Weekly Sermons from Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church - Port Orange, FL

We are beginning a new sermon series this morning that will run through Easter Sunday. We are calling it the cruciform life, meaning how can our lives be shaped by the cross. We are looking at various aspects of life, things such as forgiveness, dealing with evil, and finally, on Easter Sunday, being shaped by the resurrection. This morning we are exploring the theme of being shaped by freedom. We are looking at a passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Galatians 5:1-15. And we will explore this from two perspectives. First we will look at the power of freedom. Verse 1 states that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. And then we are commanded to stand firm in our freedom. The second point is the purpose of freedom, which vv.13-14 tell us is love. We were built and designed to love. Again, there are many misguided notions as to what love is so we can let the fear of some of these false definitions keep us from embracing the call of these verses. Being shaped by freedom through the cross will lead to a life of love. How is real love possible? Only through Christ who lost his freedom so we could be free. You must be shaped by the cross in order to be shaped by freedom. He was cut off for you. His being cut off brought you in. Christ was treated as a slave to sin so you could be set free. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ was treated as if were a sinner. He was legally treated as a slave to sin. He received the penalty of our slavery so we could receive the blessing of His freedom. He lost His freedom so that we could be free. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

The passage we are looking at this morning, Mark 6:14-30, must be one of the most sordid stories in the New Testament. But as we are going through the gospel of Mark, and Mark has told us from the outset what his narrative is all about, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1), we can ask what do we learn about the gospel and the nature and reality of the kingdom of God through this text? And we will do this from two vantage points. Tragedy and triumph. The tragedy of sin and triumph through suffering. Tragedy of sin is obvious enough. It revolves around the major characters of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great and Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. When John the Baptist confronts them concerning their affair and breaking of the Mosaic Law, Herod proceeds to seize John, throw him in prison, and Herodias, biding her time, waits for the opportune moment, which comes at Herod’s birthday party to hatch a plan that will lead to the death of John the Baptist. But John’s death is certainly not pointless as it foreshadows the One who John was always pointing to, Jesus Christ. The death of John the Baptist brings triumph through suffering. Especially as it points away from himself and toward Jesus. It was John who said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Jesus suffered and died what appeared to be a tragic death. He lost everything and then was raised from the dead so that death no longer gets the last word. Tragedy is never the last word. Tragedy is real, and painful, but because of Jesus it is never the final word. He must increase. May he increase in our lives.

As we continue to go through the book of Mark looking at the life and ministry of Jesus, we are this morning looking at a passage that focuses on the theme of mission. Jesus’ mission, and by extension our mission. We have two accounts here. Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth and Jesus sending out the disciples two by two. What connects these two accounts is the theme of mission. While we certainly are to recognize that many of the instructions Jesus gives are tied to his specific circumstances, we do learn here some very important and practical lessons concerning mission. The sermon will focus on two of these lessons. First, is the fact that mission is dangerous. Maybe that is why we intuitively resist living our lives on mission. We know that our basic identity is to be a people on mission. Jesus in fact said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). We are called to live sent. But we see Jesus being rejected, even in his very own hometown, so we know that mission is dangerous. We will be rejected too. Which leads to the second point. Mission is costly. There is a cost to us. And certainly part of that cost is that we not in control. One of the things we learn from Jesus’ sending out of his disciples is that we are to be totally dependent on God. And that leaves us out of control. Mission is costly. And that is a challenge. But more than a cost to us, there is a cost to Jesus. And Jesus pays the ultimate cost. Jesus pays a cost in being rejected in his own hometown and at those closest to him taking offense at him. But the ultimate cost that Jesus pays is the climax of the cross. It is on the cross that Jesus faces the ultimate rejection and he does so for us. As the Apostle Paul says to the church at Corinth, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). What did the mission cost Jesus? Everything. And what did he get? He got us, a family to be on mission with him. Dangerous? Yes. Costly? Yes. But there is no greater purpose to live for than to live for the serving of and mission of God’s kingdom.

It takes much courage and patience to live in a fallen world bearing witness to the reality of Jesus and to the power of the gospel. In Mark 5:21-43 Mark describes a narrative concerning two suffering people, one named, a man who is a ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, and one unnamed, an anonymous, almost invisible woman, who has been suffering with a discharge of blood that leaves her not only physically disabled, but socially, spiritually, psychologically cut off from society. What do we learn in this narrative about Jesus’ ministry and what lessons can we draw from this? First, we learn of the desperation of life. Both the synagogue ruler whose little girl is dying and the woman are desperate. They are hopeless and helpless with nowhere to turn. And this leads them to a crossroads. They can shut down, despair or reach out and turn to Jesus. Which is our second point, the dynamics of faith. We learn several lessons about faith in this narrative. And third, we learn the design of Jesus. And Jesus’ design is for restoration. For the woman he does more than just simply heal her. He brings her forward, out into the public to minister to her holistically. And Jairus’ daughter, gets not only healed, but a resurrection. It is amazing in v.30 of this text that Jesus says that power went out from him. And the apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians “For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God (2 Cor. 13:4). So Jesus’ power is demonstrated in weakness, specifically the weakness of the cross. Jesus deals tenderly but powerfully with both the woman and the little girl. He takes the little girl by the hand, putting her hand in his and loves her, bringing her back to life. And Jesus’ power is most clearly seen in the weakness of his dying on the cross for us. And it is through his death and subsequent resurrection that Jesus defeats death, giving us hope for the hurting, in the midst of the pain of life.

