It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same. And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, “Rabbi!” And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” And they all left him and fled. And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.” And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]
I want to begin by reading a parable. We've been in this series from the Gospel of Mark, so I want to revisit a parable that Jesus taught that kind of sets the stage for what we're going to be doing even this morning. It's from Mark chapter 4. It's the parable of the sower, and I'd love to read that for us if you can follow along in your physical Bibles, electronic Bibles, or even up there. This is what Jesus taught. He says, He says, A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, And they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew, and produced a crop, some multiplying 30, some 60, some 100 times. Then Jesus said... Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. And so the disciples go back. They ask Jesus, what does this parable mean? Could you explain it to us? And Jesus did, and we have it on record here as well from verse 14. So Jesus says, the farmer sows the word. Some people are like the seed along the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like the seeds sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seeds sown among thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seeds sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, produce a crop, some 30, some 60, some 100 times what was sown. Again, straight, the words of Jesus. I want you to observe that in this parable, the determining factor for fruitfulness, the determining factor for fruitfulness is is not necessarily the messenger, not the message, it's the same word, same messenger, same message, but the soil. The soil referring to our hearts. Same message, same messenger, but our fruitfulness depends on how we receive the Word and how we accept it, and then more importantly, putting that into practice. That is key. There's several other portions of Scripture that talks about us not just being hearers of the Word because it doesn't necessarily do anything, but acting on it, doers of the Word. So here's what I want to do today. You know, we're literally, this is the last week in our series on the gospel of Mark. It's called the Jesus Ways. Over the last four months, we've gone through pretty much every chapter in this gospel. But again, we don't want to move too fast, right? We want to capture what God is telling us from this gospel. Even if it's just one thing, one action step, we want to take time to put that into practice so that we see the fruit. of that in our own lives. So that I want to spark your curiosity. Even try to, you know, if there was something that God spoke into your hearts over the last few weeks to even remind you. Because it's hard, you know. A couple of weeks ago, it just dawned on me how it's literally unfair to ask even the congregation to remember what we preach. Because this was just Tuesday. And I was meeting this guy early in the morning, 630. And he asked me, like, how was your Sunday? I was like, oh, it was great. We had, you know. As usual, it was great. And he goes, what did you preach on? And I completely blanked out. He's standing right before me, and I go, you know what? Give me a second. I got to remember. And it took me a while, but I said, I have to. This is embarrassing right now. I just preached on this two days ago. And I thankfully remembered, so I was able to share that. But I go, that's just how our minds are, right? When we go out of this, you know, it's estimated, research apparently shows that by the time you're at the parking lot, you forget 90% of what was preached today. Right? But none of us, we're not here just to hear God's Word. If you didn't have the heart to put this into practice, you wouldn't even be here. Right? So we want to... almost use this time, use this opportunity to kind of flex our spiritual muscles together, almost being in a spiritual gym, hearing from God what He wants us to do from this gospel and then move forward. So to that end, We have a handout for you that kind of summarizes. Again, this is my vantage point. You might have several other takeaways as well. That's great. But these are seven key takeaways that I want to kind of, you know, give it to you so that it refreshes your memory and then we take that next step. So here's what I'd love for you to do. We're going to go over all of these seven points really as fast as I possibly could. So I'm not going to explain a lot of these. I'd love for you to Look at this from the vantage point of this question that's here on the right side of your handout. What is God saying to you? What tangible action steps, steps, steps, Is he calling you to take? So as we go over, as we refresh our memory, if God's speaking to you, if he's prompting you something, go ahead. Just write down. And you know what? I give you permission. You don't even have to listen to me. If there's a point where God is prompting you and you need to connect with him, you can write, you can pray, you can do whatever you want. I'm not expecting you to listen to this entire message. I want this to be a time we're all gathered together connecting with God and taking tangible steps to put what we learn into action. So that's what we're going to do today. Seven key takeaways from the Gospel of Mark. So let's go. Number one, Jesus is the undisputed Son of God. with authority over every realm of creation. Jesus is the undisputed Son of God. And the gospel writer actually begins with a bang. Mark 1, verse 1, this is how it goes. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So we know his agenda. He comes out and he says, Jesus is God's son. He is God. And he's got authority over every realm of creation. We see that even just in Mark chapter 1. We see glimpses. We just see so many testimonies to the fact that Jesus is God's son. Just a few verses in, John the Baptist is baptizing people in the river Jordan. And Jesus walks up. And John is hesitant to baptize Jesus. And this is what John says... He says, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. This is the testimony that John the Baptist is bearing to Jesus. And so John eventually baptizes Jesus. And as Jesus is baptized and he comes out of the water, we see another testimony. This time the heavens open up. And a voice comes from the heavens that says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Imagine with me if we were there at that moment. Jesus is getting baptized. He comes out of the water. The heavens open. There's a voice from the clouds. It says, this is my son. I'd be mortified, right? God the Father testifies to the deity of Christ right there. Jesus is the Son of God. And it doesn't stop there. In Mark 1, demons are attesting. To Jesus' deity. So he goes into this synagogue and there's this guy who's oppressed by a demon. And he cries out unprompted. He goes, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The Holy One of God. Demons attesting to the deity of Jesus Christ. And right through the gospel you see this thread where every realm of creation responds to the authority of Jesus. Sicknesses are healed. In Mark chapter 1 it says, the whole city was gathered at the door because everyone wanted a touch of Jesus. Those who were sick, everyone knew if they come to Jesus that they could be healed. So they were all out there clamoring to touch, to be with Jesus. And then Mark chapter 4, the disciples are on a boat with Jesus. They've just got done with a preaching session. So Jesus is on the boat. He's sleeping on the cushion. Here are these disciples who are experienced fishermen. They're in the Sea of Galilee and a great windstorm arose. And there's water now filling the boat. And now the disciples are afraid. And that's telling something. These guys are experienced fishermen. They've been in the sea possibly a thousand times. They know how to handle this. But they don't. They go, wake up, Jesus. And they go, teacher, do you not care that we're going to perish? Do something. And Jesus wakes up. He rebukes the wind and the waves. And he goes, peace, be still. There's a great calm. And the disciples go, who even is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him. Jesus, king over creation. We also see Jesus even has power over death. He raises Jairus' daughter from death. death. In fact, you know, when Jesus comes into the Jairus' house, he's late, you know, there's other things going on, Mark chapter 5, and Jesus says, why are you guys weeping and mourning? You know, she's not dead, she's asleep. And they laugh. That's how incredulous they felt what Jesus said was. They laughed at Jesus. So Jesus put them all aside and raises Jairus' daughter from the dead. The undisputed king of over every realm of creation. And if you're ever wondering if Jesus did claim to be God, here's one for you. In Mark chapter 14, verse 61, Jesus is now arrested. He's on trial. He's before the chief priests, the elders. And this is what it says. And again, the high priest asked him, Are you Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witness do we need? You have heard this blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And if there's any other proof that we need that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, it's right here. You can see the response of these chief priests. They're going crazy, right? Tearing their robes because it was blasphemy. Here's someone claiming to be God. What's our application for us? What is your view of Jesus? How do you view Jesus? Do you see him for who he truly is? The undisputed son of God with authority over every realm of creation? Oh, is Jesus truly the Lord of your life? It's a question that each of us has to answer because that's what God is calling us to. