Category Archives: Mark

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Raising The Dead

Read: Mark 5

While he was still speaking to her, messengers arrived from the home of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. They told him, “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” (Mark 5:35-36)

A few years ago, a young man came to me, asking for prayer that God would give him the faith to raise the dead. It wasn’t a general request, mind you; it was to raise a friend of a friend who had just died.

I faced a moment of awkwardness. I do believe that the dead can be raised. Jesus said we would do the works he did, and even greater works—and in my mind,  raising the dead certain hovers somewhere near the top. I have read about the dead being raised throughout the history of Christianity. I have heard missionaries tell stories of the dead being raised on foreign fields. In my work in Ethiopia, I have interviewed church leaders who have actually raised the dead. In fact, there are reports of the dead being raised in that country to the tune of about one every twenty-four hour period.

While I suspect more Biblical authorities today would question what I have just said than what would accept it, I have no doubts whatsoever about the validity of such testimonies.  Yet as that sincere young man stood before me with his request, I struggled with how to pray. Did I really believe God could use him to raise the dead? Do I believe that resurrections are for everywhere else but America? Do I believe in it theoretically, but not in reality?

I suspect that the young man, and the others who were engaged in the conversation, sensed my hesitancy. In the seconds that passed, I faced a crisis of belief. But in that moment, the conviction of the Holy Spirit won out, and I said to him, “Yes, I will pray for you. If the dead were raised by New Testament Christians, then we ought to expect that God can use us 21st century American believers to raise the dead too!”

Do you believe that’s possible? Not just in theory, but in reality, right here, right now, in the good ol’ US of A? I completely understand if you hesitate—that’s what I did. Yet Jesus’ words to Jairus nearly two thousand years ago are for you and me today: Don’t be afraid; only believe.

Who knows—maybe one of us just crazy enough to believe will actually raise the dead one of these days. I sure hope so!

“The question whether miracles occur can never be answered simply by experience. Every event which might claim to be a miracle is, in the last resort, something presented to our senses, something seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted. And our senses are not infallible. If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been the victims of an illusion. If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, this is what we always shall say. What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question.” ~C.S. Lewis

What If God Took Over?

If you dare, try praying this future dead-raisers’ prayer: “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.  Let me see your miracles—even the dead being raised here in America—in my generation.”

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Kingdom Killers

Read: Mark 4

The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. (Mark 4:18-19)

The proclamation of God’s Word—whether from pulpits, in casual conversations, or simply in quiet devotional time—is meant to produce Kingdom expansion in your life. That is, the Kingdom of God, which simply put, means the rule of God within you, is no static thing. It is either thriving and bearing fruit, or it is stunted and shriveling.

A critical question you and I must constantly ask ourselves is this: Is God’s Kingdom expanding in my life? Is God’s rule gaining ground in every detail of my world? Am I bearing fruit?

If the answer to those questions is “no”, or “not a whole lot”, then the culprit is one of three things Jesus identified as “kingdom killers” in this parable of the Sower: One, the cares of this world—that is, worry over the things we have to do. Two, the deceitfulness of wealth—that is, the wastefulness of pursuing money. Or three, the desires for other things—that is, what we would call, “keeping up with the Jones”.

Jesus’ antidote to these three “kingdom killers” is found in this classic verse from Matthew 6:33,

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.”

If you are caught up in the cares of this life, turn worry into meditation on the goodness of God. What is worry anyway, except thinking continually about things you cannot control? So why not simply train yourself to think continually about the things God can control (which is still hovering around 100%, by the way). Spend time this week reading and reflecting on Matthew 6:25-33…it will do wonders for you.

If you are getting sucked into the money trap, start giving away what you have. True wealth, along with the joy and satisfaction that comes from it, comes from leveraging your assets to resource the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38, cf. Acts 20:35)

If you are in the rat race with the Jones’, just stop. Who cares? So what if they have a bigger house, a better car, and enjoy more exotic vacations than you? Do you think that will matter five minutes into eternity? Listen to Jesus’ sobering words in Luke 12:15-21,

And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Got any “kingdom killers” in your life? Try some holy weed killer—get rich toward God and watch the Kingdom grow in your life.

