The visiting lay-preacher has had a marvellous Sunday. A day full of blessings with many miracles of healing and deliverance. The gospel has been preached with power. The whole town is queuing up to see and hear more. What would you do next? Book him for a summer season? Call him to be your minister? Set up a revival committee with sub-committees to oversee follow-up and plan an extension to the church building? I am sure those are the things the crowds in Capernaum would have been looking forward to.
In fact none of these things had any part in Jesus’s plans. He did the very last thing we would think of. Jesus moved on. He went away. He left the crowds disappointed and his followers astonished and went on somewhere else. “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (v 38)
This simple decision Jesus made to move on shows us a number of principles: some are particularly relevant for people in full-time Christian service as ministers or missionaries, but others apply to every Christian in our everyday Christian living and our witness to the world.
PRINCIPLES FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Jesus controlled his own ministry. He didn’t just respond to needs as they arose. He had his own agenda. Jesus controlled his own ministry despite pressure from his disciples.
36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
There are always tremendous pressures from within the church on Christian ministers and missionaries, outreach workers and youth workers. There is never a shortage of advisors suggesting how they think he or she should be exercising their ministry. Always lots of jobs people think should be done “when you’ve got a minute.”
Then there are also the pressures from the world around. We read in Luke’s version of these events, Luke 4: 42 The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.
When Jesus fed the 5000 in John 6 we read, 14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself..
Jesus always resisted all these well-meaning pressures from his friends as much as from the world around. Jesus knew what He had come to do.
(v 38) “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Jesus knew why He had come. Not just why he had come from Nazareth to Capernaum, but why he had come to earth, Son of God, Son of Man. Jesus knew what his mission was and he was not going to be deflected from it. Mission is being sent – and the father had sent the Son with a job to do. From start to finish Jesus’s ministry had purpose. Jesus’s ministry had direction.
Next week I am planning to say some more about what it means to be a minister or a missionary and I will explain that “ministry is not rendering a service but becoming a servant.” Ministers and missionaries are servants, and indeed all Christians are servants. But we aren’t primarily servants of the Church. We are all servants of God, to do the work HE has sent them to do. Not just responding to needs and circumstances, not just fire-fighting. But playing our assigned part in building the church of Jesus Christ, not just redecorating and papering over cracks.
The heart of Jesus’s ministry was to call people to decision.
Mark 1:14 Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Jesus came to call people to repent and believe in him and to follow him. In that ministry Jesus did not have a carefully designed strategy for follow-up. He simply trusted God to take care of his own. And any minister or missionary needs that same faith in God. The work of ministry is never done. There will always be loose ends. Things we won’t be able to do. We need to learn to trust in God so that, when we have done what He has sent us to do, we can leave the rest to God and move on to whatever is next. What would you do next? Jesus moved on!
PRINCIPLES FOR CHRISTIAN SERVICE
Not just for Ministers and Missionaries but for every church and indeed for every Christian as we seek to serve God in the Church and in the World. In deciding to move on, there are at least three very human ideas which Jesus completely ignores.
The first is “the need constitutes the call”. We can all find ourselves rushed off our feet responding to all kinds of needs and opportunities. Our lives can be controlled by the tyranny of the urgent, so that the important things get squeezed out. Here in Capernaum Jesus deliberately turned His back on some needs to go elsewhere to heal and preach to others. He didn’t try to meet every single need. His priority was to do the will of his Father – to meet the specific needs God wanted him to meet. And then move on. At this point Jesus’s priority was preach to other people who had not heard the Good News of the Kingdom yet.
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Jesus sowed the seed as widely as possible, so as many as possible could hear and respond.
Sometimes we try to do all God’s work for him, instead of finding out which part of that work he has for us to do and which parts we should leave to other people.
1 Corinthians 3: 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. 9 For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it.
There are so many needs. But we really do not have to do everything! We need to recognise that sometimes God might want to meet some of those needs through somebody else! Our church doesn’t have to do everything. There may sometimes be some things that God can accomplish through some of his other churches. It isn’t all down to us!
This leads us to the second very human idea which the world follows but which Jesus ignores here. “Never leave a job unfinished”. “I’ve started, so I’ll finish.” Now that is true in the sense that if God gives us a job to do we should do it with all our might until it is fully completed. But that idea is mistaken if it means we end up ploughing on in the same old thing when God has actually shown us He wants us to move on to something new. Sometimes God will call us to set aside some well established activity or some successful sphere of service, sometimes because it isn’t working but at other times simply because God ‘s will is that we move on to something else. Sometimes sticking to what we know and what we are good at is just an excuse for avoiding fresh challenges. Perseverance is only a virtue if God wants us to be persevering.
And there is a third very human idea which Jesus ignores here. “Keep on while the going’s good.” Or it could equally be expressed, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” We often judge the success of what we are doing by its popularity. By how many people are coming. “How great a temptation that report of the disciples would have been, “Everybody is looking for you.” I have talked before about this “age of measurement” and how we need to resist the temptation of only assigning value to those things which we can measure. Size isn’t everything. How popular something is or how enthusiastic people are about it are not usually very good guides as to whether something is actually God’s will or not. Jesus Christ dying the death of a traitor and blasphemer on the cross was a success in God’s eyes even though sacrifice isn’t a very appealing or popular option in human terms. In my own life, if I had followed the maxim, “keep on while the going’s good” I would never have given up doing chemistry to become a teacher. And then I would never have left being a teacher to answer the call to ministry. The only important thing for any of us is to be doing what God wants us to do. And there in Capernaum – Jesus moved on.
So how did Jesus know for certain what His Father wanted Him to do? How can we be sure we are doing what God wants?
THE PRINCIPLE FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING for all of us all the time
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
It is so simple. And so vital. If Jesus Christ the Son of God needed to go away to a solitary place and pray from time to time – how much more do we need to pray.
Notice that Jesus prayed very early in the morning. It is good to start the day with God and end the day with God even when we would much rather be in our beds sleeping. Early in the morning while it was still dark. That would be inconvenient, in many places in those days that would even be dangerous. But Jesus still made the time to spend with God in prayer.
So he went to a solitary place. We like to surround ourselves with noise. But deep communion with God requires silence. Prayer which is not so much asking but much more listening.
What was the secret of Jesus’s powerful preaching? It was PRAYER!
If we want to be clothed with power from on high, power to be witnesses for Jesus, we need to pray!
What was the secret of Jesus’s signs and wonders? It was PRAYER!
If we want God the Holy Spirit to bring healing and deliverance in our midst, we need to pray!
How did Jesus know what God wanted Him to do next? It was PRAYER! If we want to find God’s will and God’s direction for our lives, we need to pray!
I’ll say it again. If Jesus Christ the Son of God needed to go away to a solitary place from time to time to pray – how much more do we need to pray.
Jesus never did what other people expected or demanded. Jesus always did what His heavenly Father wanted.
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
John 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
That little parable of the Son, the apprentice, points us to the Son who learns from His Father how to do what the Father wants Him to do.
Jesus prayed. He heard what His Father wanted Him to do. And then He obeyed! 38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
Here is the secret of Christian ministry and of Christian service. Here is the fundamental principle for the whole of our Christian lives. We need to find out what God wants us to do and then we need to be obedient. Whatever that may cost us. Whether it is what other people expect or the exact opposite of what they expect. However unpopular that may make us or however unsuccessful we may then appear in human terms. Prayer and faith. Trust and obey.
It really is that simple. In our lives each one of us needs to hear from God what HE wants us to be doing. Not trying to meet every need – just to meet the needs God lays on our hearts. Not afraid to leave a job unfinished if God calls us to move on to something new. Not mindlessly keeping on while the going’s good. But praying to discover where God is leading us next. Jesus prayed. And then he moved on. And as a church together we need to hear from God what HE wants us all to be doing. And then we just need to obey.

Chris is risen! He is risen indeed! On Good Friday Jesus was crucified for our sins, dying in our place so that we can be forgiven. Laid in the tomb through Holy Saturday. But Easter day has arrived. The stone is rolled away! The tomb is empty! And angels bring the good news – He is not here! He is risen! Jesus is alive. Christ is risen indeed!
So how does this wonderful news make you feel? Relieved? Excited? Joyful?