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, I love what Paul says in Galatians 2.20. It's a great image where he says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So when you say that Jesus is Lord, you're giving over lordship, control, authority of your life to him and asking the Lord of heaven and earth to lead your life. Is He the Lord of your life? Big takeaway for us from this gospel. So Jesus is the undisputed Son of God with authority over every realm of creation. Takeaway two. Jesus observes the many ways people respond to Him and He seeks disciples who love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. So many weeks ago, you can go back and listen to this, but we did a case study just from Mark chapter 3, and we saw how people responded to Jesus. So here is Jesus, steps into the scene with a bang. The demons are crying out. Sicknesses are healed. He teaches with authority. But everyone reacts differently to Jesus. And just Mark chapter 3 has five different responses to Jesus. And I want to quickly summarize that for you. Number one, the crowds utilized Jesus. They get what they want. They get what they need from Jesus. But they don't show any commitment to him. So the masses came to Jesus for healing, for deliverance, for miracles. He compassionately meets their needs. But once they get what they want, the response is transactional. So they move on. That's it. That was all that they got from Jesus. And then you have his family. Here Jesus is creating a huge scene. And they want to seize him and forcefully stop him from doing what he is doing. They go, he's out of his mind. That's literally what his family, his own family, say about Jesus. I guess... They were either doing it to protect Jesus from all of the clamor and the craziness. Or maybe they were embarrassed of Jesus and what he was claiming to be. And so his family members tried to sanitize Jesus. And we can be guilty of sanitizing Jesus as well. You know, a few examples could be our selective obedience. We hold on to the comforting promises in God's scripture. but we ignore His costly commands, selective obedience. Or what do we do? We believe Jesus on His own terms. We like to say, I believe in Jesus, but often what we mean is, I believe the parts of Jesus that align with what I already think, right? Oh, we want to soften the edges of this Jesus. You know, we prefer a Jesus who is gentle and loving and compassionate and kind, which He is, but not the Jesus who spoke about judgment, sin, hell, repentance. Or we could be embarrassed by Jesus. Sometimes, like his family, we feel awkward about the radical claims of Jesus. So we want to hide it as much as possible. I remember sharing this story with you. So forgive me for repeating. But there was this time when my daughter was two years old. We were at Jewel Osco out at Skokie. And I'm at this cart, at the checkout line with my cart. There's a lot of people around. And my daughter loves to sing. And she busts out, yes, Jesus loves me. And I go, everyone starts looking at her. And you know what my first response? I was trying to shush her. Don't say, don't say. And so I go back home and I go, why did I react that way? Because she wasn't necessarily creating a scene. She wasn't being a public nuisance. People actually liked it. They even smiled at her, right? It wasn't that they were annoyed. But I wanted to shush her. That was my instinctive reaction. And I go, maybe I was embarrassed that she did that in public. And then I was immediately reminded where Jesus says, if you are embarrassed of me, I will be embarrassed of you. There's literally a verse that says that. And I go, God, you know what? I got to deal with this. I can't let that happen again. I want to apologize, but I don't want to be embarrassed of you. I want to carry you on my sleeve. Right? Do we try to sanitize Jesus? That was one of the response. The third response was the religious leaders demonized him. These were the experts of the law, the so-called pastors of Jesus' day. And you would think if anyone knew their scriptures inside out, it was these religious leaders. And you would think that they would have spotted the Messiah, the Son of God, here to redeem humanity from its peril. And they don't. In fact, rather than embracing him, they misunderstand him. They slander him. They even claim his power comes from Satan. They outrightly reject Jesus. And it just shows the response of the danger of a hardened heart. If we let our hearts to be hardened, you see evidence. You see the clear work of God. but you refuse to submit no matter the evidence. A lot of times in apologetics, you know, when we get into arguments or when we talk to people about the faith, one of the things, I mean, I've had a lot of arguments over the last many years and I've realized a lot of it can be pointless. So one of the questions that a wise mentor taught me was, ask them, if you were to answer this question, would they actually receive Jesus, accept Jesus? Would that literally change their mind? And so I have asked. And they go, no. I said, well, there's no point us discussing, arguing over this for the next 30 minutes. Right? These guys outrightly rejected Jesus. It was not the world. It was the religious leaders that did that. But then we also see a few positive responses in this passage. His true family members prioritized Jesus. Jesus, in fact, redefines what it means to be family. And I don't know how it resonates with you, but coming from the East Asian culture where our identity, our primary identity is our family. It's just family is everything. Jesus redefines that. You know, his mother and his brothers are standing there. There's