“I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.” ~David Livingstone

What If God Took Over?

Spend time today meditating on one of the verses mentioned in this post.  Read it, memorize it, pray it and get intentional about implementing what it says in your life today.

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The Unforgivable Sin

Read: Mark 3

“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” (Mark 3:28-29)

Jesus revealed unlimited forgiveness through his death on the cross. By his atoning sacrifice, God’s great grace covers all our sin—with the exception of one: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That sin has been called unforgivable.

These three words—the unforgivable sin—have caused untold anguish to many who have misunderstood their meaning and thought they had committed this grievous sin of all sins. Maybe they had become angry in a time of bitter disappointment or loss and let their rage fly, cursing God. Perhaps they fell into a sin they had vowed to God never to commit again. Maybe they had toyed with something Satanic, or mocked the work of the Spirit in a church service only then to be hit with the terrifying thought that they had insulted and blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  Whatever the case, based on this passage, there are those who wonder if they are hopelessly and eternally damned.

One of the chief problems with this passage, however, is that the wrong people are usually the ones obsessing over it. It is usually those who have a high degree of moral sensitivity and care deeply about their relationship with God, or those who suffer the religious symptoms of an emotional imbalance who live under such guilt and fear.  In both cases, a misunderstanding of the passage has created unnecessary pain.

The context of this confrontational encounter gives us a better understanding. Jesus had been performing many outstanding miracles (Mark 3:10-11, see also Matthew 12:22-30 and Luke 11:14-28), plainly evident for all to see. Most of the people were astounded by Jesus’ power over disease, demons and death, but out of sheer jealous and condescending elitism, the religious leaders scorned Jesus’ ministry as the work of the devil. So Jesus’ declaration of this unforgivable sin here is clearly a response to the sin of these few. It is not the sin of blurting out some momentary profanity or sacrilege against the Spirit of God. It’s the much more sinister offense of looking into the very face of Truth and calling it a lie. The teachers of the law were seeing the undeniable healing imprint of God’s Spirit and still deliberately calling it a work of Satan.

We need to understand that these leaders were not simply ignorant or perhaps confused in this matter; they knew exactly what they were doing. It is worth noting that verse 30 doesn’t translate very well from the Greek text in most English versions. An imperfect tense is used which suggests that theirs was a chronic attitude. In other words, they were continually declaring that Jesus had an evil spirit. This was not simply a spur-of-the-moment declaration, but an ongoing fixation.

Why couldn’t they be forgiven? Not because God’s grace was withheld from them, but because with each denial, they became increasingly incapable of responding to the Spirit of Grace.

Now here is the real danger in this—and the message for us who read this sobering text: When we deliberately choose a lie when confronted with God’s Truth, it is not that God then withholds his Truth—or his love and redemption for that matter—but that with each such deliberate choice, we become less able to respond to these graces.

So this brings us to the correct definition of the unforgivable sin: It is the steadfast refusal to be forgiven! The only sin that cannot be forgiven is un-repentance.  However, when we bring to God a soft and sorrowful heart, we find as King David did, that “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

“God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” ~Augustine

What If God Took Over

Keep in mind this prayer of the forgivable sinner: “Father, create in me a tender heart.  Keep me sensitive to the convicting work of your Spirit and cause me to be quick to repent.”

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Desperate For God

Read: Mark 2

Soon the house where Jesus was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:2-5)

I am not recommending that you knock over the pews to get to the altar or anything, but I wonder what you would be willing to do just to touch Jesus—either for yourself or someone you care about very deeply.  I personally like things a little more calm and controlled than that, but there was just something about a person’s holy desperation that seemed to move Jesus to action:

  • The blind man named Bartimaeus who wouldn’t shut up until Jesus healed him (Mark 10:46-52)
  • The Canaanite woman who wouldn’t back down just to get Jesus to deliver her demonized daughter (Matthew 15:22-28)
  • The woman with the issue of blood that pressed through the crowd just to touch Jesus (Mark 5:24-34)
  • The guy named Zacchaeus who shimmied up a tree just to see Jesus (Luke 19:1-10)

So how desperate is your faith?  Perhaps that’s the reason God doesn’t seem to do as much in your life, and mine, as we read about in Scripture or hear about in third-world Christianity.  When we become truly desperate for God, maybe we will see God move as he did in days of old.