Mark’s gospel is remarkable because, at least in the part which most people believe Mark wrote, the gospel does not include any of the resurrection appearances we find in the other gospels. He ends very abruptly at Mark 16:8 with just two words (in Greek). “For they were afraid”. Trembling and bewildered – for they were afraid!

These women weren’t just afraid that the apostles wouldn’t believe their story. They were afraid because of what had happened! Because dead men don’t come back to life again!!
Did you notice how the angel had to tell the women, don’t be alarmed. Don’t be scared. Matthew’s gospel records the events like this.

Matthew 28:2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. ….
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Even when Jesus did appear to the women, they were still terrified.
9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

And those women were not alone in being afraid when the Risen Christ appeared to them. Later that day in the Upper Room, Jesus appeared to his disciples.
Luke 24: 36 Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
For months Jesus had been preparing the way, telling his disciples that he was going to die in Jerusalem. But time and again he had also told them that on the Third Day he was going to rise from the dead. But all the time they did not believe him. So here when Easter came the disciples were all still afraid!

And we don’t blame the disciples. We aren’t surprised that they are scared. When God breaks into His world and does amazing things, we OUGHT to be scared!

Remember the Angel appearing to the Virgin Mary announcing the news that Jesus would be born?
Luke 1:28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
A virgin becoming pregnant – the child who will be the Son of God. No wonder Mary was scared. And remember the shepherds when the Angels came to tell them that Jesus had been born.
Luke 2And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
Whenever angels appear to human beings, it’s quite usual for their first words to be “Do not be afraid!” Because God doing new things isn’t just exciting – it really is terrifying!

Remember how the disciples reacted when Jesus walked on the water.
Matthew 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

And remember when Jesus calmed the storm, Mark 4:40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

When ordinary people come face to face with the power of Almighty God – no wonder they are afraid! As Mr Tumnus says to Lucy at the end of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, “Aslan isnt a TAME lion, you know!”
And how much more so at that first Easter, people were afraid. Because there in the empty tomb something truly miraculous had happened. For the whole of human history one simple rule had applied to all living things. Once they have died, they stay dead. Not just human beings but all creatures – once they are dead, they stay dead! And Jesus Christ had just broken that rule! He had been dead – and now he was alive again! Jesus had risen from the dead! When dead people come back to life in horror films people get scared – that’s why they call them horror films. Jesus had risen from the dead! So no wonder the women were trembling and bewildered! Sure they were afraid – so would you be! So would I be!

Of course Easter day is good news! The resurrection of Jesus Christ is wonderful news for all mankind. God has accepted the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. Our sins can be forgiven. We who believe share in Jesus’s resurrection life, eternal life, life in all its fullness. We don’t need to be afraid of dying any longer because Jesus has defeated death. Jesus has opened the door to heaven for everybody who follows Him. Of course, Easter is good news.

But Easter is also very scary! I was talking to a lady one year after the Good Friday march of witness. She was saying how sad it was that so many people were just going about their everyday business on Good Friday, shopping, driving around. How sad it was they did not recognise what a special day Friday was. She said she wished God would do something spectacular and dramatic so that everybody would know He exists – something which would mean that nobody could doubt that God is there.

But God has already done that on the first Easter! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! That is God’s proof to the world. The resurrection is all the proof the world will get and all the proof the world needs that God exists and that Jesus really was the Son of God. More than that, the resurrection of Jesus is God’s proof that Judgement Day is coming and that God commands all people everywhere to repent, to turn away from their sins and come back to God! So the resurrection of Christ is scary. Because dead people don’t come back to life – but Jesus did! And there is God’s proof to the world that He exists, and our world which is running away from God so fast SHOULD be scared of the God they have rejected. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And maybe we have become too familiar with the story of Easter. We know the happy ending so well that it does not surprise us or amaze us any more. If those first disciples were terrified, bewildered, frightened, then so should we be! Yes, joyful and excited. But if we have understood the story properly, we, like those women who first discovered the empty tomb, will be just a little bit afraid!  

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Easter Day celebrates a wonderful unexpected surprise. They had watched Jesus being crucified on the Friday. Late that afternoon they had watched Jesus’s body laid in the tomb. All Saturday they had observed the Sabbath and waited. Early on the Sunday morning they had gone to the grave expecting to anoint a dead body. Instead the women found the stone rolled away – not to let Jesus out but to let the disciples in. They had found the empty tomb and abandoned grave clothes. And the angel brings the amazing message:
Mark 16 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Christ is risen. His sacrifice was acceptable to God! Our sins can be forgiven. Death is defeated – we need never fear the grave again. Jesus is alive and men and women can share His glorious resurrection life!
Christ is risen! But the good news is followed by a command.
GO AND TELL HIS DISCIPLES
We can imagine how the disciples felt all through Holy Saturday. Discouraged. Disappointed. Lost. Like sheep without a shepherd. Their leader and teacher and friend had been crucified and his body sealed in a grave. All their expectations and hopes for the future were lying with Jesus in the tomb, dead and buried.
But the angel sent a message to the disciples. What a transformation that Good News would be. The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. He is not dead. He is risen!
Here was Good News the disciples needed to hear. Go and tell his disciples – Jesus is alive! Here is Good News everybody needs to hear! Our neighbours and friends. People in all kinds of need and people who don’t realise they have needs. Jesus is alive! Go and tell his disciples. But the sentence did not end there.
Go, tell his disciples, AND PETER
Two precious words. “And Peter.” Including Peter. Even Peter. Since he was the only one mentioned by name we might even say, “Especially Peter.”
I agree with the traditional view that Mark’s Gospel was based on the sermons of the Apostle Peter to the Early Church. So it is no surprise that Mark should include those two words, “And Peter.” Words which Peter really needed to hear.
Remember how just three nights before in the Upper Room Peter more than any of the other apostles had pledged his loyalty to Jesus.
Mark 14 27 “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’
28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
29 Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
30 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”
31 But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”
Remember then how Peter denied Jesus.
Mark 14 66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.
68 But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.
69 When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” 70 Again he denied it.
After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
71 He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”
72 Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
So Peter had failed Jesus. What could he possibly do to make up for his failures? Now there were these fantastic stories that Jesus was not dead but was alive again! But if it were true, what would Jesus say to him, to Peter, to the one who had denied knowing him three times? How could Peter possibly face Jesus again?
Here are those two wonderful words in the message from the angel. “And Peter.” Two very personal words. Showing God’s care for every individual, even for Peter. A very special message of forgiveness. “And Peter.” The Good News that Jesus is alive even applied to Peter.
It is easy to believe other people are sinners. We can even pray words of confession, “God have mercy on us, miserable sinners.” But if somebody comes up to us afterwards and calls us a miserable sinner we are likely to punch them on the nose. It is easy to believe that God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not die but have eternal life. It is easy to believe that Jesus died for other people, but not for me. It can be really had to realise and accept and know deep down inside that God loves me. God loved ME so much that He gave His only Son. That Jesus died for MY sins. That Jesus has conquered death so that I, even I, need not fear death. Jesus is alive and I, even I, can share His resurrection life. Peter really needed to hear those wonderful words, “Tell His disciples, AND PETER.” And each of us need to hear that message for ourselves. That Jesus has died and that Jesus is alive FOR US!
Which of the apostles saw Jesus first? We know that Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus alive. Then the Risen Christ appeared to Cleopas and his companion on the Emmaus Road. We may think that the next resurrection appearance was to all of the apostles disciples gathered together that evening in the Upper Room. But when Cleopas and his companion arrived at the Upper Room this is what they were told.
Luke 24 There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
It is clear that some time during that first Easter Day, Jesus appeared especially to Peter. In time the whole of the Early Church knew the story.
1 Corinthians 15 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
That meeting between Jesus and Peter must have been intensely private – so even Mark does not record the details. But Peter treasured in His heart the first words he heard which told him that Jesus still loved him and Jesus forgave him. “Tell his disciples, AND PETER.”
Each of us needs to hear that message for ourselves. Jesus is alive FOR US. And here is the Good News the whole world needs to hear. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in human history. Jesus IS ALIVE!
GO AND TELL THE WORLD!
Mark probably didn’t write the words in the Longer Ending we find to Mark’s Gospel. But through the centuries the church has believed these were the words of the Risen Christ. Churches today which don’t accept the Longer Ending of Mark as Holy Scripture find them embarrassing and challenging. Churches which do accept these words as Scripture find them fulfilled in their experience.
Mark 16 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Jesus is alive! Go and tell this Good News to the whole of creation! We find a similar command in Matthew’s account of the resurrection.
Matthew 28 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus is alive – go and tell everybody! And here was Jesus’s commission in John’s Gospel. John 20 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
Everything God sent Jesus to do He now sends the church to do. So the Early Church took the Good News into the world – Jesus is alive! Peter may have denied Jesus three times, but he would never do so again. In front of the crowds on Pentecost, and then after the healing of the lame man at the beautiful gate of the Temple, the message was the same. The Good News translation reads like this.
Acts 4 “Leaders of the people and elders: 9if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed, 10then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—whom you crucified and whom God raised from death. Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says:
‘The stone that you the builders despised
turned out to be the most important of all.’
12Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us.”

