CHRIST IS LOVELY

 

He is lovely in His person—the glorious all-sufficiency of His deity, the gracious purity and holiness of His humanity, His authority and majesty, His love and power.

He is lovely in His birth and incarnation—when He, who was rich, became poor for our sake, taking on flesh and blood because we share in the same. He was made of a woman, so that He could be made under the law for our sake.

He is lovely throughout His entire life, displaying more than angelic holiness and obedience, even amidst poverty and persecution—doing good while receiving evil, blessing and being cursed, reviled, and reproached all His days.

He is lovely in His death, yes, most lovely to sinners—never more glorious and desirable than when He came broken and dead from the cross. He carried all our sins into a land of forgetfulness; He made peace and reconciliation for us; He obtained life and immortality on our behalf.

He is lovely in His entire mission, in His great undertaking—in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. He serves as a mediator between God and us, to restore the glory of God's justice and to save our souls. He brings us to the enjoyment of God, bridging the infinite gap caused by sin.

He is lovely in the glory and majesty with which He is crowned. He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Although He is fearsome to His enemies, He is full of mercy, love, and compassion towards His beloved ones.

He is lovely in all the provisions of grace and consolation, in all the dispensations of His Holy Spirit, in which His saints participate.

He is lovely in all the tender care, power, and wisdom that He exercises in protecting, safeguarding, and delivering His church and people, even in the face of opposition and persecution.

He is lovely in all His ordinances and in the entirety of the spiritually glorious worship that He has ordained for His people, enabling them to draw near and commune with Him and His Father.

He is lovely and glorious in the vengeance He takes and will ultimately execute upon the stubborn enemies of Himself and His people.

He is lovely in the forgiveness He has purchased and dispenses, in the reconciliation He has established, in the grace He imparts, in the consolations He provides, in the peace and joy He gives to His saints, and in His assured preservation of them until they reach glory.

What more can I say? There is no end to His excellences and desirability. "He is altogether lovely. This is our beloved, and this is our friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."

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John Owen, The Saint's Fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

JESUS V. THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES (part 1): MARK 11:27-12:12

Confrontation With The Authorities

11:27-33

This begins a series of seven conflict stories involving Jesus and the religious leaders. 

Jesus was confronted by the religious authorities, including the chief priests, scribes, and elders. These three groups comprised the Sanhedrin, the ruling body for the Jewish religion. 

So, these men are a delegation from the Sanhedrin sent to deal with Jesus. They demanded to know what authority he had to disrupt the temple. This was a trap, seeking grounds to arrest him. If he claimed to have authority from God, or as God, they would arrest him for blasphemy. If he said he did it on his own, they would arrest him for disturbing the temple without authority from the chief priests. 

Jesus again avoided the trap by asking them if the baptism of John the Baptist was from heaven or from man. Jesus avoided the trap by setting a trap. 

These men did not want to vouch for John’s authority as a prophet from God, because the they believed only they had religious authority. But they knew the people did believe in John as a prophet and did not want to look bad to them. 

Further, if John was a prophet sent by God and acting in God’s authority, it would prove that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah), because John vouched for Jesus. He called him the one “who is mightier than I” and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He heard God say “this is my beloved Son”. 

If John had authority from God, Jesus had authority from God. If Jesus had authority from God, he was is over the Sanhedrin, not subject to it. 

The authorities refused to answer Jesus, so he refused to answer them and fall into the trap. 

We know, however, that Jesus as God’s Son, had the authority in himself to take charge of God’s house.  

A Parable of Judgment

12:1-12

In this parable, Jesus confronted the Jewish leaders with Israel’s whole history of resisting God and the fact that it leads to judgment.

The parable employs a scenario common at the time. There were many absentee land owners who financed the building of vineyards and fields. They sent agents periodically to examine the vineyards and collect rent either in cash or in kind. 

Jesus’ choice of the vineyard for this parable struck home for the Jews, since it reflects the same metaphor used by God in chapter 5 of Isaiah. There he plainly says Israel is the vineyard and that he would destroy the vineyard because it did not produce fruit.

Here again, the owner did everything necessary to establish the vineyard. Then he leased it to tenants. The owner is God the Father. The vineyard is Israel. The tenants are the religious leaders. 

The owner was entitled to take the lease payment “in kind”, meaning he would get a share of the harvest of grapes. However, when he sent servants to the vineyard, the tenants beat them and treated them shamefully. (3-5)

The servants represent the Old Testament prophets. The prophets were treated badly during their life times. Elijah, for example, was considered an enemy by the king and queen. Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned. 

Jeremiah 7:25-26 echoed the warning in Isaiah and contains the same message as Jesus’ parable:

“From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck.” 

As a last chance, the owner sent his son. The son represents Jesus, the Son of God. But the tenants killed him so they could take over the vineyard. Jesus said the owner’s response would be to destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. (9) This is a prophecy of judgment. God would take away the Jewish leadership of God’s people and give it to others.  

That happened. God’s people became those who believed in and followed the Son. (John 1:12) 

Jesus here identifies himself as the beloved Son of God the Father, just as the Father said at Jesus’ baptism. 

Jesus then switched from the metaphor of the vineyard to a metaphor of building by quoting Psalm 118:22:

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.”