a few people come out and says, hey, your mother and your brothers are out there. Got to go and meet him. You know what Jesus says? It's literally counter-cultural and almost an insult to his own family. He says, who are my mother and my brothers? Those who do the will of God are my mother, brothers, and sisters. They are the ones who are my family. So his true family prioritized Jesus because they do the will of God. And then finally, you also have the apostles who are mobilized by Jesus. Jesus calls the twelve. He wants them to be with him and then go out and preach and cast out demons. And though they have a bumpy road, which we're going to see later on, They fulfill Jesus' calling. They're consumed by His mission. So our application point from this is, what category best describes your response to Jesus? It's in your handouts. Are you resisting or attacking Jesus? Or do you try to control, domesticate, explain away Jesus because you want to sanitize Him? Or are you like the crowds? You're interested in Jesus. You want to dabble with Jesus, with the faith, with Christianity, but you don't want to be committed to him. Or do you prioritize his will? Do you align with him? You belong to him and you know that and you're living that out. And now you're like the apostles. You love him deeply and you're consumed with his mission. That's takeaway two. Takeaway three is, Jesus is the patient, compassionate, and masterful shepherd of our discipleship journey. Never giving up as he shapes us to reflect his heart and mission. We see in this gospel that the disciples don't necessarily get who Jesus is immediately. It's a process. It takes some time. Here we see, you know, they've already seen Jesus do miracles, heal the sick, the demons cry out. They are with Jesus. And now they're in this boat. We talked about this great windstorm. And they're doubting Jesus. They're like, Jesus, do you even care that we are perishing? And then Jesus steps up. And Jesus, you know, he seems a little annoyed from his, you know, I'm just reading into it. Obviously, I could be wrong with his response. But he says, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? This is what Jesus says. Do you still not have faith that I can calm the storm? That's what he's trying to imply here. And then they go, they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? And then you see in the Gospel of Mark patterns of like Jesus doing miracles, similar kind of miracles a couple of times, even just helping them understand and process and grow in their understanding of who Jesus is. You have the feeding of the 5,000. Where Jesus is done teaching, you know, and the disciples come to him, he's like, you know, can you send them away because they got to go and get something to eat? And Jesus says, well, you give them something to eat. They go, what? We can't feed all of these 5,000 men and then more women and children. We can't do that. And Jesus says, well, what do you have? Well, this guy, this little boy has five loaves and two fish. He's bringing to me. Jesus prays, blesses it, and he's able to feed 5,000 men. And then a few chapters later, Mark 8, literally two chapters later, Jesus is again preaching now, mostly to a Gentile audience, and there's 4,000 men. And so Jesus wants to feed them, and you would imagine the response of the disciples would be, yeah, Jesus, I know you fed the 5,000, so I'm sure you could do that again, right? That wasn't the response. They go, you know, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? That's what the disciples say. And so Jesus has to do the miracle again for them to know that he has power over everything. He defies the laws of nature and physics and just with whatever little you give him, he multiplies it exponentially. Jesus is the patient, compassionate, and masterful shepherd of our discipleship journey. And we see in Mark 8 where Jesus asks, hey, some say I'm John the Baptist, I'm Elijah, or one of the prophets. Who do you think I am? And Peter goes, you are Christ. And Jesus is excited about that. Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you. That's what Jesus says. But then you also see Peter's journey at the end of Mark. He's the first one, the only one to betray and deny. I mean, not Judas betrayed, but to deny Jesus. But you know what God does? He doesn't give up on Peter. He doesn't give up on his disciples. I was thinking of this as I was preparing. You know, Jesus spent three whole years with his disciples. And when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, you know what was their first instinctive response? They fled. They fled. They fled. It was Jesus, the son of God, spending time with his disciples. And the first thing that you do when Jesus is arrested is to flee. Imagine the height of betrayal that even Jesus would have felt just from that. But he doesn't give up on them. He works with them and even with all of us today. If you've given your life to Jesus, if you are committed to Jesus, it's His work. Philippians 1.6 says, He who began a good work in you will finish it. We join Him. We cooperate with Him. This is part of the discipleship. That's what we want to do here at 180. We call it