Jesus is risen from the dead. So Jesus is the only one who can save us! Whoever does not believe will be condemned, Jesus said. Without Him we are doomed! Without His resurrection life we are all left just where Jesus was on Holy Saturday, in the grave, dead and buried! Jesus is our only hope. This was the message the Early Church proclaimed to the world. Jesus is ALIVE!
Remember the reaction of the women who were first told that Jesus was alive, before they had seen Him face to face.
Mark 16 8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.
Too often Christians are too afraid to speak out. Perhaps we don’t know for sure that Jesus is alive. But then look at the wonderful way Mark’s Gospel ends.
Mark 16 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it
Seeing Jesus alive made all the difference. We may be afraid – but we don’t need to be. And the same command comes to us. “Jesus is risen – go and tell.”
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Romans 5 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the supreme demonstration of God’s love for fallen human beings. And if we want to know just how much God’s love cost Him, we can look to the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’s most intimate time of prayer and deepest communion with His Father.
Mark 14 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Luke’s Gospel helps us to appreciate even more just how much of a struggle that time of prayer in Gethsemane was for Jesus.
Luke 22 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
So in the Garden of Gethsemane we see the depths of God’s love for us, and also Jesus’s example for us of prayer and obedience, however much it costs, however much it hurts.
Mark 14 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Abba, Father, take this cup from me
“Abba, Father.” In the whole history of Israel nobody before had dared to address Almighty God in such an intimate fashion. Not “Our Father God Creator of Heaven and Earth” nor even “Our Father who art in heaven”. But “Abba”, “my Father.”
“Everything is possible for you.” Jesus recognised that God is Almighty. God is omnipotent. God is able to do ANYTHING He chooses. ANYTHING that fits in with His Divine will and eternal purposes. ANYTHING consistent with His Divine Character of love and holiness.
“Take this cup from me.” Jesus had talked to his disciples about this cup before. He said to James and John,
Mark 10:38 “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
The cup was the cup of suffering.
Mark 10 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him.”
Those events which Jesus had foretold were now less than twenty-four hours away. That cup of suffering would include:
Physical pain; few people in history have endured such as much agony as Jesus was going to do in the final hours of His life.
Death; Ezekiel 18:20 tells us, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” But Jesus was without sin. Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life. Jesus did not deserve to die. Yet He did die. He died for us, in our place. Jesus said,
John 10 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
So Jesus experienced death. But more than that. Jesus was preparing to take upon Himself on the cross,
The guilt of sin. 2 Corinthians 5 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Message In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
So on the cross Jesus was going to take upon Himself the death penalty we deserve to pay for our sin.
Isaiah 53 4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
This was the cup of suffering Jesus would have to drink. In the Old Testament “the cup” was often a symbol for God’s wrath.
Isaiah 51 17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger. …
20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.
Ezekiel 23 32 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. 33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation,
The cup of God’s wrath. On the cross Jesus was going to experience the full force of God’s anger against sin and the full weight of God’s judgment. There on the cross Jesus would discover what it meant to be cut off from God. The consequence of sin is spiritual death, separation from God who is the source of all life and light and beauty and goodness. On the cross Jesus would be cut off from Abba, My Father, and cry out
Mark 15:33 “My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why have you abandoned me?
This is the cup Jesus was going to drink. The cup of physical pain and of death. The cup of guilt for sin and the wrath of God. This was the cup Jesus longed to be released from. That is how much it would cost for Jesus to set us free and bring us life. Jesus really didn’t want to die!!
Amazing love, O what sacrifice, the Son of God given for me.
My debt He pays and my death He dies, that I might live.
Jesus really didn’t want to die. But nevertheless Jesus prays: “Abba Father, take this cup from me,
Yet not what I will but what you will.
Jesus’s desperate plea to escape the cup of suffering was not granted! His deep heartfelt prayer was not answered. God’s answer was NO! Which reminds us that
Serving God will not always be easy.
Christians can have two wrong ideas about suffering. The first wrong idea is that “God never asks us to do anything which is too difficult or too costly for us.” That is one of the devil’s lies. We have no right to assume that our lives will be any easier than Jesus’s life was. Or any easier than the lives of the first Christians, persecuted and so many martyred for their faith. We have no guarantee that our lives will be any easier than those of our brothers and sisters in the suffering church even today. If God did not spare His own Son Jesus Christ, but gave Him up for us, how dare we imagine that we will be spared?
Then the second wrong idea is this. Some Christians think, “Jesus has suffered in my place so I won’t have to suffer at all.” That is another of the devil’s lies. Jesus has suffered for us, but He then calls us to follow Him on the Calvary Road. Jesus calls us to deny self, to take up the cross daily and to follow Him. Jesus calls us to be obedient as He was obedient, whatever the cost. The idea that the Christian life is all health, wealth and prosperity is completely mistaken. Sometimes Christians will get ill. Sometimes they will be persecuted. Jesus was. Sometimes they will die. Jesus did!
God didn’t take that cup of suffering away from His beloved Son, and God won’t always take the cup of suffering away from us. But the Father did give the Son strength to obey. And
God WILL give us the grace to do His will.
The answer to Jesus’s prayer was that He was given the strength to do the Father’s will. Yet not what I will but what you will. Jesus came to the point of saying that He WOULD be obedient, He WOULD carry out God’s will whatever it was going to cost, however much it would hurt.
There are many things which God calls us to do which are not easy.
• To worship God and serve only Him;
• To turn our backs on sin and live Holy lives;
• To trust God in the dark times;
• To love our enemies and forgive others who have hurt us most deeply;
• To live lives of love as Jesus did, loving others as much as He has loved us;
• To tell everybody the Good News that Jesus saves, however difficult that can be.
The privilege of new life in Jesus Christ brings with it the responsibilities of discipleship and witness. In so many areas of life we need to come to that same point of unconditional obedience that Jesus did, “Not my will but yours be done.” Whatever it costs. However much it hurts. And when we are obedient, God will give us the strength to do His will. Even though, as Jesus said,
The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
In the Garden of Gethsemane what a dramatic contrast there is between the perfect obedience Jesus showed and the weakness and disobedience of every other human being who has ever lived.
Just beforehand on the Mount of Olives Jesus had a solemn warning for His disciples.
Mark 14 27 “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” 29 Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” 30 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” 31 But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.
The disciples had such good intentions, even in Peter’s ignorant self-confidence. But then even before the cross, even before the trials, even before the arrest, they all let Jesus down.
37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
Jesus called him by his old name “Simon”. That must have reminded Peter how little progress he had made in following Jesus. So then there is the call for all of them to watch and pray.
Mark 10:38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Keep watch. Like the sentry guarding the palace or the sailor on watch as the ship sails through rocky waters. Keep watch – because there’s danger ahead.
But one by one the disciples fell into temptation. As Jesus was arrested we read everyone deserted Him and fled. The disciples were no different from us. When temptation comes we often don’t do any better than they did. Even Peter would go on to deny Jesus three times. But we deny Jesus when an opportunity comes along to tell other people about our Saviour and we remain silent. All because,
The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
We are wrestle with the same problems the disciples did and which the apostle Paul speaks about in Romans 7. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. … 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
Even when we DO come to the point of saying, “Not my will but your will be done” we often still fail to do the right thing. We all have this battle going on inside us all the time. Even when we want to obey God we disobey him time and time again. We take the easy way out and give in to temptation.
Jesus knew all about this struggle we face. That was the battle He fought in Gethsemane. The temptation to take the easy way out. To run away from the cup of suffering which he would have to endure. Jesus knew all about our inner struggles. He was tempted in every way as we are, but the difference was He never sinned. He prayed, “not my will but your will be done” And He DID drink that cup of suffering to the bitter end! That is how much God loves you and me!
May God help us all to be like Jesus, obedient even to the point of death, doing God’s will whatever it costs, however much it hurts.
PRAYER

