These last couple weeks during the Winter Olympics, one of the stories was about how US superstar skier Lindsey Vonn and German superstar skier Maria Riesch are not only rivals, but best friends.
They’re both 25 and have been friends on the world stage of skiing since they were 15. They’re both over 5′ 10″. They both speak German and English.
They’ve taken vacations together. In fact, every year Lindsey goes to Maria’s home for Christmas.
Lindsey even admitted she’d be cheering for Maria over her US teammates. “I think most of the U.S. team girls know and respect my relationship with Maria.” [USA Today.com, 1/17/2010]
Every now and then we’ll hear a story like this about rivals who become friends.
As we’ve read through Mark’s gospel, especially these last days of Christ’s life, we’ve seen those who were supposed to be His friends betray Him, and deny Him, and forsake Him. Some of His friends even become His enemies.
Maybe you know what that’s like-people who were once close friends, for whatever reason turn on you and become your enemies.
But here at the end of Mk. 15, we see the exact opposite happening: We see Christ’s enemies becoming His friends.
These aren’t just rivals. These are enemies. We’re talking about a member of the Sanhedrin-the council that just put Jesus to death.
We’re talking about a centurion-the captain in charge of His crucifixion.
You may know people like this-who are enemies of Jesus Christ. Maybe it’s a neighbor or coworker who has no reason to dislike you-except the fact that you’re a Christian.
They hate Christianity, so they’ve made it clear-if you want to talk to them about Jesus, then they will be your enemy. When it comes to Christ they are intractable, they are dedicated enemies of whoever is for Him.
This evening we’re going to see there’s hope for people like that. We don’t have to give up on them.
Christ has the power to transform enemies into friends.
God made man and the human race. The Bible says he made us male and female. Genesis 1 answers a lot of questions of our inquiring minds. The answers that God gives us in His word are so different than the answers that we are being given in America and modern times as our nation has become a secularized. These are the answers our forefathers understood because our nation was built on the Word of God. It’s important for us to be able to have these answers for our own conscious as well as to be able to share them with others.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I had some friends over from the church. The women were sitting in the living room doing what women do best—talking. And the men were sitting in another room—doing what men do best—eating. And there were a couple law enforcement officers at the table doing what they do best—eating donuts. Not really. Actually they were telling police stories.
They were telling these stories about hangings, suicides, homicides, and beheadings—all of which had taken place in our city. And I’m sitting there dunking these little pizza rolls in this tomato sauce. And the more they talked the more I lost my appetite.
I don’t know if that’s a cop thing to gross people out with crime stories, but they were enjoying the different colors my face was turning and the way my eyes bugged out. I didn’t sleep too well that night. They had given me a little peak underneath the dark side of our community.
And that’s why here at Grace Baptist, we thank God for the thin blue line who serve and protect us every day. Imagine what it would be like to have no police officers, no government, no law.
My youngest brother Luke and his wife are flying to Zambia today to do a survey mission trip at an orphanage that twice in the last 3 weeks has been robbed by a gang of thieves. They beat up the staff, even broke one older woman’s arm. And when the missionaries went to the police station. The only officer there was drunk.
Luke told me about this Friday night. And as you can imagine he’s a little nervous right now. But imagine a land with no police, with no law.
That’s what Israel was like in the book of Judges. Deut. 33:5 indicates that the Lord was king in Israel. But when we come the book of Judges, it says, “There was no king in Israel. And everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
This morning we’re going to see a picture of what life is like without God’s law. And I’m going to warn you up front: it’s disgusting. I hope you’re not planning to have pizza rolls with tomato sauce for lunch. But it’s also scary, because it looks a lot like America today.
This is our first Sunday in February. So we we’ll be looking at the first fruit of the Spirit which is Love. This may seem appropriate since next Sunday is Valentine’s Day.
For many of you, Valentine’s Day is synonymous with love. You think about your special someone. You get a warm feeling in your heart.
However others of you just groan when you think about this holiday. To you Valentine’s is about overpriced candy and sappy love poems and cheesy chick flicks. And it makes you sick to your stomach.
Well, this morning, that’s not the kind of love we’re going to look at.
And maybe my sermon title clued you in. You might have expected “The Song of Love for You” or “The Whisper of Love for You,” but probably not “The Scream of Love for You.”
