Divine Interference
Mark 11:27-12:12
How many of you have ever heard of Murphy’s Law? “if anything can go wrong, it will.” Have you heard of some other laws that correspond to Murphy’s Law? Such as:
- Everything takes longer than you expect.
- Left to themselves, all things go from bad to worse.
- If everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.
- The other line moves faster. If you change lines, then the other line—the one you were in originally—will move faster.
- All papers that you save will never be needed until such time as they are disposed of, when they become essential. - John Corcoran
- When you come in late for work, everybody notices; when you work late, nobody notices.
- Checks are always delayed in the mail. Bills arrive or time or sooner.
- When you’re right, nobody remembers; when you’re wrong, nobody forgets.
Whoever came up with all of these laws for life was also making an observation about life: no matter how you plan or prepare, something always interferes. Someone always does something to frustrate your plans; somebody or something is always gumming up the works in some unexpected way. This morning, I want to point out Someone Who has a habit of interfering with our lives: Jesus Christ.
Do you remember the last time the Lord interfered in your life? We are creatures who gravitate toward comfort zones, where everything is nice and predictable, where we think we have a pretty good handle on life. You don’t expect to live trouble free, but you like to think you can maintain a certain amount of control over your circumstances. Even if life cannot be perfect, you like to think that you have a pretty good grip on things.
Then God starts to meddle with things. He pricks your conscience about some sinful habit that you want to ignore. He reminds you that you need to be reconciled to someone that you did wrong. He keeps bringing up some promises you made to Him that you haven’t kept. He starts teaching you some lessons you don’t really want to learn. Right when things get comfortable, God starts to upset the applecart. He just won’t let sleeping dogs lie. And sometimes, if you are really honest, you don’t appreciate it. You wish the Lord would just leave well enough alone, sometimes.
Jesus had a habit of interfering with other people’s comfort zones. In fact, the last week of His life on earth, His interference really annoyed a certain group of people so much, they confront Him and try to stop His meddling in their lives. His answer to them is an answer to all of us about Jesus’ right to interfere in your life. Let’s read about it in Mark 11:27.
I. WHAT RIGHT DOES JESUS HAVE A RIGHT TO INTERFERE? (v. 27-28)
This passage takes place on Tuesday of the week before Jesus is crucified. Sunday He rides into town like a king, with everybody praising Him. Monday He went on a rampage in the Temple, driving out all of the moneychangers. Now He comes back this morning, strolling through the Temple, daring anybody else to start back up their businesses. He acts like He owns the place! This was too much for a group of men who think they own the place.
The chief priests, scribes, and the elders were all members of the Sanhedrin- the Jewish Supreme court, if you will. They send a deputation to talk to this upstart Carpenter turned Teacher. Basically they ask Him a two-pronged question: Who do you think you are? What gives You the right to interfere with these people in this Temple? Who gave you the authority to come riding into town like royalty? You can hear the accusation in their voice. They outraged that Jesus would dare to meddle in things that are not His concern.
And we still do the same thing today. Oh we don’t mind if Jesus stays at church, safe from our everyday life, where He won’t interfere. It’s great that we can pray, and talk Him into helping us out of a jam, but we don’t want Jesus making us look weird in front of our friends. Reading about Jesus in the Bible is OK, but I don’t really want to bring Him up too much in conversation- it might make the person I’m speaking too a little uncomfortable.
You know I love you, Lord, but I don’t really have much time to pray at home, or read my Bible. I have a pretty tight schedule, and I just cannot make it back to church on Sunday nights, or Wednesday might. Lord, I really don’t feel like I can help out in that area where you want me to serve. Can you get somebody else, please? And Lord, you know I love you, but don’t interfere with how much money I give, or how I spend my paycheck. Jesus I’ll serve you and love you, but please don’t interfere with my friends, or my job, or my school, or my time, or my plans. Whenever you have this kind of attitude, you are asking the same question these men were asking: Jesus, what right do you have to interfere in my life?
The present position of Christ…may be likened to that of a king in a limited constitutional monarchy. The king…is in such a country no more than…a pleasant symbol of unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. …his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver the tame, colorless speech put into his mouth by the real rulers of the country.- A.W. Tozer
That is the way people like these men want God to be: king in name only, never interfering with their lives. But Jesus will have none of this kind of thinking. Jesus answers this question with a stunning brilliance. What gives Him the right to interfere with your life?
II. BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS. (v. 29-33; 12:1-7)
The men who ask Jesus this question are known as experts in religion who intimidate common people. They probably think they are so important they intimidate Jesus. They are wrong. He immediately takes control of the conversation, and basically throws the question back to them: if you want to know what right I have to interfere, then you have to get the answer to another question correct first. Tell me: was John the Baptist a prophet of God, or just another religious fanatic? Go ahead- tell Me!
Wait a minute. Why bring John into this? He’s been dead for awhile now. What has he got to do with this? Think back with me to John’s preaching. Back in John 1, these guys from Jerusalem had sent a deputation to John asking him who he was, and what he came to do. Remember what he told them?
Jn 1:23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”… 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!... 34And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
John very clearly told everybody who would listen Who Jesus was: the Savior of God, the Son of God. Now Jesus looks these hypocrites straight in the eye and say, Either John was lying, or else he was a prophet of God. Which is it, fellas?
These men are not dummies. They see what Jesus is asking them, and they want to avoid taking either side. Notice they are not really interested in saying what they really think. They didn’t believe John’s message. After all, he had called them a bunch of snakes! But they are too afraid of the crowd, because they recognized John as God’s prophet. If they admitted John was sent by God, then Jesus could say Well why don’t you believe what he said about Me?
So these self-important, self-righteous bunch of cowards try to wriggle out of their own trap. We give up. We don’t know whether John was sent by God or not.
Wrong answer. Jesus smiles at them and tells them Guys, if you weren’t willing to listen to God speak through John, you won’t listen to what I say. I won’t waste my breath telling you what you have already decided not to believe, I’ll tell you what I will do though- I’ll tell you a story to help you understand.
Once upon a time there was a man who owned a vineyard. He took good care of his vineyard: put a fence around it to keep out the animals, built a storage tower for the wine, and built a tower to oversee it. He rents out his vineyard to some tenant farmers who agree to live on the land for free as long as they tend the vineyard and sent a portion of the crop to the owner. They agreed to do this, and so later, when the grape harvest was over, the owner sends one of his servants to collect his share of the harvest.
But instead of giving him what was due, they beat the servant, and sent him back empty handed. The owner sends other servants, some of whom were beaten, others killed. Finally, the owner sent his only son to collect the fruit of the vineyard. “Surely” he said, “they will respect my son.” But these wicked farmers assume the landowner must be dead, so they kill the son, hoping to take over the vineyard for themselves. “What will the landowner do now?” Jesus asks, and then answers, “He will come and destroy these murderers, and give his vineyard to others.” The He quotes Psalm 118:22-23 : The One they rejected has become the most important Person- This is God’s marvelous plan!
Now just in case you missed some of the meaning of this story, let me explain some of the symbolism here. When Jesus spoke of a vineyard, any Jew would immediately thought of OT passages such as Isaiah 5:1-7, where Israel is portrayed as God’s vineyard. The owner is God, the vineyard is Israel, and the farmers are Israel’s leaders. The servants are OT prophets- including John- who bring a message from the owner. The beloved only son is Jesus, Who now not only uncovers this plot to kill Him, but declares Himself to be God’s Son.
If Jesus is God’s Son, and God is pleased with Him (remember the voice from Heaven at His baptism?) then He had every right to “interfere” with anything going on in the Temple. In fact, as God’s Son, He is the Authority when it comes to worshipping God. He has a right to interfere because He is the Son of God.
That’s why He has the right to “interfere” in your life, too. He is not just a good man, or even a good prophet. He is God’s only begotten Son. He is God in the flesh. He is the Lord of all. And He has the right to rule every aspect of your life.
He has the authority to demand your obedience and your worship. He has the right to tell you what is right and wrong. He has the authority to tell you how you should think, how you should feel, how you should live. He has the right to order your circumstances any way He sees fit. He is God, and has absolute authority over everything and everyone- including you.
But don’t forget another reason He has the right to interfere in your life- because He died for you. He bought you back from death by His own blood. He ransomed you when you were on your way to hell. He not only made you, but He made a way for you to be forgiven and accepted by God as His own child. His love gives Him the right to do what is best in your life- even when you don’t understand why or how He does it. Because He is Savior and Lord, He has the right to interfere in your life for His glory, and for your good.