“Days were filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor –
I wish we’d all been ready.
Children died, the days grew cold, A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold.
I wish we’d all been ready.” (Larry Norman)
There is one truth which the first Christians believed but which the church over the centuries have mostly lost sight of. That is the happy certainty the Jesus Christ is going to return. Jesus is coming back to earth, not this time as a baby in a manger but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, surrounded by armies of angels in the glory and splendour of Almighty God. And Jesus himself warns us all to be ready for his return.
Mark 13:32-33 32 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

KEEP WATCH
Here is a challenge to stay spiritually awake, spiritually “on the ball.” None of us can afford to be spiritually asleep. We might as well be sleeping the sleep of the dead. What we are meant to be is like
Servants waiting for the Master to return.
34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

Decades ago when I was a schoolteacher I occasionally had to leave the laboratory momentarily to collect something from the prep room. It was always amusing when I went back into the classroom to see which pupils were ready for my return, and which were not. Woe betide the servant who is not awake and doing his job when the Master returns.
Each has his assigned task. God has given every Christian duties and responsibilities as we wait for Jesus to return. Responsibilities of service and witness and holiness and growth in grace. There’s no time for sitting back and putting our feet up. We each have to play our part in God’s church preparing the house for the Master’s return. We must not let Him find us asleep on the job! As in the parable of the talents or the parable of the ten gold coins, we must be using everything we have for God’s glory. We must live our lives now in the light of eternity. Jesus Christ is coming back and our greatest desire should be to be found not idle or sleeping but working for Him.
In Mark 13 Jesus points forward to TWO future events. The first is the fall of Jerusalem, the second is His return. The warnings and commands Jesus gives apply just as much to Christians today as they did to his first disciples in the days before Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 AD.
WATCH OUT THAT NO-ONE DECEIVES YOU
We should take that warning seriously. Jesus would not warn his disciples about being deceived if that was not a genuine danger. People don’t usually put up a sign saying “Beware of the dog” if all they have is two goldfish and a budgie. Jesus is warning us just as much as He was warning the first disciples about the real dangers which the church will always face until Jesus returns in glory.
5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.
21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

God is light and truth. The enemy the devil is all darkness and lies and deception. Lies like, “evangelism is unnecessary,” says the devil, “prayer is a waste of time,” says the devil, “there’s nothing wrong with being lukewarm: it isn’t good to go over the top,” says the devil, “it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are nice to people” says the devil. We must be on our guard against all these lies the devil tells.
We must guard the truth in the church. I find myself increasingly troubled by the number of preachers who keep Christians entertained for three quarters of an hour without putting any Bible truth in their sermons. I am even more troubled by the number of Christians and the number of churches which are happy with that diet. Bible teaching is important. Theology is important. What we believe does matter – it is a matter of life and death!
And we must also proclaim that truth in the world. With all the other religions and cults there are a hundred and one false saviours out there. And then there are the atheists and secularists who just assume that God doesn’t exist. We must be a church which believes what it preaches and which preaches what it believes. We must preach the truth in love – Jesus commands it.
PREACH THE GOSPEL
10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
Wycliffe Bible Translators have as their motto, “Every person in every nation, in each succeeding generation, has the right to hear the news that Christ can save.” Jesus is coming back soon. Today could be the last opportunity that our neighbours and our friends will have to hear the gospel and repent and believe and be saved. “I wish we’d all been ready.”
9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
It won’t be easy to be known as Christians. It will get us into trouble. Always has – always will! But we are not alone!
11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

God gives each Christian the power of the Holy Spirit living inside us and the words to say to being glory to Jesus. Here is a great reassurance for ordinary people who may still find themselves defending their faith and proclaiming Jesus in courts or in councils or in front of kings.Those early Christians spoke up boldly for Jesus in the face of horrible persecution and torture and even death. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Our brothers and sisters around the world are still doing so even today. We don’t face the kind of opposition they do – so how dare the church in Britain stay silent. The gospel must be preached!
Romans 10 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. …. 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

The gospel must be preached!! And then we must
STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH
He who stands firm to the end will be saved!
It isn’t going to be easy. We must show that we are true Christians by our steadfast perseverance.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

The parable of the sower reminds us that not all seed produces fruit. Some seed falls on the path and is snatched away by the birds of the air. Sometimes the devil snatches the truth out of the hearts of new believers. Some seed falls on shallow soil and rocky ground so it has no roots, and some fall away when the going gets tough. Some seed falls among thorns – some fall by the wayside because of the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth, Jesus warns us. We need to stand firm, and prove to be those who produce fruit.
It will be tough. There will not be any easy time for the church until Jesus returns. There will be all kinds of vast disasters.
7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning
of birth pains.

There will be opposition from rulers and nations.
9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
Christians will sometimes even experience opposition from their own families.
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

We must stand firm to the end! Some people think that being a Christian is meant to be easy. They think that if problems come along they have somehow done something wrong. But that is not the case. The Christian life is NOT meant to be easy. If our Christian life IS easy, something is wrong. It has always been hard to be a Christian in a world which is running away from God and it always will be hard. We must stand firm to the end.
Times of great distress are on the way, Jesus said.
15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
This warning was initially for Jesus’s followers who would still be alive at the fall of Jerusalem. But it applies to the “last days”, the whole of the period between the first coming and the second coming of Christ. Hard times are still to come. But in it all, God is in control.
20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
God WILL look after his children. And the sufferings of the church simply follow the sufferings of Jesus Himself.
Mark 10 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
John 15 and 16 tells us that Jesus warned his disciples in the Upper Room on the night before He died that they would face persecution.
John 15 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.

If you will not bear a cross you can’t wear a crown. We cannot avoid the inevitable opposition of a fallen world. Only He who stands firm to the end will be saved.
32 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
We don’t know when Jesus is coming back – but he is definitely coming!
31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

So we have to be ready!

33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

“He is coming for the ones, Who is ready to meet Him.
He is coming for the ones, Who are ready to greet Him.
He is coming for the ones, Whose lamps are burning bright.

He is coming for the ones, Who are watching and waiting.
He is coming for the ones, Who are separating,
Themselves from the world, And walking in the light.

Moving in the stream of the Spirit’s leading,
Living of the love of the Lord and feeding,
On the Holy Word that can purify the soul.
Running in the race for the crown of glory,
Taking up the cross and telling the story.
Waiting for the One who has saved.
And made them whole.