It may seem strange that with the theme of love, I’ve just asked you to turn to a passage in the Bible that’s filled with hate. That describes the gory, blood-stained, old rugged cross our Savior was brutally murdered and mocked on a skull-shaped hill full of hate.
But this morning, we’re going to see that the hate was not just from the Jewish crowd. It was not just from the Roman soldiers. It was not just from the corrupt religious leaders. The greatest hate that was aimed at Jesus on the cross was from God Himself.
Yes, there was spitting and mocking. Yes, there was beating and cursing. Yes, there was piercing and taunting hurled at Jesus by these people. But that did not compare to the revulsion, the condemning, the damning of God the Father.
This is not only the most hate-filled chapter in Mark’s gospel. These are the most hate-filled verses in the whole Bible.
And yet, in the most amazing plot twist in history, we will see that this is also the greatest display of love. And we need to see that this morning.
Because some of you are struggling to see how God could love you-when you feel so worthless, when you feel overwhelmed by your sin, when you feel like you can never be forgiven for what you did in the past or what you’re struggling with today.
Others of you in this room are so in love with yourself, that you don’t think your sin’s any big deal at all. It’s not like you’re a murderer, right? You need to see how dead serious your sin is to God. You need to see how much your sin cost Jesus.
This morning as we look at Christ’s crucifixion, we’re going see His unbelievable love for us in the midst of hate and wrath. And we’re going to hear a scream-that I hope will overwhelm those of you who are comfortable with your sin. And a scream that I hope will comfort those of you who are overwhelmed with your sin.
This morning we’re going to hear Christ’s scream of love for you.
As we look at the images that continue to come out of Haiti, it’s almost overwhelming, just the scope of the suffering.
And of course people are all ready pointing fingers trying to pin the blame for the devastation on the Haitian government, the lack of infrastructure, the UN’s response. Hugo Chavez is even insisting it was caused by America’s “earthquake machine.”
The fact of the matter is that as awful as suffering is, it cannot be avoided. Because suffering is part of the Curse. It’s a part of life in this fallen world. You cannot avoid suffering. The question is: How will you respond to it?
Ernest Gordon
Ernest Gordon was a British soldier in WWII. He was captured by the Japanese. And he was made to work with thousands of other POWs on what was called the “Death Railroad,” along the valley of the Kwai River in Thailand. The conditions were awful.
The men were forced to work for hours in scorching temperatures, chopping their way through tangled jungles. Those who paused out of exhaustion were beaten to death by the guards. They were given almost no food. Gordon who was 6′3″ weighed less than 100 pounds. They say that 1-2 thousand prisoners died for every five miles that was built-80 thousand died in those jungles.
And it got so bad that Ernest Gordon said in his memoirs that their initial response was fear, but eventually it turned to hate and envy. They became like beasts trying to survive, at each other’s throats. They went back to the law of the jungle.
He says, “Death was everywhere. As conditions worsened, our lives became poisoned by selfishness, hate and fear. Formerly we had huddled together because of our fears believing there was safety in numbers. We had still shown some consideration for one another.
Bridge over Kwai River
Now that was gone, completely swept away. Existence had become so miserable. The odds so heavily against us that nothing mattered except to survive. We lived by the rule of the jungle, the law of tooth and claw.”
Theft was as rampant as hunger and disease. Life was met with indifference, deceit, and hatred-by captive and captor alike.
In this evening’s passage, we will see three different responses to suffering. Like the men on the “Death Railroad,” one response is out of Fear. Another response is out of Envy and Hate. But the thirdresponse is altogether different. This passage brings us to the suffering of Christ’s crucifixion. At the end of v. 15, Jesus is delivered to be scourged and to be crucified.
In Mark 15:1-20, we see three responses to suffering.
One of the longest running ad campaigns in history was the Chevy truck commercials that featured the song “Like a Rock.”
… I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
Some of you this morning may feel that way.
Maybe you’re young. Maybe you have energy. You feel as strong as you could be. Maybe you look like a rock.
Maybe you’re financially set. You have all you need and plenty in the bank. And everything is insured. You feel like you’re on a solid foundation.
Maybe you feel like a rock in your ethics. Verse 4 of the song, talks about feeling morally upright.
I stood arrow straight. Unencumbered by the weight of all these hustlers and their schemes.
I stood proud, I stood tall. High above it all. I still believed in my dreams.
This is how Peter felt.
Jesus was the One who nicknamed Simon as Petra, “Rock.”