I deserved to be damned in hell, but God interfered. —Salvation Army Officer John Allen
Aren’t you glad Jesus interfered in your life? Shouldn’t you let Him continue to “interfere” in your life? Well, let me make it clear- you don’t have to.
III. YOU CAN REJECT HIS INTERFERENCE (12:8-12)
These chief priests, scribes, and elders might be slow, but not too slow. They realize that Jesus’ story is meant to indict them. They know that they are the wicked tenant farmers, and they would have arrested Jesus then and there and had Him executed if it were not for His popularity among the people. So they angrily stomp off, planning another chance at destroying Him. They have rejected Him, with all of the proof of Who He is staring them in the face. They will get their chance to kill Him, and fulfill the prophecies Jesus makes in their presence. Because you see, God has given us a very perilous gift: the gift of free will. You can reject the Lord’s interference.
That’s right. You can decide to ignore His Word, You can turn a deaf ear to His voice speaking to your heart. You can harden your heart, and go your own way, in spite of His discipline and His warnings.
You can keep running away from God until His voice is a distant echo that barely registers in your soul. Almighty God has given you the power to tell Him hands off of my life! I’ll live like I want to, without your interference.
If you think that’s how you want to live, let me remind you :there is only one place where you will never be bothered by God’s meddling in your affairs. There is one place where He will not convict your heart- one place where you will not have to deal with His constant presence. One place where you can eternally be free from God’s interference: it’s a place the Bible calls hell.
Jesus does not want you to end up in hell. He does not want you to go through life without His love. That is why He interferes in your life. He wants to deliver you and I from destruction. He wants to save us from ourselves, but you must allow Him to interfere with your life. You must choose to surrender to His will, His love, His plans.
I recently read a story by a woman who said that as a girl she was poor. She said, "I grew up in a cold water flat, but I married a man who had money. And he took me up to a place where I had flowers, and I had gardens, and I had grass. It was wonderful. And we had children.
"Then suddenly I became physically sick. I went to the hospital, and the doctors ran all sorts of tests. One night the doctor came into my room, and with a long look on his face, said, ’I’m sorry to tell you this. Your liver has stopped working.’
"I said, ’Doctor, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you telling me that I am dying?’ And he said, ’I, I can’t tell you any more than that. Your liver has stopped working. We’ve done everything we can to start it.’ And he walked out.
"I knew I was dying. I was so weak, I had to feel my way along the corridor down to the chapel of the hospital. I wanted to tell God off. I wanted to tell God, ’You are a shyster! You’ve been passing yourself off as a loving God for two thousand years, but every time anyone begins to get happy you pull the rug out from under them.’ I wanted this to be a face-to-face telling off of God.
"And just as I got into the center aisle of the chapel, I tripped, I swooned, I fainted. And I looked up, and there stenciled along the step into the sanctuary, where the altar is, I saw these words: LORD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER. I know God spoke to me that night. I know he did."
She didn’t say how God communicated this to her, but what God said was, "You know what this is all about. It’s about the moment of surrender; it’s about bringing you to that moment when you will surrender everything to me. These doctors, they do the best they can. but they only treat. I’m the only one who can cure you."
And she said, "There with my head down on my folded arms in the center of the chapel, repeating, ’Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,’ I surrendered to God. I found my way back to my hospital bed, weak as I was.
"The next morning, after the doctor ran the blood tests and the urinalysis and so forth, he said, ’Your liver has started working again. We don’t know why. We don’t know why it stopped, and we don’t know why it started up again.’ And I said in my heart, But I know. Oh but I know. God has brought me to the brink of disaster, just to get me to turn my life over to him." - John Powell, "Prayer as Surrender," Preaching Today, Tape No. 108.
My friend, this is the most dangerous part of this morning’s service. This is the point where I will ask you to make a decision. Are you willing to allow the Son of God, Who gave His life for you, and who demands your absolute surrender- will you allow Him to interfere in your life today? Or will you choose to reject His authority in your life? Will you submit to His will for you, or will you stubbornly hold on to your own life? It is time to choose who will rule and reign in your heart and life.