He is coming for the ones, Who await His appearing.
He is coming for the ones, Who are persevering.
He is coming for these
Is He coming for the you?” (Jimmy and Carol Owens from “Come Together”)

How much does it cost to be a Christian? Playing a sport can be expensive: buying all the kit and then playing the match fees or hiring the court every time. Even supporting a team can cost a fortune in tickets and travel to away matches and all the kinds of things fans can buy. Playing a musical instrument is expensive especially if you are having lessons but even being a fan of a singer or a band can be expensive if you collect all their CDs or DVDs or downloads and especially if you ever go to live gigs or concerts. Some people spend fortunes on keeping up with the latest fashions or gadgets, never mind cars or foreign travel. And that’s only talking about money, never mind all the time and energy and emotion some people invest in sport or entertainment or their prized possessions. But how much does it cost to be a Christian?
One day Jesus was sitting in the Temple watching people put their offerings into the treasury. And he noticed two very different attitudes to giving to God. First there were the rich people. They were
Giving to God what they have to spare.
Those rich people were giving large amounts to the Temple funds. But Jesus said, “They all gave out of their wealth.” The Good News Bible makes the meaning clear. “For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches”. The New Living Translation puts it this way. 44 They gave a tiny part of their surplus.
There are some people who have this attitude to giving to God. They will just give what they have in their pockets when they pass the offering box. Giving God the small change. Giving God what they won’t miss.
Let’s be clear. This was not the kind of giving the Old Testament taught. Jews were expected to give a minimum of a tithe, or ten percent of their income to God.
Leviticus 27:30 A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
The annual subscription to the temple was to be ten per cent. Then on top of that at the great festivals they were expected to give freewill offerings.
Deuteronomy 16 10 Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you. ….
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.
So the expectation was that every Jew would give a tithe of ten percent, and freewill offerings three times a year on top of that. Very different from an attitude of only giving what they can spare, what they wouldn’t miss.
But for some people that miserly attitude extends to their time as well – only giving to God what they can spare, what they won’t miss. Squeezing God in to odd moments, rather than making God the priority. Only praying or only going to church when there’s nothing better to do.
People who only give God what they can spare are living by worldly values. Remember what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount about treasures in Heaven.
Matthew 619 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Remember the warning in the parable of the Rich Fool.
Luke 12:16v And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Each one of us needs to make sure that we are “rich toward God.”
A.W.Tozer wrote, “In God’s sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given but how much I have left after I made my gift.”
Only giving what we can spare, what we won’t miss, is unworthy of Almighty God who created us and redeemed us at the immeasurable cost of the life of His own Son Jesus Christ. C.S.Lewis wrote. “The only safe rule is to give MORE THAN we can spare.” It is very clear than God deserves and demand nothing less than the whole of our lives, total giving, total commitment. It is there in the first and greatest commandment.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart.
Mark 12 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Here is the prayer which every Jew will pray every day, the shema. It reminds them that there is only One God and that He is their God, the God of Israel. And this God deserves and demands total love, devotion and obedience. Loving God with all our heart, which in Jewish thought is the centre not of emotion but of thought and will and decision. Loving God with all our soul, the very centre of our being. Loving God with all our mind, with all our reason and understanding. Loving God with all our strength, all our physical capacities. Total and comprehensive love for God – this is the greatest commandment.
We show our wives or husbands or children we love them by spending time with them and doing things which make them happy and not doing things which make them unhappy. By putting them first and ourselves second. And we show God our love for Him by spending time with Him in prayer, by spending time in God’s service doing things that please Him and not doing things which would displease Him. We aren’t loving God with all our hearts if we are too busy for worship or prayer or fellowship or Bible Study or Christian service. We aren’t loving God with all our hearts if we only give of our money and of our time and of our energy what we can spare and wouldn’t miss.
God demands and deserves total commitment, and this is what that dear widow brought to God. She gives us an inspiring example of
Giving God everything we’ve got.
Mark 12 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

The Message puts it this way. “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”
Here is truly extravagant love. The widow gave everything she could. Lavish generosity not measured by amount of cash she gave but by the amount of love in her heart. There is a second part to that quote from A.W.Tozer. “In God’s sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given but how much I have left after I made my gift… Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it.” That widow gave her all!
What a sacrifice! She didn’t think about what she would have left for herself, how she would eat or drink. No thought for her earthly future. She only had two tiny copper coins, a couple of pennies, and she gave them BOTH. We can so easily be tempted to keep back something for ourselves, to put something aside for a rainy day, but this widow gave everything. Total commitment.
But then, God didn’t just give what He could spare, what He wouldn’t miss, to redeem us. God paid the ultimate price for our salvation.
1 Peter 1 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Ephesians 5 2 … Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
God has given everything for us and in return He deserves no less from us. Total commitment is not just a slogan for super-keen Christians but the Biblical pattern for all discipleship.
Total commitment means giving to God ALL our money and all our possessions – everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. We are just looking after it for a while.
Total commitment means giving to God ALL our time, not just our spare time, because all our time comes from God and belongs to God.
Total commitment means giving to God all our energy. Because God is worthy of everything we could ever give to Him – and so much more!
We may think we have nothing to offer God. We have very little money. We have no time to call our own and no talents and just living is using up all the energy we have. We may feel we have very little to give. But the amount doesn’t matter. The widow had only two copper coins, a few pence. What mattered wasn’t the amount but the love and the faith with which she gave them both to God, holding nothing back. Again, as Tozer says, “In God’s sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given but how much I have left after I made my gift… Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it.”
“The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”
How much does it cost to be a Christian? It’s been said that the entrance fee to heaven is free, because Jesus has paid it. But the annual subscription costs everything we have, everything we are! Here is a question for you. If God were to call you very clearly, undoubtedly, this morning to give up life as you know it and go and serve Him as a missionary somewhere, would you do it? Or to become a minister? Would you go? Would you give up everything you have, would you give up life as you know it, if you heard the call of God unambiguously, indisputably, this morning? I believe that very many here today would do what God asked them.
If you would do that – give up everything and go and serve God wherever He sent you – then what is to stop you giving up everything anyway? Handing everything you possess, everything you are, handing your whole life over to God? What is to stop you from putting all your money, all your possessions, all your time, all your energies, into God’s hands and serving God in total commitment right where you already are, in life as it is?
That is what the widow did with her two tiny coins. In faith and devotion that widow handed over to God everything she had! And Jesus praised her for it!