When Peter confessed Christ as Messiah, Jesus said “You’re Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.”
And if we could visualize Peter, from what the Bible tells us about his occupation and personality, we’d probably picture him as a rock.
This guy was a rough, tough, muscular man who made his living out under the beating sun, rowing massive oars, casting nets and muscling in hundreds of pounds of fish.
Peter was a man’s man. He seemed like a rock physically.
And emotionally too. Peter never seems afraid to jump into anything. To speak his mind, to challenge others, to take the lead, even to walk on water.
And some of you may say “I can sympathize. I’m strong-willed, a natural leader, a type-A personality. I have a big mouth just like Peter.
Others of you may feel anything, but rock-solid this morning.
Maybe you’re body type is more like a marshmallow.
Maybe you’re an emotional wreck.
Maybe you’re very insecure.
Maybe you’ve just lost your job.
Or your health and your income are on shaky ground.
Even late show host’s jobs are insecure these days.
Maybe you’ve just lost a loved one.
Maybe you say, “Well, I used to feel like a rock, but not recently.” The 5th verse of the song says
Twenty years now
Where’d they go?
Twenty years
I don’t know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’ve gone
Though there are some in this room who feel like a million bucks, like they’re on top of the world, who feel like a rock.
Others of us feel very unstable. Very indecisive. Very shaky.
Today’s message is for both categories. Those who are seeking security and those who think they already have it.
In verses 53-54, we see the contrast between two men who were referred to as rocks in the Bible. Peter (we already looked at why he was called a rock) and Jesus who in 1 Corinthians 10:4 is called “that spiritual Rock…that Rock was Christ”
Verses 53-54 introduce the scenes of two simultaneous trials.
53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
One rock would stand secure. The other would crumble.
We’ve been turning to Mark’s gospel since back in 2006. I was in my 20s. I just turned 31 today, so I hope we’ll finish Mark before I’m in my 40s. Actually, Lord-willing we’ll be done by Easter.
I guess being the age Jesus was, it’s sobering to think that virtually everything we know about Him happened from the time he was 30-33. I’ve been convicted and inspired as we’ve viewed these three years’ of Jesus’ life through the lens of Mark’s gospel.
We’ve followed Him from the mountaintops (literally, the Mount of Transfiguration). And now we come to the valleys. Tonight we’ll go with Jesus into Gethsemane. A night so dark, that even Jesus’ faith is tested.
Some of you have had your faith tested. Maybe it’s being tested right now. Maybe you’re losing. Maybe you say, “I feel like I have more doubt than I have faith.”
Peter De Vries grew up in church and went to a Christian college, but left his faith. He then wrote books about people losing their faith. In one book, he tells the story of a father who has an 11 year old girl with leukemia. Just as the bone marrow begins to respond to treatment and she starts to go into remission, an infection sweeps through the ward and kills her.
The dad who has brought in a cake with his daughter’s name on it, leaves the hospital, and goes to the church where he had prayed for her healing. And there he hurls the cake at a statue of Jesus at the front of the church. The cake hits just beneath the crown of thorns and the brightly colored icing drips down Jesus’ dejected face of stone.
Jan. 14 Carol Guzy The Washington Post
This week I saw a picture that reminded me of this story. This a statue of Jesus crushed in the rubble of the earthquake in Haiti. And many people when they feel vulnerable, when they are devastated, begin to lose their faith. Maybe that’s you.
Mark’s Gospel is written to struggling, persecuted Christians. And it presents Jesus in all of His vulnerability and humanity-as Jesus the Servant, Jesus the Man. And tonight we’re going to see the most vulnerable picture of Jesus yet.
But I hope that rather than undermining your faith, it will strengthen it, and show you that you can find God’s comfort even when your faith is struggling. Let’s look at reasons why we need God’s comfort in this passage.
This year our theme at Grace is Cultivating Fruit: fruit of the Spirit brings fruit that remains.
And I’d like to introduce the theme by going to Galatians 5 and asking, “How do we grow spiritually?”
Does it come from resolve? I mean that’s what most people do at the beginning of January, right? Make resolutions? Some have probably already given up on their resolutions.
Maybe you were going to lose weight and you thought “If I can drop a pound every two weeks, I’ll be 25 pounds lighter next Christmas.” But thanks to leftover Christmas candy, you’ve already gained five pounds.
