Preventing the Supremacy of Christ in My Life

Superficiality (Mark chapters 11 to 12)

Here is my final defence against the Supremacy of Christ in my Life!
Pretend He is Supreme! Only pretend He is Supreme but keep it always on the surface only!
Superficial Christianity!
Gold plated tin!
Oak veneered chip board!
An effective defence against spiritual progress!

Consider how superficiality abounds in these two chapters of Marks gospel:

The Tree (11:12-14)
The Temple (11:15-19)
The Tenant Farmers (12:1-12)
The Taxes (12:13-17)
The Theology and Thinking of the Sadducees (12:18-27)


The Tree (11:12-14)

The fig tree - foliage but no fruit!
A good show, promising from the distance!
Successful on the surface!
Numbers up, activities increasing, busy but barren!
Plenty of rustling in the wind but no reality!

The fig tree discovered that the judge of fruitfulness was Christ and not self
The fig tree discovered the standard of fruitfulness was wither or not there was anything for Christ!
Christ was hungry for fruit (11:12)
Would the fruitfulness of the fig tree satisfy His hunger and bring pleasure to the heart of God?
Was the goal of the fig tree to simply satisfy man and look good in the landscape?
There was the prospect of dinner from the distance but emptiness in experience!
A case of the emperors new clothes!


The Temple (11:15-19)

What would be the first thing that hits us as we enter the temple? Here is the very heart of the Jewish religious system in Jerusalem. This was no provincial synagogue!

As we enter into the temple would we be struck by:

The scent and fragrance of the incense ascending in acts of worship?
The smell of the sacrifice on the altar?
The singing of the Levites in worship?
The sound of prayer? It was after all "a house of prayer" (11:17)

Surely not:
The silver chinking in the collection plates?


Here was the condition of Judaism at its very core! Religion had become a very thinly veiled covering to the greater goal of financial gain and person profit! Prayer had given place to profit!
Here is superficial religion!


The Tenant Farmers (12:1-12)

The vineyard looks the part with its:

Hedge (12:1)
Wine vat (12:1)
Tower (12:1)

So what about the fruit?
What is it producing for the master? For the "Lord" of the vineyard (v9)?
A vineyard where the presence and presentation of the Son is an inconvenience (12:6-8)
Everything is in place for fruitfulness:
The tenants responsibility was clear - to produce fruit for their "Lord" (12:9)



The Taxes (12:13-17)

Superficiality again!
The Pharisees and the Herodians were not genuinely interested in the deeper spiritual question or the biblical basis of honouring God and yet paying their due to an occupying gentile power
The Pharisees and the Herodians simply desired to "catch Him in His words" (12:13)
They were happy to use the coins of Caesar and play their part and reap the benefits of the economy of Caesar but would bring up the question of the legitimacy of paying their taxes to Caesar!


The Theology and Thinking of the Sadducees (12:18-27)

Superficial in their appreciation of scripture (12:25)
Superficial in their appreciation of the power of God (12:24)

Their question too was not a genuine quest for understanding and enlightenment but rather a carefully constructed conundrum to find fault with the teachings of Christ on bodily resurrection - something He had performed already in His ministry! (eg Mark chp 5).
Their question but was a veiled attack on the teachings of Christ (12:23)

Having looked and seen superficiality in the:

Tree
Temple
Tenant Farmer
Taxes
Teaching of Sadducees

We are now presented with the pre-eminence of God:

" And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." (Mark 12:30)

What to choose? Reality or superficiality?


Yours in Christ
Stewart

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Christ Supreme Over an Ass

Mark Chapter 11 verses 1 to 11

"For vain man would be wise, though man be born [like] a wild ass's colt." (Job11:12)
Job 11:12 presents us with the ass's colt as a picture of man in his self will.
You can't herd wild asses!
This theme of the self willed ass is consistent through scripture. One notable example of this comes in the contrast between Israels' first two kings: Saul and David. Saul was a man for the people, head and shoulders above everyone else but David was a man "after Gods own heart".
When Samuel comes to anoint Saul he is looking for his father's asses in the wilderness (1Samuel chp 9) but when Samuel comes to anoint David he is looking after his fathers sheep (1Samuel 16)! The wild ass is a picture of man given over to self and to his own mind and will, this was always the problem with Saul from his anointing till his death, he did as he pleased and went where he pleased, sparing Agag and the best of the sheep in 1 Samuel 15 and offering up sacrifices to the Lord, a thing prohibited for the Kings and reserved for the priest (1 Samuel 13:9). The problem with being self willed and self centred and determined to go and get our own way is that sometimes God can cease to strife with us and give us our own way, "and the end thereof is the way of death."