“The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted.” ~A.W. Tozer

What If God Took Over?

Are you desperate for God?  If you would like to have the kind of desperation that the men in Mark 2 had, a good place to begin would be to simply go to God and ask him to give you that kind of holy desire.

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Can Your Salvation Pass Divine Inspection?

Read: Mark 1

“The time promised by God has come at last!” Jesus announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:15)

Most surveys today reveal a high percentage — consistently within the 80-90% range — of Americans who believe in God, claim Christianity as their faith, think that the Bible is God’s Word, and are sure they will go to heaven when they die. Yet even the causal observer of both the Bible and American society can plainly see the huge disconnect between true Christianity and current culture.

So what explains this critical disconnect? I think it is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be saved. Many people assume that if you were born in America, or if you were raised in a church-going family, even a “CEO” family—a “Christmas and Easter Only” home—that you are automatically Christian. Others assume if you simply claim Christianity as your faith, then you are Christian.

Both assumptions are fatally flawed. In fact, any assumption that doesn’t recognize the salvation equation Jesus provided is flawed. There is one way, and only one way, to salvation: Repent and believe the gospel!

Both repentance and belief are two essential sides to the same salvation coin. Salvation begins with repentance. To repent does not simply mean to feel sorrowful for your wrong, remorseful that you got caught or fearful that you will be punished. Biblical repentance means to recognize that you have offended a holy God, experience Godly sorrow over both your sinfulness and offensiveness before God (II Corinthians 7:10) , confess the sinfulness to God (I John 1:9), and—this is a critical part—make a 180-degree turn in the path you are on so that both your current behavior and the overall pattern of your life are now moving in a direction that purposefully and joyfully honors God (Matthew 3:8).

Biblical belief is more than just intellectual acknowledgement of a truth. It is placing faith in the truth of the gospel. And like repentance, this kind of faith/belief requires an alignment of head, heart, and hands—or intellect, passion, and behavior (see Matthew 22:37-39)—so that the entirety of one’s life becomes God-focused, God-directed, and God-dependent. True belief means to so align one’s life that there is no sensible explanation for it without the existence of the God who has called that life into loving, intimate relationship with himself.

Using those definitions of Biblical repentance and belief as a spiritual plumb-line, I have a strong suspicion that the spiritual foundation on which so many Americans are erecting their house of faith would not meet the Divine Inspector’s building code.

Be that as it may, the most important thing at this moment is that Jesus has called you to eternal life. And here is the question of questions: Have you followed his equation—repent and believed in his gospel?

“Either sin is with you, lying on your shoulders, or it is lying on Christ, the Lamb of God. Now if it is lying on your back, you are lost; but if it is resting on Christ, you are free, and you will be saved. Now choose what you want.” ~Martin Luther

What If God Took Over?

Offer this prayer:  “Jesus, I turn my life over to you.  Cleanse me from every sin and forgive my fundamental sinfulness. I invite you to live in my heart as Lord and Savior.  I believe in your gospel.  I place saving faith in you, trusting that you have saved me by your grace.  Thank you for granting me the gift of eternal life.”

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When The Father Turned His Back On The Son

Read Mark 15:1-16:20

 

When The Father Turned His Back On The Son

Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until
the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated,
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Mark 15:33

Go Deep: Frederick the Great, was the King of Prussia for almost a half century in the 1700’s. He was in Potsdam when he encountered one of his generals, who was in his severe disfavor. At their meeting the general saluted with the greatest respect, but Frederick abruptly turned his back on the officer. To that, the general humbly said, “I am happy to see that Your Majesty is no longer angry with me.”

That got Frederick’s attention, so he turned and asked, “How so?”

The general responded, “Because Your Majesty has never in his life turned his back on an enemy.”

It was said that the general’s daring statement led to his reconciliation with Frederick.