The builders are the Jewish leaders. The cornerstone, the stone that anchors the building, is Jesus. And the building is the people of God. Peter called it a spiritual house with believers as living stones that are used to build it with Jesus as the cornerstone. (1 Peter 2:7) 

Paul called it the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, with the whole structure growing into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:21)

The Jewish leaders understood that the parable was directed at them and condemned them. (12) They wanted to arrest him, but were afraid of the people, so they just left in frustration.

Takeaways

These leaders did not want to know Jesus or believe in him because they did not want to relinquish their power and submit to him.

Many today do not want to submit to Jesus because they do not want to give up the things they do and want. 

But we must do this to follow Jesus. As he said, if you want to follow him, you must deny yourself and take up his cross. (Luke 9:23)

SERMON: EXTRAVAGANT LOVE MARK 14:1-11

 

Today I have the privilege of speaking to you about Mark 14 and I invite you to turn there in your Bibles. Mark 14 is the longest chapter of the book of Mark. It takes us to the last few days of Jesus’ earthly life.

The chapter begins with the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin looking for some way to arrest Jesus and kill him without stirring up the crowds that are in Jerusalem for Passover. Judas will give them that opportunity later.

But, before the events of Passover week begin, with its betrayals and denials, Mark presents us a story of one follower’s extravagant love for and devotion to Jesus. It is a model for us, showing us what love for Jesus should look like. It is why I titled this message as “Extravagant Love”. 

The setting for the story is the little village of Bethany on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. (3) Jesus and his disciples spent the nights there after days of confrontations in the city of Jerusalem. Bethany was the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. 

A man named Simon the Leper held a dinner for Jesus and his disciples. Simon would have been healed from his disease, or otherwise could not have been in such a gathering. Maybe Jesus healed him previously and the dinner was in his honor. 

To the surprise of the men, a woman entered the room. Mark does not name her, but John’s account tells us it was Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. 

Mary’s entrance into the room where the men were gathered around the table was practically walking into the lion’s den. It was inappropriate in that culture for a woman to come into such a gathering of men except to serve them food and drink. As soon as the men realized she was not carrying a picture of wine or a platter of food, they would have begun to sit up and watch her, maybe even say: “what is she doing here?”. 

Mary knew this and knew the men would not approve. But, she went anyway because she thought only of Jesus, not of the opinion of others. She was compelled to go because of her love for Jesus and devotion to him. 

Imagine the shock of the men when Mary held up a beautiful alabaster flask. It was probably translucent white with artistic carvings on it. It was valuable and undoubtedly contained something valuable. 

In fact, it contained pure nard, an expensive, perfumed, ointment that came all the way from India.  It was worth around a year’s wages. It may have been a family heirloom or an investment.

Their eyes would go wide as she broke the top off of the flask. Mary was all in with her love for Jesus. She was not going to just pour a drop on him and then put the top back on the flask. No, she intended from the beginning to use the whole thing.

As Mary poured the contents of the flask on Jesus’ head, the room was filled with the fragrance of pure nard. Mary continued pouring until the flask was completely empty. It probably held 12 ounces or more. 

The ointment ran down Jesus’ hair and dripped down even to his feet. The men must have looked on in shocked silence for a few minutes as the enormity of her sacrifice for Jesus became apparent. 

You know, most of us are practical. We count the cost of things and we order our activities and expenses according to our priorities.  The disciples were practical too. They complained. They scolded her! They said the flask should have been sold and the money given to the poor. They said it was wasted! (4)

I suspect they were not that concerned about the poor. Judas certainly had ulterior motives. But I think the others might have been embarrassed or ashamed. While they had the unique privilege of being with Jesus all day every day, they bickered about who was he greatest, they tried to exclude others from getting close to Jesus.   

But here is this woman who is not even supposed to be there, who was not one of the inner circle, but who came to Jesus with no motive other than to express her love for him and to honor him, even at the expense of her own humiliation. 

Notice also that Jesus did not join the complaining chorus. He received this extravagant gesture of love and honored the woman who gave it. He jumped to her defense, interrupting the scolding, and saying: “leave her alone”. (6) 

Jesus also said that Mary had done a beautiful thing to him. His time was short and Mary had done what she could by preparing his body for burial in advance. (8)Mary seemed to understand what the disciples did not, that Jesus was going to die soon and they would likely not have time to prepare his body for burial when it happened. 

Jesus was not minimizing the needs of the poor. He always advocated for the poor. But he was saying he would not be with them much longer and acts of love and devotion were completely appropriate. (7) 

Jesus even said that what Mary did would be told everywhere the gospel is preached in the whole world. What an honor! That prophecy has been fulfilled thousands of time and it is fulfilled here today. 

What Jesus said here is not new. God has always expected his people to love him extravagantly. The book of Deuteronomy records Moses giving the law to the Israelites again as they are about to enter the Promised Land. Moses said “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”. (Deuteronomy 6:5) 

Jesus called this the great and first commandment. (Matthew 22:38) In other words, the first and greatest thing believers should do is love the Lord extravagantly, with every part of their being and everything they have. 

If you love Jesus extravagantly, you might go somewhere you have not been comfortable before. Certainly, you might go to the mission field at home or abroad, or into full time ministry. But, maybe you just go and serve in Jesus’ church. Or maybe you develop a regular habit of praying and reading your Bible every day. Or, you give to his church sacrificially.  

Let’s commit ourselves today to loving Jesus extravagantly.