When did God last answer one of your prayers? When was the last occasion when something happened and you knew without a doubt that it was God at work in response to your prayers?
Or let me ask a different question. Are there some things you don’t bother to pray about at all – maybe you’ve given up asking for those things or maybe you never started asking for them – because in all honesty you just don’t expect God to answer those particular prayers?
For many Christians, if not most of us, there is a great big gap between what we believe about prayer in theory and what we experience in our own prayers in practice. We believe in a God who answers prayer, but we don’t see that many answers to prayer and so we don’t pray enough in the first place.
But Jesus invites us to pray. He inspires us to pray. He encourages us to pray as He teaches his disciples about prayer and about faith. He points us first of all to:
The kind of prayer which God answers
Mark 11:22-24
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Jesus is encouraging his disciples to make specific requests to God. And Jesus places NO limits on those requests. “Whatsoever you may ask for,” He says, “It will be yours.”
This seems to be a different level of prayer, almost a different dimension of prayer to that on which most Christians and most churches operate. But these promises which Jesus Himself made are just as much for us as any other parts of His teaching are. Many of us are getting excited about the new things God is going to do among us in 2013, and the starting point for these things will be prayers offered in faith. Jesus says almost the same thing in John 14.
“10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
There are some churches and some Christians who do genuinely experience miraculous answers to prayer like this. Doing even greater miracles than Jesus did. Whatever you ask in my name. …. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! These promises are not just for special Christians but for every Christian! But I am always aware how little we rely on God and how much we do things in our own strength. How little we ask of God in prayer and how little we expect from God in prayer. So many of the activities of churches rest on our own human efforts and human skills and human experience. Christians leave so little room for God to be God and to act among us in Sovereign power. We steer our lives and our churches around situations where we would have to rely on God to act – because we are scared of looking foolish if God did not act. When we pray, true faith should involve going out on a limb for God, confident that He will act and that He will answer our prayers.
It was Martin Luther who said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.” God is much more ready to answer our prayers than we are ready to ask. We say we believe that God answers prayer – yet we pray so little.
The kind of prayer which God answers, says Jesus, is prayer offered in faith.
John 14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Mark 1124 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
We need that kind of faith.
Faith which moves mountains
Mark 1122 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
So many preachers and commentaries and books water these promises down. They talk about mountains of difficulties, insurmountable problems, enormous obstacles which God helps us to overcome. Not many talk about physical mountains moving. I’m always thrilled to see prayers about difficulties and problems and obstacles being answered. But I see no reasons to think that Jesus was not talking here about real physical mountains moving, not just symbolic or metaphorical mountains. I am sure the Almighty God who created everything from nothing and who parted the Red Sea to bring His chosen people out of slavery in Egypt would be able to work a miracle of moving a mountain if He chose. Nothing is impossible for God. But we don’t have enough faith. Faith without a shadow of doubt, truly believing that we have received whatever it is we ask for. Matthew records this saying in another form.
Matthew 17 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This promise Jesus made makes us feel uncomfortable. It shows up how little faith we have. It shows how little faith the church throughout the ages have had. With faith like a mustard seed NOTHING will be impossible for you, Jesus says! I haven’t got that kind of faith – yet. But we shouldn’t give up until we find that kind of faith!
The first Christians did have that kind of faith.
James 5 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
In the first century Jesus built His church on the prayers of His people. They asked and they received because they trusted in God to act. They prayed for hours, even for days. In the Old Testament Elijah prayed for YEARS. And these believers received what they asked for because they kept on praying until they received what they asked for. They persisted in prayer. They wrestled in prayer. They agonised in prayer – and God answered those prayers.
Praying with faith means trusting God. Taking God at His word, relying on Him, and having confidence that He will keep His promises. But for many Christians there are two obvious reasons why we have problems trusting God completely. We don’t know God well enough and we don’t know our Bibles well enough.
We need to get to know God better. I don’t mean just knowing more ABOUT God, although that would be a start. I mean we need to deepen our personal relationship with God. That is what prayer is all about – conversation with God, expressing our relationship with Him
1 John 5 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
“Confidence” is not the best word to describe how most Christians approach God in prayer. We don’t know God well enough to be truly bold as we approach our Heavenly Father. We don’t know Him well enough to be certain what his will is in many situations. It’s no surprise that we find it hard to ask things which are in accordance with God’s will when we don’t know God well enough to know what His will is. Often the problem is we spend too little time in prayer or we are half-hearted in our praying. Knowing God and spending time in prayer come too low down in our priorities.
Jeremiah 29 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
We spend too little time with God and so little effort in seeking Him. The kind of praying in faith Jesus invites us to takes hours each day, not minutes.
We need to know God better and then also we need to get to know God’s word better. We may feel we have a sound grasp of what the Bible teaches, but we haven’t really understood God’s word until it has released God’s power into our lives.
John 15 . 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
What a wonderful promise. Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. But it comes with a condition – that we abide in Christ and that His words abide in us. The more time and attention we give to abiding in Christ, the more we will find God answering our prayers. The Bible is full of so many great and precious promises God has given us to claim!
In Mark 9 there is a story we didn’t dwell on of a boy who was possessed by a demon. His father came to Jesus and said this.
Mark 9 22 “… if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
All things are possible for him who believes. We need to ask God to increase our faith. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Somebody has said that the best way to increase our faith is to attempt something so impossible that, unless God is in it, it is doomed to failure. Perhaps that is the kind of new thing God is going to do among us this year!
Before we finish, there is one further condition which Jesus puts on answers to prayer here. Did you spot it?
Mark 11 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Prayer with forgiveness.
The Bible points to a number of possible hindrances to prayer. Some are inward and private. Unconfessed sin. Greed. Idolatry. Pride. Self-centredness. But other barriers to prayer come from poor relationships with other people. If we are not living in love and forgiveness, God does not answer our prayers.
One reason for this is obvious. All answers to prayer are gifts of God’s grace. They aren’t rewards for good behaviour. God doesn’t answer our prayers because of any merits in us whatsoever, but only on the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But we can’t claim to be receiving God’s grace and forgiveness through Jesus is at the same time we are refusing to forgive others who have hurt or upset us. The grudges we hold on to are a denial of the grace we need to receive. As somebody has said, “Whoever refuses to forgive another, burns the bridge over which he himself must pass.”
Jesus made so many wonderful promises about prayer. Matthew 18 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
“Agreeing in prayer” is so powerful. It only takes two to agree in prayer and Jesus promises , it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Here is the power of praying together. That’s why prayer meetings and Home Groups and praying in pairs or in threes is so important. But that is also why praying with forgiveness is so important.
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
We have heard this morning about the power of prayer. The kind of prayers that God answers. Faith that moves mountains. Praying with forgiveness. Twenty promises that God will answer prayer and a dozen of those from the lips of Jesus Himself. May God help us to discover this amazing power of prayer for ourselves!
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

I want to share a secret with you this morning. In all our sermons from Mark’s Gospel it is a secret which has been revealed to just a few people. It is a secret which has been closely guarded. Until now.
We could call it the Messianic Secret, or the “Son of God” secret. Have you noticed how all through the three years of His public ministry, Jesus kept his identity as the Son of God secret as far as possible? When He cast out demons, Jesus commanded them to be silent because they knew who He really was. When he healed people, and even raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, Jesus always said, “Don’t tell anyone what has happened.” At Caesaria Philippi when Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and then asked them, “And who do you say that I am?” Peter gave that marvellous answer, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus immediately told them, “Don’t tell anyone.” After the transfiguration, when Peter James and John had seen Jesus in all his glory, the command was the same. Don’t tell anyone.”
You may have been wondering – why all this secret? Why did Jesus want to keep His true identity secret from everybody except his closest disciples?
The first reason was because of the risk of rejection. You remember Jesus’s first sermon at Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” The crowd was preparing to throw Jesus off the cliff because they thought he was blaspheming. And at least twice when Jesus taught the people, when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” and then when He said, “I and the father are one,” at least twice the people picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy. Jesus recognised that as soon as the secret of who He really was came out, very soon afterwards He would be dead.
But then there was a second reason for all the secrecy which was the risk of misunderstanding. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a great military leader to set them free from the Roman occupation. After Jesus fed the 5000 He had to hide away because all the people wanted to make Him King, by force if necessary. But Jesus did not come as a military king or a political leader. It took three years to prepare the way before Jesus could reveal who He was without everybody misunderstanding. Only at the very end, in the last week of His life, did Jesus let the secret out. And even then He did not do so in public statements and explicit claims but rather in two significant ACTIONS and one powerful PARABLE. Let’s start with that parable – the parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard. This tells us very clearly,
JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.
Most parable make a single point – this makes many. It is an allegory. Jesus tells the parable to make the Jewish leaders realise just exactly who they were trying to kill – the Son of God.
Mark 12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
In the parable the Vineyard owner represents God, and the Vineyard represents the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. This was a common picture that every Israelite would understand, taken from Isaiah chapter 5.
5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. … The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight.

In Jesus’s parable the tenants put in charge of the vineyard but who failed to pay the rent are the Leaders of Israel. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees realised that they were represented by the tenants. 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.
The Messengers sent by the Owner to the Tenants represent the Old Testament Prophets, the servants of God who had often been rejected and even killed by the Israelites.
But then the last person who is sent to the Tenants in the story is not just another servant. It is none other than the Owner’s dear Son.
6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

And that Owner’s Son who the Tenants were planning to kill represents Jesus himself. The Jewish Leaders realised that. The whole crowd would realise that. In this parable Jesus is claiming to be none other than the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who would fulfil the prophecy in Psalm 118 and be the cornerstone of the rebuilding of the nation.
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this scripture: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
If Jesus had been any more explicit he would have been stoned for blasphemy there and then, or else it would have started a revolution. The parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard lets the cat out of the bag. The big secret is finally revealed. Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
But then Jesus had already revealed who He was just days before, in two events which I am sure we know well although we may not have realised their significance. By the way that He had entered into Jerusalem Jesus had already made a powerful claim.
JESUS is THE SON OF GOD WHO REVOLUTIONISES OUR LIVES
11 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