Matthew tells us that the colt of Mark 11 was the foal of the ass, and so here in Mark chapter 11 we have the story of the asses colt upon which no one had ever sat (11:2).

The Saviour gives His disciples a 3 fold instruction :

1 - Find him (11:2)
2 - Loose him (11:2)
3 - Bring him (11:2)

Christ has found me: "I am come to seek and to save that which was lost"
Has He loosed me from that which binds me?
Have I been brought to Him?
Notice where the colt is found: "And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him." - a place of decision, a crossroads in life. The colt could either turn right or left at the place where two ways meet.
Life consists of many decisions, and often many footsteps over very many years but a crossroads is a dangerous place to be for there is at a crossroads only a few footsteps of a difference between faithfulness and failure, between the right direction and the opposite direction! This was a place of decision and a decision against a background of potential fruitfulness for Christ; notice the setting for all of this, given in Mark 11:1:

"Bethphage" - House of figs
"Bethany" - House of Dates
"Mount of Olives" - fruit of olive tree

A will given over to Christ brings me into fruitfulness for Him.
After this encounter with the colt the theme of Marks gospel changes to that of fruitfulness:

Fruitfulness (or otherwise) of the Fig tree (11:20-24)
Fruitfulness (or otherwise) of the Vineyard (12:1-12)

Christ sits pre-eminent on the colt "whereon never man sat" (11:2)
Was this fruitful?
Is it possible for an ass to be fruitful for Christ???
Upon his back Christ rode into Jerusalem, hear the cries:

"And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed [be] the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest." (Mk 11:9-10)

Christ rode on the back of an ass upon which never man had sat before. Christ was pre-eminent, and the will of the ass subject to the Master carried Him in to acclamations of praise and worship! What a fruitful service to bear up Christ to the worship and wonder of men!!!
You won't be out done by an old ass will you??

click here to listen to a message preached on this subject

Yours in Christ
Stewart

Christ Supreme over Self

"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)

Following the experience of Christ supreme on the mountain at the beginning of Mark chapter 9, the disciples descend the mountain to be confronted by a case of: 'Demonic Possession and Dirty Tricks' in the midst of their failure when confronted with the power of Satan they learn that the solution to their problems lies in "prayer and fasting" (Mk9:29) - fasting that puts self out and prayer that brings God in! The solution to their failure was very simple:

1. More of Christ (Prayer)
2. Less of Self (Fasting)

The battle against self begins!
Despite a Glorious Vision of a Glorious Christ the disciples remain caught up with self! Often times Christian ministry and Christian preaching and Christian service can be a thinly veiled covering for self promotion, as religion had become to the Pharisees of Matthew 23.
Self comes to the fore in Mark chps 9 to 11:

1. Pre-eminence of Self (9:34) - "by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest"
2. Prominence of Self (9:38) - "he followeth not us" - it wasn't about following 'us' the Lord has to remind the disciples, not about following our Church, or our system or our way the issue was all the Glory of "My Name" (9:39)
3. Problems of Self (9:42-50) - The hand, the foot and eye to be cut off, how often my Works (hand) or my Way (foot) or what I Watch (eye) can hinder my usefulness to Christ!
4. Place for Self (10:35-45) - "grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand and the other on the left" - a place for self, a relationship with Christ can at times become corrupted to being a means to promotion of self.
   

Self can only hinder service for Christ as it did with the demon possessed boy in Mark 9 "and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out and they could not."

What is the solution to all of this?

