he just doesn’t know what he is doing, doesn’t care or worse still, doesn’t exist. It’s like a cartoon I once read. There was a kid in his pyjamas kneeling beside his bed praying “My Mom says there’s no way I can have a dirt bike, so I guess you better make it a pony instead.” We’ve all had similar experiences, where things don’t go as we would like them too. That doesn’t mean that God is not there, it is just that God’s way are not our own.
Lesson 1. God’s ways are not our ways.
The Reason
To find the reason for the mystery, we need to look at the two exceptions.
The first of these is the story about the Paralytic man let down through the roof. Mark 2:1ff - Jesus saw his need and healed him? Not physically - not initially anyway. But he did heal his sin problem. He said your sins are healed and because those around were a bit skeptical, Jesus offered to prove to them that he had this authority by healing the man physically. It didn’t seem to concern him in this instance that people understood who he really was.
The healing miracle was a proof of his divinity - that he was God’s son. The audience that he wanted to prove something to were the skeptics - the teachers of the law or scribes, not the masses. They were critics and remained critics, plotting with the Pharisees and Saducees to kill him. This is important as we will see.
The second instance gives us the clue we really need to solve the mystery... Mark 5:1
vs 1 - Gerasenes- The other side of Lake of Galilee. In an area called the Decaoplis (10 Cities). This was a predominantly Greek area, though no doubt had some Jewish population
vs 6-7 - Jesus Christ didn’t rebuke the demon. Maybe it was because, no one was around, but there were pig tenders on a nearby hill who were probably watching with interest and they definitely knew what had happened as they were able to recount the events in vs 16.
vs 19-20 - Go and tell your family what the Lord has done for you ... A Stark Contrast to the other healings... Why??
The Reason lies in the audience ...
On all other occasions, the audience was predominantly Jewish. But here is was a Greek region and probably Greek Onlookers (they were after all looking after pigs which were unclean to the Jews.
Why the difference? Well to understand the difference, we need a short history lesson. At the time of the New Testament, the “civilised world” was under Roman control. The Jews longed for independence. Actually they had been longing for independence for most of the 400 years between the Old Testament and New Testament.
- You might remember that the people of Judah were carried off into exile by Babylon (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego). That was in 586BC.
- The Babylonians were conquered by Persia in 536 and it was Cyrus that allowed some of the captive Jews to return home and rebuild Jerusalem
- The Greeks took over for a short period with Alexander the Great before the Israel nation was put under Egyptian and Syrian control for over 150 years.
- For 3 years the Israelites won their independence through the maccabean revolt, but shortly after the Romans took over.
The Jews held firmly to the belief that they were God’s chosen people and that one day God would send a Messiah to save them. In so doing, he would set up a kingdom that would last into eternity. Many prophesies existed concerning this e.g Is 9:6-7.
The Messiah they were looking for would be a conquering king - a might warrior. This was very different to the plan that God had.
These were the expectations confronting Christ. If he’d gone around proclaiming himself openly to the be Messiah, the fervour that this would have raised would have gotten quickly out of control.
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Yes, - Jesus Christ was going to establish a kingdom - it was to be a spiritual kingdom
- Jesus Christ was going to bring freedom and release - it was to be over Sin and Satan’s bondage
- Jesus Christ was going to reign forever - as Lord
The way of achieving this was to die a sacrificial death for one and for all, but this was so far removed from the expectations of the Jews that it was not even considered feasible.
So Why the secret?
1. God’s ways are different to Men’s
2. Men can’t Understand God’s Ways - The Jews had the wrong idea and this would have threatened God’s plan. What if they had proclaimed him as the new king and raised an army and put him at the head. I’m not sure that the Roman’s would have tolerated it. They would have had him done away with. But isn’t that what happened anyway? Yes, but it was in the right time?
3. God’s plan & timing is perfect. Jesus didn’t try to reach the world, but focused on a small group of 12. Jesus knew about the multiplication principle. He was here to make the greatest impact he could and that was by discipline up others who could continue the work after he left. That is why he couldn’t die before his time - his disciples wouldn’t have been ready to carry on the work of building the church.