But what is so unusual about arriving in Jerusalem on a donkey, you might ask? The thing is, nobody would. Well expecting mothers and very old people might. But not at Passover time. At Passover time however far they had travelled all Jewish pilgrims would enter Jerusalem on foot. Important leaders and Roman soldiers might ride horses. But nobody would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Nobody but one person. The person the Jews had been waiting for for centuries. Only one person would enter Jerusalem riding a donkey and that person would be the Messiah. That was the prophecy everybody was waiting to be fulfilled!
Zechariah 9 9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
The Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem at Passover, not on a horse for battle but on a donkey announcing peace. By riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was proclaiming that the Kingdom of God had come. And by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was claiming that He Himself was God’s chosen one, the Messiah. God’s chosen King greater than every other ruler and every other king.
The crowds recognised the significance of Jesus’s action. That is why they shouted “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
The crowds recognised Jesus as the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the Messiah.
And then the next day Jesus did something else which revealed who He really was.
JESUS is THE SON OF GOD WHO REVOLUTIONISES RELIGION
Mark 11 15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:
“ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
We call this incident “the cleansing of the Temple.” But we miss the point of the story if we think it was about corruption. The moneychangers and those selling sacrificial animals weren’t crooks. They were a normal and official part of the Temple system, especially at Passover time. To understand what is going on here you have to realise just how big the Temple was. The moneychangers and the stalls were in the outermost court, the Court of the Gentiles. Best guess is that this area was as long and as wide as at least four football pitches. There is no way that Jesus threw out all the moneychangers and all the sellers. He could not have turned over all their tables. That would have led to a riot and Jesus would have been arrested immediately. What Jesus did was on a small scale, in one corner of the vast Court of the Gentiles. It was a symbolic demonstration which again fulfilled prophecies of what would happen when the Messiah would come.
Zechariah 6 12 Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’
The Jews had been waiting for centuries for their Messiah to come and rebuild the Temple. To make his claim clearer, Jesus then quoted from Isaiah.
Isaiah 56 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant — 7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
This was what the Jews had been waiting for – for their Messiah to purify the Temple and its worship.
Malachi 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.
So this “cleansing of the temple” had deep spiritual significance. Jesus was not only calling for purification and renewal of Temple worship. Jesus was claiming to be the promised One who would bring that purification and renewal, indeed claiming to be God Himself.
So the secret is out. Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the last messenger sent by the Owner to the Tenants in the Vineyard – even though He knew they would kill Him. Jesus is the Son of God who revolutionises life and bring God’s Kingly Rule. And Jesus is the Son of God who revolutionises religion.
Has Jesus revolutionised your life? Has He revolutionised your religion?
Bow down and worship – for this is your God!

Indifference! In today’s world that is the most common response when we tell people the gospel of Jesus Christ. Indifference. Occasionally irritation or annoyance. But not usually opposition, just apathy.
How different it was when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem.
8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
“Hosanna!” “Lord, save us!” Those crowds welcomed Jesus as the Messiah, the Saviour, the Prince of Peace. Why is it that today the response is so indifferent, so lukewarm. Why are people today so slow to welcome the Saviour? THREE reasons:
People think they have NO NEED OF A SAVIOUR
The Jews in first century Palestine knew they needed a Saviour. It wasn’t just that they had been looking forward for centuries to the arrival of the Messiah who would arrive in Jerusalem at Passover time, not as every other pilgrim would, walking, but instead riding, and not on a horse but on a donkey. But at that time the whole Jewish nation was groaning under the oppression of the Roman occupation. The Jews were waiting for God to liberate His people.
And it is the case that poor and oppressed and marginalised people in every age have recognised their need of a Saviour, somebody to set them free. That is why the gospel is so well received in many parts of the world today. I heard recently that of the 1.4 billion people in China, the estimated number of Christians in China is 75 million. The gospel is indeed good news for the poor. Jesus brings freedom! But so many people think they are free, when they are only really free to stay lost and in the dark.
For many people in England in the 21st century, their lives are easy and comfortable. They don’t recognise that they need a Saviour. They don’t see that they are caught in the web of sin. Many people can’t imagine life getting any better. Many others aren’t prepared to give up all they’ve got for something they don’t think they need. Who needs a Saviour anyway?!
Many people don’t see what they are missing out on. Life in all its fullness. Joy, peace, a relationship with the God who created us and who loves us more than we can possibly imagine. But then if all the gospel offered was a better life, a more fulfilled life, a more peaceful life, then maybe we shouldn’t urge people to follow Jesus. But in fact Jesus is not just some optional extra for life.
What we need to remind people about is the one thing which people who feel they have no need of a Saviour prefer not to think about, the one certain thing in life they are not prepared for. Death. Three score years and then what?? People may think they are doing alright in this world – but what about the next? Heaven may only be for people who believe there is a heaven – but if you don’t believe in anything, what then? “I don’t believe in hell” may be the most common excuse but it will not be an acceptable excuse before the Judgment throne of God. We ALL need saving, everybody needs a Saviour, if only from the appalling arrogance which says, “I am good enough as I am. I don’t need saving.” We all need a Saviour and Jesus Christ is the Saviour we should all be welcoming.
Acts 17 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Hosanna! Lord, save us!
Second reason people are so slow to welcome the Saviour today is this.
People think that NO SAVIOUR CAN HELP
Some think that because they are convinced that there is no such thing as God, GOD DOESN’T EXIST
Throughout the whole history of humanity the question has always been, “Which god is the greatest?” “Which God should I follow?” It was only really during the 20th century that a new question emerged, “Does God exist at all?” That question arose partly from the horrors of two world wars, but it was really promoted by the secular agenda of the media, in particular television. In fact, most people don’t actually stop and think about the question, “Does God exist?” The media has done such a good job of creating the impression that there is no God that most people just assume that is the case. For most people, it doesn’t FEEL as if God exists, so they never actually think about the question.
Of course, a statement like “God doesn’t exist” doesn’t have any validity. Without first searching every corner of the universe, you cannot assert that a particular thing does not exist. A person can say, “If God does exist, I haven’t seen any evidence which convinces me yet.” “If God does exist, I haven’t met Him yet.” But saying that “God doesn’t exist” as if it was mathematically or scientifically provable is as meaningless as somebody saying “Australia doesn’t exist” just because they haven’t been there and they don’t believe the people who say they have.
What many folk are actually saying is that they haven’t seen any evidence that God is real. They haven’t seen God’s hand in creation. They haven’t seen any signs of God at work in the lives of Christians or in churches. They don’t hear God’s voice in His word the Bible. So such people reckon that God isn’t there, that God doesn’t exist, and they don’t recognise the difficulties which that view generates.
Many people think that God doesn’t exist but others think that even if He does exist GOD JUST DOESN’T CARE. They see the news of natural disasters and wars and appalling crimes and abuses and ask why doesn’t God stop such tragedies? We need to point them to the God who DOES care – that’s why Jesus went to Jerusalem to die to bring the world back to God!
Some people think that even if there is a God and He does care about the world, God doesn’t care about ME. My problems are too big. Nothing can change anything. Many people are gripped by despair and hopelessness. We need to tell everybody that there are no hopeless cases! NOBODY is beyond redemption! Jesus brings hope to a hopeless world. Hope for a transformed life now and hope for eternity. Not just pie in the sky when you die but cake on your plate while you wait! Hosanna! Lord save us!
There are so many people who think they don’t need a Saviour. So many who think God doesn’t exist or that God has given up on the world and God has given up on them. No wonder they don’t rush to welcome Jesus the Saviour. But then also there is a third reason.
CHRISTIANS NEED TO WELCOME THE SAVIOUR!
Jesus didn’t just show up in Jerusalem on that donkey by Himself. He had hundreds, if not thousands of supporters with Him! And it was those followers who drew the attention of the crowds in Jerusalem to Jesus. The other Gospels make this clear.
Matthew 21 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus’s arrival made an impact on the whole of Jerusalem and this was due to the crowds going in front of him and behind him shouting and cheering.
John 1217 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
People came out from Jerusalem to meet Jesus because the news that Jesus had raised Lazarus back to life had gone before him. So much so that the Pharisees said, “the whole world has gone after him!”
Luke 19 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

They welcomed Jesus in Jerusalem because of the crowds of disciples praising God for all the miracles they had seen. And after Jesus had died and been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven it was the disciples who led people to welcome the Saviour. It was the joy and enthusiasm and commitment and sacrifice of the first Christians which led first thousands and over the centuries millions to put their trust in Jesus. And it is that passion which Christians have for following Jesus which draws others to follow Him still today. We can’t prove to anybody that God exists, but we can show the difference Jesus makes in our lives and tell other what Jesus can do for them too! So many people outside think that church is boring or irrelevant. We have to show them the opposite is the case!