"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34) - the 3 fold call of discipleship:

1. Self Denial "Deny himself"
2. Self Death "take up his cross"
3. Self Discipline "follow me"

Yours in Christ
Stewart

www.newcumnock.org

A Touch of Christ

There is throughout Marks Gospel a touch of Christ:

1. The woman with the issue blood for 12 years, in Mark chapter 5 who touched the garment of the Lord Jesus (5:27) and in so doing touched Christ (5:31)
2. Jarius dead daughter whom the Lord raised up again, by taking her by the hand (5:41)
3. The deaf and dumb man of Mark chapter 7 who felt the touch of Christ on his tongue (7:33)
4. The blind man at Bethsaida (8:22) whose eyes were touched by Christ
5. The demon possessed boy of chapter 9 who the Lord raised up by the hand (9:27)

It is also sobering to notice those who were left untouched by Christ:

1. The Pharisees
2. Herod
3. The scribes

It is in our:

1. Dieing (Jarius daugter)
2. Disapointments (woman with the issue of blood for 12 years, who had suffered much of many physicians and never grew better but rather grew worse)
3. Disease (the blind and deaf and dumb)
4. Darkness (Blind man of chp 8)

That we are find the touch of Christ, not in our self sufficiency and not in our personal triumphs.

We find His touch where we find His hand, the hand of a crucified Saviour.

His is the way of the cross.

Christ Supreme in His Glory

On the Mountain of Mark Chapter 9 we see the supremecy of Christ in His Glory.
The faith of these 3 disciples would be inspired not by self but by a Glorious Vision of a Glorious Christ. They would appreciate:

1. Purity of His Person (9:3)

2. Pointers and prophecies to His Coming (9:4)

3. Power of God in His Ministry (9:7)

4. Personal Experience of the Presence of Christ (9:8)

Purity of His Person (9:3)

1. “exceeding white as snow” - beyond nature

2. “no fuller” - beyond humanity

3. “on earth” - beyond earth

In His ministry the Saviour displayed a Righteousness and Purity beyond the normal, consider in particular the ministry of the Saviour on the subjects of:

1. Murder (Matt 5:21-22)

2. Adultery (Matt 5:27-28)

3. Hypocrisy (Matt 6:5;16)

4. Love (Matt 6:38ff)

5. Justice (Matt 7:2)

Consider the verdict of His contemporaries on His Person:

• 3 X Pontius Pilate would say: “I find no fault in Him”

• “In Him is no sin” - Johns verdict

• “He knew no sin” - Pauls verdict

• “He did no sin” - Peters verdict

2. Pointers and prophecies to His Coming (9:4)

Both Moses and Elijah pointed forward to the coming of Christ. Consider just how many pointers and prophecies there were in the Old Testament scriptures to the coming person of Christ:

1. Time of His coming (Dan 9)

2. Place of His coming (Micah 5:2)

3. Means of His Coming – the virgin womb (Isa 7:14)

4. Purpose of His coming (Isa 53; Psalm 40)

5. The declaration of His coming by John the Baptist (Isa 40)

6. His Deity (Isa 40:3,9; Isa 7:14; Psalm 45; 110)

7. He would open the eyes of the blind (Isa 9:2; 35:5; 42:16)

8. He would open the ears of the deaf (Isa 35:5)

9. His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver (Zech 11:12), by His friend (Ps41:9); after breaking bread (Ps 41:9), the betrayer would be called Judas (Gen 37); the ransom price used to buy the potters field (Zech 11:13)

10. He would be whipped and beaten (Ps129:3)

11. He would die with criminals (Isa 53:9)

12. He would die by crucifixion (Ps22)

13. He would be crucified by gentiles (Ps22)

14. No bone would be broken (Ps 34:20; Ex 12:46)

15. Details of His sufferings in death (Ps 22; Ps 69; Isa 53; Zech 11)

16. Placed in the grave of a rich man (Isa 53:9)

17. He would spend 3 days and nights in the grave (Jonah 1:17)

18. Raised again from the dead (Psalm 16)

3. Power of God in His Ministry (9:7)

The voice of Divine approval was not only to be heard on the mountain but right the way through the ministry of the person of Christ. For He is the Son of God! He is God! “My Lord and my God...” said Thomas. Not only did He claim to be God but He convinced men that He was God! He showed by His miracles and words and resurrection that He was who He said He was!