Maybe you were going to read the Bible through this year. Just a couple chapters a day. But instead of being to Joseph, you’re still in the Garden of Eden.
Maybe there was a bad habit, you were going to drop. But you’ve found yourself already going back.
This morning I would contend that resolve is not the answer. That more resolve, more resolutions, more rules or lists, or determination are not what we need. Instead we need to walk in the Spirit. Because the way that we grow spiritually is by the Spirit.
It’s not by the law. That’s been the whole theme of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Some Jewish Christians felt that just believing in Christ’s work on the cross and receiving His Spirit in you, wasn’t enough.
They said, “Well, what about all the rules that we had in Judaism. What about the kosher foods to eat, and festivals to keep and circumcision.”
They said, “if we don’t have all those rules and do’s and don’ts, we’ll be just like the pagans.”
And so they wanted a Christianity that was Christ plus the Mosaic law.
But Christ plus anything is not Christianity, it’s not biblical, it’s not the gospel. When you add anything to Christ (even the Mosaic law, as good as that was) you lose the gospel.
The gospel is Christ alone. He is the only way of salvation. Not Christ plus works. Not Christ plus good deeds. Not Christ plus a church. Christ alone is the way the truth and the life. No one gets into God’s heaven, except through Him.
So in today’s passage, we’ll see that the way to keep from falling to your flesh is not to put yourself under the Law but instead to be led by the Spirit.
I read a New Year’s Day prayer that goes like this:
Dear Lord, So far this year I’ve done well.
I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that.
But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m going to need a lot more help.
If we’re going to be realistic, we have to realize that 2010 isn’t going to be easy. A new year is going to bring new trials.
We look at what’s happening with our economy and the radical changes in Washington and more than likely the hard times aren’t over.
Some of us will face loss of health, loss of jobs, loss of homes, loss of relationships.
I wonder “Are you ready to face the trials that 2010 will bring?”
More importantly, “Can you trust the Lord in your trials?” And we find the answer in tonight’s passage.
Now as we’ve read through Mark’s gospel, we’ve seen some pretty dark times.
In ch. 1, Jesus is starved and tempted by Satan.
In ch. 2, he’s verbally attacked by the Pharisees.
In ch. 3, He’s accused of being the demon-possessed.
In ch. 4, the disciples are in a terrible storm.
In ch. 5, Jesus faces 2,000 demons.
In ch. 6 He’s rejected in His hometown.
And the list goes on. We’ve seen in recent chapters, that the religious leaders are plotting to kill Him.
But as bad as it’s been. The ugliest chapter yet, is here. In ch. 14, Jesus not only suffers mockery and injustice at trials by His enemies, but He’s betrayed, denied and abandoned by those closest to Him.
Remember Mark is writing these words to Roman Christians about 30 years later. And these persecuted believers are experiencing extreme trials. They’re huddled together in caves and tombs under Rome. They’re being eaten by lions in the Coliseum for sport. That’s the national pastime-watching Christians die. They’re being burned as torches in Nero’s backyard.
And so the Holy Spirit highlights the theme of suffering in ch. 14. So that the original Roman readers then (and readers like us today) would understand that no matter how severe our trials become, we can trust the Lord.
Now skeptics of the Bible and liberals would say we can’t trust Jesus during our trials because He was just a man who couldn’t even face His.
I mean if you were looking for a book at the library on how to get through trials would you really pick one up by a guy who was betrayed, denied, deserted by His own friends. And executed as a criminal. Would you really feel confident that this guy is going to have the answers?
Albert Schweitzer
One famous liberal theologian of the 20th century, Albert Schweitzer, said that Jesus just lost control and became a helpless victim. He writes this in The Quest for the Historical Jesus.
Jesus…lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that last revolution … It refuses to turn, and He throws Himself upon it. Then it does turn; and crushes Him. … The wheel rolls onward, and the mangled body of the one immeasurably great Man, who was strong enough to think of Himself as the spiritual ruler of mankind and to bend history to His purpose, is hanging upon it still.
According to Schweitzer, Jesus overplayed his hand and so Jesus is not the sovereign God we can trust, but just a good man who left a good example, and nothing more.
Now if this is what happened, then Schweizer would be right. But we’ll see in this passage that it’s not what happened. The liberals are absolutely wrong.
In Mk. 14, we see that Jesus is the sovereign Lord we should trust in our trials, in our suffering, in our new year.