our creed here. Just three defining statements. Come as you are and experience God. Doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you're from. Doesn't matter what your life experience is. We want you to come here and experience God for yourself. But then it doesn't stop there. We overcome what seems impossible in our lives, the doubts, the pain, the hurts, the trauma, whatever it might be. We want to work with God together as the church body and overcome what seems impossible. And we live as you've never imagined. And that's the abundant life that God has for us. So be encouraged that Jesus is still at work in your life. He's not going to give up on you. Number four. Jesus desires an inside-out kind of faith that genuinely transforms our hearts, not just generates external religious actions. One of the biggest contrasts in this entire gospel is between what Jesus values, how Jesus behaves versus the religious leaders of Jesus' day. These are the Pharisees, the scribes, and the high priests, and all of them, the elders, You see, for them, it was all about external behavior. It was all about how they looked on the outside. They loved the spotlight. You know, when they gave, they made sure everyone was looking that they gave. When they prayed, they made sure everyone was watching that they prayed so that they could possibly go, oh, look how spiritual these guys are. When they fasted, it says they made them look so miserable because they wanted everyone to know that they are fasting. This was their spirituality. But that's not the kind of spirituality that Jesus is asking for us. This is so important for our culture today because if we claim or if we are disciples of Christ, we would know that it's not about what we do on the outside. It's how is God working in our hearts? How is He transforming our hearts? And it's a step-by-step process. And you see the heart of it all in Mark chapter 12, where this is the final week of Jesus. And Jesus, you would think in your final week, Jesus is focusing on the things that really matter to Him. And yes, He does. Three days in the final week, He engages, He's in the temple. engaging with the religious leaders of the day, going head to head. And so there's seven confrontations that's listed in Mark 11 and 12, where the Pharisees, the religious leaders are trying to test him. They're trying to trap him. They're trying to like, you know, entrap him so that they could actually like crucify him. That's the attitude towards Jesus. And Jesus kind of summarizes, literally, you know, at least to me, it was one of the greatest testimonies And Jesus, in fact, even calls it the greatest commandment. There's one thing that we want to even hold on to. This is what it is in Mark 12, verse 28. It says, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. And seeing what he answered them all, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, The most important is... Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than this. The religious leaders of the day, the pastors of Jesus, they completely missed out on the essence of what religion is supposed to be about. It's not about following rules. It's not about checking boxes. There's this incident in Mark chapter 3, which kind of captures just the heart of these religious leaders. Jesus is... entering into a synagogue. It's the Sabbath. And according to the Old Testament, you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath day because it's holy and consecrated to God. But then there is this guy who has a withered hand who walks into the synagogue. And you would think as pastors, as religious leaders, your heart would go, oh, look at this guy. You know, he needs a touch from Jesus. He needs to be healed. Look at how, have a little bit of compassion on this guy who's got a withered hand. But that's not the response of these religious leaders. They watch Jesus closely because they want to see if Jesus is disobeying the command to honor the Sabbath. And so Jesus, Jesus goes, He says, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? And everyone was just silent. They didn't answer. And this is what it says, and he looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their heart. Jesus did eventually heal this person. It's not about how we look on the outside. It's not about checking off a box, going to Bible studies, serving at church. None of that matters. It's about loving God with everything that we have. And one of the things that I'm seeing even now is just how my kids are teaching me about Jesus and our relationship with God. And I did share this story with you a couple of weeks ago and I'm now regretting it. Because I told you guys that my kids are obsessed with Spider-Man. Right? And now everyone, the only thing that you guys talk about with my kids is Spider-Man. And it's further, like, doubled down their obsession with Spider-Man. In fact, we had my daughter's fifth birthday party this week, and so we were planning, and so we asked her, like, what do you want? She goes, I want a Spider-Man cake. I want a Spider-Man outfit. And then all of her friends who showed up, everyone had Spider-Man themed gifts. And we didn't even ask them to. So