4. Personal Experience of the Presence of Christ (9:8)

By the end of this Glorious Vision of a Glorious Christ the disciples were left with "Jesus only with themselves." The same experience is ours! The experience of the daily personal power and reassurance of a living relationship with Him! The secret of the believers strength!

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Christ Supreme on the Mountain

One of the great subjects of this middle section in Marks gospel is faith in Christ we see the power of faith in Christ in 5:34: “And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (Mar 5:34) and in 5:36 “As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.”(Mar 5:36) and again in at the end of this section: “He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?...If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”(Mk 9:19-23)

The Lord desires us to have the Freedom to have Faith in Christ.
The Lord warns us of so many things that hold me back from perfect faith in Christ, amongst them Mark records:


Leaven of Herod (8:17) – The corrupting influence of Herod - The Fear of man

The account of the story of John the Baptist and his execution at the hands of Herod makes it clear that Herod was a man who made his decision to reject the voice of God speaking by John the Baptist on the basis of his fear of men (Mark 6:26). Herods destiny defining decision was determined by the fear of men! As a result of his rejection of the voice of God in the ministry of John the Baptist, Herod would be amongst those first into hell in Rev 21:8, he was amongst the “fearful and the unbelieving”

Pharisees (8:17) – The corrupting influence of the Pharisees – Faith in Self

Consider the character of the Pharisee in Matthew 23:5-7, 14, 23, 27 they invested much in their religious system and in their religion, what they did was to be seen by men, not to please God! The 2 words we often link with the Pharisee are:

1. proud – great faith in self

2. hypocrite – their faith in self was unfounded, their religion was only superficial!

Here were men when the gospel came: “repent and believe” they were too proud to change and too proud to repent – their salvation rested in self! To come to Christ was an enormous stumbling block for they had to swallow their pride and admit they were wrong and give up faith in self and works.

Fallen human heart (7:21-23) – Failings of the flesh

Note the 13 sins of the fallen human heart, a heart “ deceitful above all things and desperately wicked...”

False conclusions of an unenlightened mind (8:17)

The disciples here have confident conclusion drawn from a faulty understanding on incompletely appreciated facts! Their conclusions rested in the confident misunderstanding of a mind unfamiliar with the Glory of Christ and unable to correctly piece together the puzzle of revelation! They had failed to grasp the significance of the all sufficiency of Christ to feed the 5000 and then to feed the 4000, He was surely able to meet their need too in the boat in Mark chapter 8.

With so much that can hinder faith in Christ: the fear of men (like Herod), faith in self (like the proud Pharisee), the fallen human heart and the false conclusions of an unenlightened mind (like the disciples) how can I ever be free to have faith in Him? Am I forever cursed to be bound to fears and doubts and uncertainties? Must I:

1. Overcome every fear? Face and defeat every fear?

2. Reach a particular experience of despair?

3. Remove every last feature of this deceitful human heart?

4. Develop a full and perfect understanding in all things, with an answer to all possible questions and problems?

What a struggle that would be till I finally came to faith in Christ! The answer to faiths freedom does not lie in me facing and defeating every obstacle / objection / problem before I come to Christ. The answer to faiths freedom to believe lies in a Glorious Vision of a Glorious Christ (9:1ff) Salvation comes not when I have managed to sort myself and my problems out enough for God to save me but rather when an appreciation and experience of Christ bursts into my life and becomes enough to calm my every fear! Not that I am good enough nor great enough but that He is enough! Christ becomes to my vision greater than my fears and doubts and questions. Greater than my fears is His fullness. Greater than my sin is His saving power. Greater than my Gloom is His Glory. Greater than my Despair is His Deliverance.

Sometimes we can wait so long, until we feel we have worked up enough faith to be saved or to follow Him more closely in obedience. Faith does not come from within, not from putting everything right in my life and working myself up to some supreme state of spirituality rather faith feeds on the object of faith! Faith is my response to a vision of the Glory and of the Greatness of Christ! Faith is sustained by its Glorious object!