Application : This is often much like our own experiences. We too often try to squeeze Jesus into a box that we have designed for him. The Messiah we are looking for is only a loving one, or one that satisfies the desires of our heart or is forgiving. We forget about the more unpleasant aspects of his nature like his holiness, his demand for righteousness and his refining process. Like the Jews we are guilty often of not seeing the big picture.
Lesson 2. Accept God for who he is - all of him. We need to be open enough to see who God really is and not try to make him a God who we are happy to serve.
The Revelation
Well lets move on in the story. When did Christ finally reveal himself and his purposes?
I hope you’ve still got your bibles open, because we need to go to Mark 8:27-38.
Here we have a record of a casual conversation that turned into a watershed in the disciple’s training course. Up to this moment they’d seen enough miracles to convince them that Jesus was pretty special (healings, walking on water, healings, calming of storms, healings, feeding huge crowds, healings, etc). You’d be surprised if they couldn’t answer this question correctly couldn’t you.
But now the teacher was setting the exam and the disciples had to pass. What was the question? Verse 27 ...
It is interesting that Jesus warns the disciples not to tell anyone still. Why? because they still didn’t have a full understanding of his purposes. They could identify him as the Messiah, but they still didn’t understand his purpose.
Application : Just like the disciples, there is a time in each of our lives where we have to answer the same question about Jesus. There are really 3 answers to the question aren’t there - he could either be a down right liar, a raving lunatic or the Lord.
Lesson 3. We need to come to that point of confessing God as our Messiah - we need to respond to him, just as the disciples did.
The Sacrifice
We’re on the homeward stretch and so was Jesus and the disciples. They were heading towards the cross, unbeknownst to the disciples - for a brief instant anyway.
Follow in your bibles again from Verse 31. The disciples had passed their exams and now the new lessons were beginning. Jesus could now begin to reveal to them his true plan.
Vs 31
This was not a new thing. It had also been prophesied in the Old Testament, but the Jews didn’t understand it. Is 53:3,5,7,10
The main error with the Jews understanding was that their thinking was limited to the physical rather than the spiritual. The spiritual work of saving a world from sin needed a sacrifice. Before Christ could be the conquering king, he had to be the suffering servant. Peter, being a good Jew was no different. He did not grasp that the work of the Messiah was spiritual.
Vs 32-33
It would be easy to leave the story there, it has a bit of nice ending don’t you think... Christ dying so that all we wicked sinners could be forgiven and live happily ever after. But Christ wasn’t the only one to be sacrificed.
Vs 34-38
The challenge that Christ leaves at our feet is to deny ourselves and submit to his plan (the plan that is perfect, but may not make any sense to us, the plan that is good, but may not be the way we would chose)
Just like the Jew’s had different expectations for their Messiah and their salvation, so our plans for our lives will likely be very different to what God’s plan for our lives is.
Jesus Christ has just 3 requirements for his followers Vs 34
1. Deny themselves
2. Take up their crosses daily
3. Follow Him
Lesson 4. We need to give our lives to him in sacrifice.
He could have had a whole list ... he could have said “ If people wish to come after me, they must have a strong work ethic, a winsome personality, an IQ of at least 150, be educated of course, be attractive, have good table manners, ...” But instead he had just 3
1. To deny yourself is to put his will above our own
2. To Take up our Cross.... Only condemned criminals going to execution carried their crosses. Those that carried their crosses never returned. Similarly, those who wish to be Christ’s disciples must die to self contredanses and self-absorption - to give up our plans, expectations & dreams that don’t line up with his plan for our lives
3. To Follow Him and his example of love, self sacrifice, intimacy with God
The challenge I want to leave with you is that of the cross - we need to give our lives over to his control.
So we’ve had four points and four lessons
The Secret - God’s Ways are not our ways
The Reason - We need to accept God for who he is
The Response - We need to respond to God as Messiah
The Sacrifice - We need to give our lives to him in sacrifice.