There was another time in a far more important place when God turned his back on his Son as he hung on the cross. In that moment, the Father treated his Son as an enemy; his wrath was poured out on him as he hung on that cross. Jesus became God’s enemy and paid the price of reconciliation so you could become God’s friend.

On the cross, Jesus took on your sins and mine—he became sin for us.  It was our sin, the sins of the whole world, that he bore on the tree, and it was that sin at which God’s righteous anger was directed. The Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:21,

“For God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Simply, yet marvelously, Christ’s death on the cross was the only means to our reconciliation with God. Jesus paid the ultimate price to satisfy God’s righteous wrath and bring us peace with God.

We who were enemies were brought near to God, now as friends.  How wonderful, how marvelous, is God’s saving love for us.  By Christ’s death, we were once sinners, but now God’s friends.

Just Saying… Martin Luther wrote, “Christ took our sins and the sins of the whole world as well as the Father’s wrath on his shoulders, and he has drowned them both in himself so that we are thereby reconciled to God and become completely righteous.”  If you are a Christian, it doesn’t get any better than that!

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Are We Really Living In The End Times?

Read Mark 13:1-14:72

Are We Really Living In The End Times?

Watch therefore, for you do not know when the
master of the house is coming.
Mark 13:35

Go Deep: Will there really ever be a second coming of Christ? The early believers were convinced that Jesus would return in their lifetime, but he didn’t. Were they mistaken?

Now it’s 2,000 years later and he still hasn’t returned. Can we keep saying we are living in the end times and that Jesus could come back at any moment, or are we mistaken as well? All these signs that he predicted here in Mark 13 have been fulfilled—yet still no Jesus! Are we just fooling ourselves?

We would do well to remember what Jesus said in Mark 13:31 & 37, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away…And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

I suppose it is possible that Jesus could delay his coming another 2,000 years—I don’t think so, given the increasing instability of Planet Earth. Whatever the case, 2,000 years is no reproach whatsoever to God’s faithfulness or the truthfulness of his Word. That is precisely the point Peter made in II Peter 3:4 when he responded to the scoffers who taunted, “Where is the Lord’s coming?”

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:8-9)

The real reason Jesus has delayed his return is not negligence or carelessness, but kindness and mercy. And frankly, I am glad for that! I am glad Jesus didn’t return in 1956, because I would not have been born. I am glad that Jesus didn’t return in any one of the years since then, because in each successive year I know people who became followers of Jesus and were spared from a Christless eternity.

The fact that 2,000 years have passed is utterly irrelevant to the promise of Christ’s return. His coming is still imminent. It could occur at any moment. And his command to be watchful and ready is just as applicable today as it was to the early church. In fact, the possibility of his return should be even more urgent for us because we are now 2,000 years closer to it.

Paul said in Romans 13:11-12, “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.”

The writer of Hebrews said, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, ‘He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith.’” (Hebrews 10:35-38)

What Jesus, Paul, Peter, the writer of Hebrews and every other New Testament author are all saying is that one of the greatest acts of faith is simply this: To keep an eye on the sky and live each day as if Jesus might return at any moment!

That is how the early church lived, and that is exactly how God wants you and me to live! And if I were to truly grasp that, here is what that would mean for me today:

  • I would be more patient in suffering. (Hebrews 10:32-39)
  • I would be more loving and kind. (Jude 21)
  • I would be more assertive in sharing Christ. (II Peter 3:9)
  • I would be more forgiving to those who have hurt me. (James 5:8-9)
  • I would be more careful in my moral life—my thoughts, attitudes, words and actions. (II Peter 3:11-12)
  • I would be a better steward of the resources God has given me. (Matthew 25)
  • And I would be more focused on the eternal and less concerned with the temporal. (II Peter 3:13)

The truth is, we were made for another world! Jesus said, “when all these things begin to happen, stand straight and look up, for your salvation is near!” (Luke 21:28, NLT)

So as you go about your business today, keep one eye on the sky—this could be the day!

“Even so, come Lord Jesus!”

Just Saying… C.S. Lewis wrote, “Has this world been so kind to you that you would leave it with regret?  There are better things ahead than any we leave behind…If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” And honestly, I can’t wait to see my new home!