Psalm 107 says this. 2Let the redeemed of the LORD say so — those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
This little light of mine. I’ve got to let it shine! This new year we will have all kinds of opportunities for outreach and evangelism. Our task is simple. For people who think their lives are fine and they have no need of a Saviour, we need to point them to eternity and help them to see that everybody needs saving! For people who think that God doesn’t exist, we need to show them that God is real and that God loves them and that God will help them! And the very best way we can do that is by letting ourselves get excited about our Saviour and everything He has done for us, the way those crowds were excited as they welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. We need to ask God to set our hearts on fire with love and praise and passion for our Saviour!
The world around is indifferent to Jesus. But Christians too need to beware of indifference. Of apathy. Of lukewarm superficial religiosity. If Christians aren’t seen to be welcoming Jesus, why should anybody else?? At a pop concert it is the fan club who fight for the best seats and cheer the loudest. At a football match it is the supporters club who cheer the most, even at the away games and when the rain is pouring down. At political rallies it is the party members who urge the crowds to cheer the speaker. As Christians I am sure we could allow ourselves to get more excited about Jesus, excited like pop fans or football fans, “fanatics” as they are. A fanatic is only somebody who loves Jesus more than you do! We need to be passionate about welcoming the Saviour. Hosanna! Lord, Save us!

What do you expect to get from following Jesus? What do you really want from your Christian life? There came a point in His ministry when many of Jesus’s followers realised they weren’t getting what they expected, and they realised that the Christian life was not going to be a bed of roses!
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

There was Jesus leading the way. The apostles were astonished. They had finally realised that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and the Messiah. Peter James and John had seen Jesus’s glory in the transfiguration. The rest of Jesus’s followers were just afraid. They didn’t know what was going on.
So Jesus takes another opportunity to explain privately to his twelve apostles what was waiting for Him in Jerusalem. Betrayal. Condemnation. Mocking. Flogging. Crucifixion. And the promise of resurrection. And that was the very moment when two of the apostles came to Jesus with a strange request.
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

In one way their request showed remarkable faith! James and John were confident that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Son of God. They were confident that despite everything which Jesus said was going to happen, that one day Jesus would be ruling in glory. But their faith was tarnished by terrible selfish ambition. They were already part of the inner circle of apostles, Peter, James and John. Perhaps the two brothers were trying to squeeze Peter out.
But we must not judge James and John too harshly. We need to examine our own motives for following Jesus. Aren’t we all sometimes selfish, following Jesus for what we get out of it? And when the Christian life gets tough, aren’t we all sometimes tempted to give up and pack it all in?
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

What James and John were looking for was glory and power. But all that Jesus offers them is the things He himself would face. The cup of suffering and the baptism of punishment. Jesus was not looking forward to glory. He was facing rejection and torture and an agonizing death. Too often we expect the Christian life to be easy, a nice comfortable ride to heaven. We grumble when life gets tough and believing gets hard and when being a Christian costs more than we expected it would. We complain when Jesus asks us to sip the cup he drinks or dip our toes into the baptism he was going to face just a few weeks later. Hear again what Jesus had just told His disciples. That road to Jerusalem was not an easy one!
33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

How sad Jesus must have been as He walked towards Jerusalem. “Jesus leading the way,” a lone figure ahead of all his followers. His mind must have been full of all he was going to suffer. But all his disciples cared about was what THEY would gain. Weren’t they listening? Didn’t they understand? Didn’t they care? Jesus must have been God. If Jesus had not been God, anybody else would have turned around and run away from Jerusalem as fast as possible! Anybody else would have decided that self-centred ambitious human beings like James and John simply weren’t worth saving!
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

In the years to follow, James and John must have come to regret that rash overconfident answer. “Yes we can”. We can share your cup. We can share your baptism. And they did! Like countless Christians since who have followed their Lord in the way of the cross to suffering and martyrdom. Jesus wasn’t angry with James and John. He was sad for them because He knew what they would face and the price they would pay for being His apostles.
Too often we expect the Christian life to be easy and even enjoyable. We forget the cross and think only of the crown. We have seen Jesus say in
Mark 834 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
As the old Negro spiritual put it, “If you will not bear a cross you can’t wear a crown.” Are WE prepared to share Jesus’s cup and His baptism? They are the only way to glory. But then there is even more to following Jesus.
41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
Of course the ten were angry with James and John. They were angry that they hadn’t thought of the idea themselves. James and John had got in first! But Jesus goes on to explain that things are different in the Kingdom of God. In the world, the higher up people are the more other people serve them. But in the Kingdom of God, the higher up people are the more they serve others. It wasn’t just James and John who needed to learn this lesson. All the twelve needed to hear it. And every Christian since. Greatness in the Kingdom of God isn’t measured by knowledge or popularity or fame or success, but by service. How much we have served God and our neighbours.
There is a danger in much of our modern Christian culture that the world has crept in with its cults of popularity and celebrity. I cringe at events where speakers are introduced as “a great servant of God”. I am uncomfortable clapping to applaud a Christian “celebrity”. While all the time those who are truly great in the Kingdom of God continue to serve others sacrificially but unnoticed and unrecognised.
We need to escape from that kind of self-centred ambition which tripped up James and John if we are ever to be of any use to God. We need to get rid of any ideas that we serve God for what we get out of it!
43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
The antidote to self-centredness is that we must become slaves of all.
Slaves of all – in the church. Many people come to church for what they can get out of it. We need to ask not “what can I get?” but “what can I give?” Some people are only happy serving God in the church as long as they get noticed and appreciated. Being a slave is not easy. It can mean being taken for granted or overlooked. But God calls us to be slaves of all.
Slaves of all – in the world. This doesn’t mean Christians have to be doormats. It does mean we should be known for our good deeds. To the world around, the word Christian means somebody who is a good kind person and who loves their neighbour. And that is the example we as Christians should give to the world!
Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
What the world around us needs to see in the church is sacrificial love and service. Then many more people will want to know God for themselves. It’s not enough to tell people that Jesus loves them. We need to show people that Jesus loves them by loving them ourselves. Christians have to leave the comfort zones of our churches and stand up for Jesus in the workplace and among our neighbours. One church has as its vision statement, “We find a need and we fill it. We find a hurt and we heal it.” Not a bad aim to have!
The challenge for us as Christians and as a church, and the measure of our spirituality, is to be of service to others. Servants of all. How well we know our Bibles and how well we pray at our prayer meetings do matter. But what matters most is the quality of our sacrificial service to God in the world. Those who are greatest in the Kingdom of God are those who are slaves of all.
When they start following Jesus most people don’t realise that taking up the cross and becoming slaves of all are part of the deal. Not such an attractive proposition, this discipleship. But this is the kind of Christian living which Jesus calls us to. So why on earth would anybody in their right mind want to follow Jesus???
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus gives us His example of the kind of life of service we should lead. He did not come to be served. He did not come to be honoured. Jesus did not come for an easy life, for his own joy and happiness. Jesus was not cushioned or immune from sorrow and suffering. The Son of Man came to serve – to serve God and to serve Humanity. He came as the Man of Sorrows, the Suffering Servant. As He walked along that road to Jerusalem, I wonder whether Jesus was mediating on Isaiah 53.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

So Jesus the suffering servant would give His life as a ransom for many. He would die in our place, facing the penalty we should face and paying the price for our sin. He would redeem us. This is the reason why anybody would become a Christian and follow Jesus to suffering and sacrifice in the way of the cross. This is the reason why anybody would follow Jesus’s example and become a slave of all. Because of everything that Jesus has already done for us! Because Jesus has died for us. Because He has paid our ransom. Because we owe Jesus our lives and our souls and so, however much it costs, however hard it gets, we should be grateful to follow Jesus because of all He has done for us!
Mark 10 28 Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
There are blessings for those who follow Jesus. Great blessings in this life and in the life to come. But these blessings only come to us as we follow Jesus on the way of the cross. Through suffering, through persecution, as we follow Jesus and become slaves of all. The blessings of the gospel only come to those who leave everything behind to follow Jesus – leaving behind our comfort and our easy lives. We only know the blessings which the Servant King bought for us at Calvary when we share in His cross and His resurrection. When our own self-centred ambitions are crucified and we learn not to expect to be served but rather to serve. And we serve and give and love because of Jesus. For Jesus’s sake. Because He loves us SO MUCH.

Think of how much it cost for Jesus to die for you. How much does it cost you to live for Him?