What do we do when we encounter the various storms of life? Do we fix our eyes on Jesus or do we doubt His goodness, and flee in fear to what is comfortable or familiar? In the passage before us this morning Mark is continuing to narrate the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (see Mark 1:1). And in this passage we see the power of the kingdom unleashed in Jesus’ calming of the storm. Specifically, we learn two things from this power about Jesus and the kingdom. (1) We learn of His complete power, and (2) His extravagant love. The story is simple enough. Jesus is with His disciples on a boat on the Sea of Galilee when an incredible storm erupts. The disciples, quite naturally are fearful, while Jesus is asleep. The disciples wake Him up, and upon awaking Jesus, simply by the power of His word calms the storm. He possesses complete power to calm the wind and the sea. Not only does this text show us the complete power of Jesus but it also shows us the extravagant love of Jesus. One of the things we notice in this text is the parallel with the account in the Old Testament of the prophet Jonah. In Jonah 1 there is also a severe storm putting everyone at risk for their lives. And the only way for the sailors to survive is for Jonah to be hurled into the sea. Now that doesn’t happen in Mark’s account. Until you get to the cross. In Matthew’s gospel we read that Jesus said “Behold, something greater than Jonah is here (Matthew 12:41). From the perspective of the cross we learn that Jesus went through the ultimate storm for us, the storm of God’s justice and wrath so that we would never have to endure the ultimate storm. He endured it for us in our place. As the Apostle Paul put it to the church at Rome, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Extravagant love.

In this passage that is before us this morning Jesus is once again announcing and teaching about the kingdom of God. And once again he puts a focus on our ability to hear. He says in v.24, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And then more pointedly in v.25 he says, “Pay attention to what you hear.” Are we paying attention to the Word? Do we really hear its message, its kingdom message? For the message of the Word is the message of the kingdom. And Jesus here through these parables teaches us two things about the nature of the kingdom. He teaches (1) The Strangeness of the Kingdom. Through the use of images such as lamp and seed, one of the text’s major challenges is for us not to despise small beginnings. And in the original context Jesus is teaching that the kingdom has indeed been inaugurated in and through his ministry, but certainly not in the way it might have been expected. Thus its strangeness. And (2) The Promise of the Kingdom. In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus promises that although the kingdom can be compared to a tiny little mustard seed it will one day grow into such a large tree that even the birds will come and make their nests in that tree. When Jesus went to the cross He became that seed or tree that went all the way down in order to save, rescue and bring us up. There is an incredible promise here that we must remember beyond our own personal salvation. In John 15 Jesus tells His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Jesus is the vine or tree. And when we abide in Him we are promised to bear much fruit. That is because Jesus saves us with the promise that through us He will save the nations. His salvation of us is with a view to the world. The birds of the air find their rest under the tree, that is Jesus.

In our study thus far of the gospel of Mark we have seen where Mark has taken us. He stated his purpose right at the outset of his gospel, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1). Then, after going through some of the history of John the Baptist, Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness, Jesus begins his public ministry with the words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). In other words, Jesus’ proclamation of the gospel was a proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom. Those two things go together. The gospel is the good news of the story of the kingdom. And as we this morning look at the parable of the sower we see that this parable tells the story of the kingdom. In this passage we see three things about the kingdom story. We see first of all that it is a secret story. That is, it reveals a mystery. Second, it is a subversive story. The kingdom doesn’t come in any way that was usual or expected. And finally it is a salvation story. The story of the kingdom is a salvation story. In John 12 Jesus says, unless a grain of wheat (seed) falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also (John 12:24-26) What is Jesus’ work that the parable of the sower tells? For a seed to bear thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold fruit it must fall into the earth and die. If it doesn’t fall into the earth and die it remains alone (bears no fruit). And what did Jesus do? He went and died. He showed that the seed produces and releases its power through weakness, not strength, through death (and resurrection) not a bold assertion of power.

As we are proceeding through the gospel of Mark we are asking the question, who is the real Jesus? Not a Jesus we make up, or a Jesus of our society or our culture, but the Jesus of the Bible. For it is only the real Jesus who can change you and transform you. It is only the real Jesus who can comfort you or challenge you. It is only the truth of Jesus that can set you free. So who is the real Jesus? In this passage we are exploring this morning we will be confronted with two truths. The first is the reality of false claims that are made about Jesus. In vv.20-21 we see that even Jesus’ own family thought him to be crazy so they did not understand who Jesus was and what he was all about. And then his opponents made the false claim that his work was being done through the authorship of t Beelzebul and the prince of demons. Jesus, of course, refutes this and how does he do so? That is our second point, the true reality about Jesus. Here we see that he is the divine Warrior who binds the strong man in order to plunder his goods. And also in vv.31-35 that one of the practical realities of belonging to Jesus is that you get a new family. That Jesus if forming a community, a new family around himself. One of the connections we can make here is to go back to Genesis 3:15 and recall that very first gospel promise. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Jesus has entered the strong man’s house as a divine warrior, to do what God promised all the way back in the book of Genesis he would do. Satan bruises Jesus’ heel on the cross, but Jesus crushes Satan’s head. Jesus is the divine Warrior who defeats evil. Through the cross. Through making himself weak, he displayed the greatest strength and defeated evil by succumbing to its worst. And in doing so he bound the strong man in order to plunder his goods and bring us into his family.