she's got Spider-Man shoes. She's got Spider-Man, you know, almost like a jacket. She's got Spider-Man water bottles. It's just crazy. So my wife and I, we go, you know what? After this, we got to double down on this Spider-Man obsession because it's getting a little too crazy right now. And in fact, guys, if you want proof of that, every time I go home, this is what I see. You'll see it on the screen. They're obsessed, obsessed with Spider-Man. And it made me think, They're loving Spider-Man with everything that they have. Every waking thought. They wake up talking about Spider-Man. Go to sleep talking about Spider-Man. I go, is that my relationship with God? Am I actually obsessed with God? I do think there's a lot of room for growth in my life. But I can say without a doubt that God... I want to love God like this. I want to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And that's the only thing that matters to me. And I want to move in that path. That's what God wants for us. Everything that we have, God says, I want you to love me. More than just checking the boxes, coming to church, serving, and just being as we are. We love him with everything that we have. And that transforms us. Let's take away four. Take away five. Jesus calls his disciples to follow him on the costly road of discipleship. Jesus repeatedly reveals that following him means denying yourself, taking up the cross, and walking the path of suffering and surrender and As we were going through Mark 8, this kind of clicked for me even just recently. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. Mark chapter 8, when Jesus asks, who do you think that I am? And then Jesus starts talking about the suffering that he's got to go through. He says, the Son of Man has to suffer. He talks about his impending death. And Peter rebukes him, and Jesus rebukes him, and he goes, get behind me, Satan. But immediately after... This is what Jesus says. Like right after that, this is what Jesus says. And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, if anyone would come after me. So it says, if anyone wants to come after me. This is not for experienced believers. This is his call. If you want to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? This is the costly road of discipleship. Following Jesus not just for comfort, for status, but for surrender and service. Let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. There's a lot of scriptures that we can even go and look at from the Gospel of Mark where he embodies that. One of which is in Mark 10, 42. It's not going to be on your screen. He says, for even the Son of Man, referring to himself, came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom to many. costly road of obedience to God's will. My application was, where are you tempted to hold back in following Jesus? Because it feels costly or uncomfortable, what would it look like for you to deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow Him with renewed devotion? Let's take away five. Take away six. Jesus fully surrendered to the Father's will, courageously embracing the cross for our redemption. We see at the end, leading up to Jesus' crucifixion on the cross, that it was hard for Jesus to go through what he did. Mark 11, triumphal entry. Jesus comes into the city of Jerusalem. And the crowds are cheering. They recognize the messianic imagery. They recognize that this could be the Messiah. And so the crowds want a political Messiah who would save the Jews from Roman oppression. They wanted a political Messiah. But Jesus was not swayed by the applause of the crowds. He wasn't there to please the people who were there. He was so transfixed on what God wanted him to do. And you could see him battling because it was a hard thing for him to battle. In Mark chapter 14, it goes, And they went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. That's Jesus. He's greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. Jesus fully surrendered to the Father's will. I want to read this passage from Mark 15. Verse 39, 33, it's not going to be on your screen. It says, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lemas sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he's calling Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah would come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, again a Gentile, a non-Jew, someone who's not a believer, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God. Truly, this man was the Son of God. Where do you find it most difficult to say, not my will, but yours be done? How can we follow Jesus' example of trusting the Father and surrendering your will to his application from this point? The last takeaway for today, we're going to have Rachel come up on stage. Jesus... rose in victory, and will return in glory. So we live with focus, faithfulness, and a burning commitment to His great commission. The story didn't end with Jesus' death. If it did, we wouldn't be here. In fact, In 1 Corinthians 15, Apostle Paul said this. He said, if only for this world we had hoped in Christ, we of all men would be most pitied. He's saying, if we are following God just for the here and now, we should be pitied. Because there's so much out there that we're denying. We're walking the costly road of discipleship. We're sacrificing. We're surrendering to the will of God. And if Jesus didn't rise from the grave, and if Jesus isn't resurrected, there's no point in us doing what we're doing. Mark chapter 16 has this account. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. He goes, see the place where they laid him. Jesus is alive. You know what? Jesus himself promised what's going to happen. If you weren't here last week, Pastor Carl did an amazing exposition of Mark chapter 13, which talks about what to expect in our future, the things that are going to happen again, and just even our eternity. I want to read just one last passage for you Mark 13, verse 24, But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. Jesus is coming back soon. So the challenge for us is, how focused is your life currently on preparing for Jesus' return? What would it look like for you to sharpen your focus, live in the light of the Lordship of Christ and preparing for His return, deepening your faithfulness, your allegiance to Him, and strengthening your commitment to His will for your lives? What would it look like? It would be such an understatement to say that the most important thing that we can focus on is God, is Jesus. My wife and I, we talk about this a lot because we feel really burdened for our kids. I was just reminiscing with a couple of folks here about even just my life in India. You know, just going, my daughter's in pre-K four, but the first time I stepped into her classroom last year, pre-K three, and I just looked at what she had. Just incredible stuff. Just, there's a kitchen, mini kitchen that you can play in. Just, I don't even know how to describe just how the pre-K room was set up. And I thought to myself, just my upbringing. All I had was just a desk that wasn't even finished wood. So there was like spikes, whatever, so you could get, you know... the specks in your fingers and stuff like that. In fact, I do, there was a reminder, it's just ironic how God works. I just say that and then my Google photos brought a picture of it up. I don't know if they were listening to it, but you know, I saw a picture of my classroom and I can show it to you if you want to come and look later, you know, after service. And then the thought went in my mind, I'm like, If I give my daughter all of this, if she doesn't get Jesus, what is the point? What is the point of all of this? And you know what? I got to trust God. If I can trust God for my salvation, I got to trust him for how he's going to work in the lives of my kids because it's not my decisions. But, you know, my wife and I, we talk about how do we structure our lives so that they know that we're obsessed with Jesus. That we love Jesus with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And how could we create an environment for that where they can be obsessed with Jesus themselves. Because the system of this world is not going to do that. You know, you go to school, you spend most of your day prepping for the here and now. You want to be a doctor, you want to be a tradesman. You go to school, you're spending time for the here and now. That's just how it is. And it ends there. How are we investing in our eternity? Life after Jesus. I mean, if we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if we truly believe that Jesus is the life, and Jesus is coming back, how do we live in light of that? Because that changes everything. Right? And I want to directly speak to a lot of our young adults here today. You know, we have a lot of young adults in our church. Some of them might even be listening online because not all of them are here every Sunday. What are we investing our time in? Is it to build our career? It's great. Those are the things you're going to learn even today right after service in our study about God's design for work. Work is something that God has created. It's being sanctified. God wants us to be where we are. God's not asking us to quit our jobs and just focus on being in ministry. There's no line between the sacred and the secular. But what do we prioritize? And this is our human nature and we naturally fall into it. Work takes over our lives. School takes over our lives. And Jesus always gets the leftover. The best investment that we can do is to put Him first. Everything else takes care of itself. It would be... We'd be doing an injustice if it didn't give us a chance to respond today. So I want to do a couple of things. We're going to take a couple of minutes. Just you and God, I'd love for you to just bow down your heads, close your eyes, if you're able, and ask, what is God calling you to do? Because Jesus is calling you to Him today. What is the one thing God is asking you to do so you can go all in with Jesus? I want the Spirit of God to speak to you. And it can be different things. If you don't know Jesus, if Jesus is not the Lord of your life, we're going to have an opportunity today to give that to Him. If you already know Jesus, if you want to deepen your commitment, what is the one thing that God is asking you to do?
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