1. Heb 11:1 – Faith is a response to looking off to Christ, a verse written to believers who were faltering in their faith (Heb3:7,12-13; 4:2,11)

2. Rom 10:17 – Faith is my response to the revelation of Christ in His Word

3. Matt 14:22ff – Peter continues to walk on the sea so long as his eyes are focused on Christ and not on the storm!

Sometimes we get a strange view of faith and we spend our time asking God for the wrong thing! If we ask for the wrong thing we are likely to get very disappointed! What I need is not a large bucket labelled faith but a great appreciation of a great Saviour! With so many boulders in the path of belief how can faith triumph? Faith finds its final freedom not when I reach a state of near spiritual perfection and manage finally to:

1. Deal with all doubts

2. Answer all questions

3. Cleanse myself of every sin

Faith finds its freedom to believe when there comes into its sight the Glorious vision of a Glorious Christ. My faith is a response to His Glory. I need more of Him and not more of me!


On the Mount of Transfiguration in Mark 9 the disciples had a Glorious vision of a Glorious Christ! Christ was seen Supreme on the Mountain!.

Christ Supreme over the Storm:

Mark Chp 4 Vs 35 to 41:

It is a great truth that Christ is with us in the storms of life:

"Lo I am with you always" (Matt 28:20)
"Fear not I am with with you..." (Isa 41:10)
"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Heb 13:5)

but Mark chapter 4 throws up a deeper truth, not that He is with us in the storm but rather that we are with Him in the storm! This storm of Mark 4 is a storm by Divine appointment.
Christ leads His disciples into the storm: "Let us pass over unto the other side..."
The Saviour sends away the multitude and the disciples are hand picked for the storm!
Never think as we hit the storms of life that it is fortunate that He is with us and comes to our side! He is sovereign in leading us through and in determining the conditions of that storm!
Is it not all a little unfair? The disciples are handpicked for the storm and the multitude are sent away! Notice though the difference:

1. The disciples go through the storm with Christ
2. The multitude go through the storm without Christ!

This Book throws up same strange conclusions:

Daniel 3 - the safest place to be was the fiery furnace - it was where the Son of God was! It was those who threw Shadrach Meschach and Abednigo into the flames who were destroyed.

Daniel 6 - The safest place to be was in a den of lions where the angel of the Lord was! It would be those who conspired against Daniel who would be ultimately devoured.

The safest place in the universe in Mark 4 was that boat on the storm tossed sea for that was where Christ was!

The storm through which the Lord led them was no little storm, it was a "great storm" and the boat was "now full."
Before the disciples would face the challenges of a lost world in Mark chp 5:

1. A man that men could do nothing for - the man of the Gaderenes
2. A woman that men could do nothing for - the woman with the issue of blood (another medi cal failure!)
3. A child that men could do nothing for

they must have absolute confidence in Christ!

For the Lord to teach them that He was a great Saviour sufficient for great need He must take them through a great storm! They must learn the truth before the world would learn it in Chapter 5.

He would bring peace to troubled disciples. He would teach them lessons in His peace. The disciples on the storm tossed sea would enjoy peace when the storm was stilled. The Peace they enjoyed inside would reflect a peace outside, brought when the Lord calmed the sea. A storm inside was caused by a storm outside. Ultimately the Lord would lead them to a greater peace: "My peace give I unto you" (John14:27), a peace that "surpasseth understanding" (Phil 4:7). In the midst of the storm Mark reflects that there was one man different from the other 12, who enjoyed a peace inside even whilst the storm raged outside: "in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow". This is His peace, a peace that rises above the storm by resting in the God who is sovereign over the storm! This is the peace of Philippians chp 4, a peace that Paul wrote about whilst the storms of life were raging in the prison cell!

By the end of this storm the disciples were brought to an even greater fear than the fear of the storm (4:31) "they feared exceedingly...what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him?" Christ would have nothing in the lives of His disciples to be greater than Him, not even their fear of the storm, nor even their fear of death! Their awe for the majesty of Christ would exceed even their greatest terrors and dread! He had shown Himself Supreme over the Storm. May Christ be Supreme over my Storm today!

Every blessing.

Stewart

Christ Supreme

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