The Gospel According To Mark (Part 4)

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The Gospel According to Mark

(Part 4)

Good Morning and welcome to Jesus Church

We are four week into our study on the Story of Jesus told by Mark

• We have covered a whopping 11 verses so far
  • But remember this is concentrated thick content
  • And taking this beginning part slow
  • Allows us to grasp everything in a more powerful way
• Last week we talked about the baptism of Jesus
  • And how even though we know Jesus didn’t need baptism
  • He did it as an example to us…
  • What we’ll see over and over is this example on how to live
    • How to view yourself as God’s child… family of God
    • How to walk in the spirit
    • How to interact with God and his creation
  • And in this story we see the beauty/unity of the father-son-spirit
• This is what we believe is at the center of our universe & creation
  • Which is so awesome to know because…
  • Many think to center of universe is cold/inpersonal/chaos
  • But we know the center of the universe is love and balance
    • Even as a triangle is the strongest shape
    • So the Triune God is infinitely strong… for you & me

This morning we pick up right after the baptism in Mark 1:12

Mark 1:12-13

At once (Mark loves that phrase – high importance/emergency) the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

• Pretty crazy story… basically no details – But what Mark does tells us
  • One: This was really important – Spirit did it immediately
  • Two: This figure named Satan tempts/tests him
    • Note Satan is not a proper noun… so its not a name
    • The Satan means (adversary or one who opposes a purpose )
  • Three: This happens for 40 days… again ties into Israel (40 years)

Deut 8:1

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these 40 years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

• And that’s all we get from Mark – But there is more to the story
  • And its important for us to see – Lets go over to Matthews story
  • Elaborates a bit more on everything that is summarized by Mark

Matt. 4:1-11

The Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered, It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you, if you will bown down and worship me. Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Then the devil left him and angels came and attended him.

[PRAY]

This is one of the most intriguing stories of Jesus life

There aren’t a ton of stories of people in desert talking to demons

• Being offered all the kingdoms of the world – Top of temples
  • But it’s definitely not normal
  • In fact: Nothing else like this story in the entire Bible
• Jesus all by himself… ushered into the wilderness
  • Not interacting with any other people (only story like that)
  • And he’s in this verb kung-fu battle with this nameless evil
• And b/c the story is so different – Usually we categorize it uniquely
  • We think either its weird so I’m gonna just move on
  • Some of us live for this type of stuff – Picture it like a movie
    • Topic can easily divide a room in-half (like cilantro/pizza)
    • Its usually around 50/50 on who thinks who is crazy
      • Either there is this other side called the spirit realm
      • Or that’s weird superstition

But this is a very powerful story – crucially placed in the life of Jesus

• And the fact that Matt/Mark/Luke all place this story at this point
  • We need to understand this story to get what Jesus went through
  • And to do that we need to get rid of some pre-conceptions
• Who here likes art
  • Art we know changes… but what we see influences what we think
  • And the way we picture this story is important
  • B/C Xian artists have changed the story’s look of from era to era

Pic 1 – Earliest pictures (first 1000 years of church – Romannic) 1150 A.D.

• Devil depicted scaley – horned – Reptile with wings
  • Scary and this is obviously evil
  • Only thing more convincing is if it was a cat

Pic 2 – Early renaissance (realism in European art) – 1482 A.D.

• Changed from a reptile to this monk
  • Mental shift that evil isn’t this easy to spot… scary reality
  • Its actually a masked reality – Even looking good
  • Like here with a monk (still with talons for feet)

Pic 3 – Modern era (shift again) – 1854 A.D.

• Devil is now seen has just an angel – no horns/scales/talons
  • Funny… but you should know
  • There is no winged human figure in the Bible
    • There are ½ animal ½ human cherubim with wings
    • There are messenger angels – but no description of wings
• We get that idea through artwork
  • But based on things like Greek mythology
  • Writings like Dante’s inferno
  • Those images in your head aren’t from the Bible

Point: Every generation imagines it different – Should tell us something

• One we are missing the point…
  • We try to physically depict these creatures – Point to it as evil
  • The Bible doesn’t give us a physical description of the devil
  • Because it’s trying to tell us that evil isn’t that simple
• And wings/horns/fangs make it easy to dismiss evil as fantasy
  • And then people dismiss the concept all together
  • Movie quote: Greatest trick the devil ever pulled was…
• Bible does tell us that there is an evil – intelligent / physical / real
  • And its way more than just stupid human choices
  • Evil is a reality working in and through human action & sin
  • Bible describes a creature using this to bring chaos/destruction

So realize this is real… not Halloween silliness/Hollywood stupidity

• But there is a force of evil that is physical and has intelligence
  • And it preys on your humanness
  • Just like it preyed on Jesus
• So who is this evil character and where did he come from
  • The Bible doesn’t actually give us a storyline for this advisary
  • What we know is it is a creature… in rebellion to God…
    • Hates God… Hates Life… Hates those made in Gods image
    • It wants us to doubt our place with God… lead us to death
• But that’s all we get… don’t know where creature/evil comes from
  • We have some ideas – I have ideas but its vague at best
  • No say where evil is from… does say what God is doing about it

But the Spirit thinks Jesus needs to first deal with this

This is the first battle or conflict that Jesus encounters in His story

• And I want to point out again – Jesus was alone in this story
  • So only reason we have it is because Jesus told his disciples
  • Which means there is something he wanted to teach them/us
  • Something that could help them from his own experience

A little bit about what Jesus actually went through…

Matt. 4:1 / Mark 1:12

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

[Diagram – English word we see is TEMPT (Gk. Peirazo)]

• Problem isn’t with Bible but our English… because tempt is limiting
  • Would you ever tempt someone to do good? (Ex)
    • Wife had a hard day… wouldn’t say tempted to say nice stuff
    • In English you are always tempted to do evil
• You could say simply… Jesus tempted to do bad things (makes sense)
  • But there’s another story where the Pharisees PEIRZO Jesus
  • Ask him questions on the Torah… try to trap him in his words
  • Are they trying to get Jesus to do evil – NO
• Better word here would be Test (at the heart of this experience)
  • If you’re a teacher and want to know what your students learned
  • What do you do… you test them (are tests fun… challenging)

[Diagram – Tests reveal truth of who you are… have you been listening]

• We see God test Abraham in the OT stories
  • Not to get him to do evil… he has confidence in his character
  • And the test reveals that truth
• And I think this is a helpful way for us to really understand this story
  • Its not just… Satan says do something bad and Jesus says no
  • Believing that misses the message of the story

Starts with Spirit leading Jesus into a battle with Satan

• Guess what question tester focuses on: If you really are son of God
  • Now does the tester know humans
  • Has the tester been working on humans since Adam/Eve
  • So the tester knows all about humans
• And this is a battle about the truth of who Jesus is
  • Remember that God just gave Jesus his identity: Son of God
  • Who else is called a Sons of God (Israel OT – You & Me NT)
  • But we failed because we didn’t trust… this test is the same
    • Will Jesus be 1^st human to truly be what we’re meant to be
• This is why the test revolves around… question Jesus identity as son
  • This is a test to reveal who Jesus is… which God already did
  • But Satan is trying to drive a wedge of doubt
  • Which is what he does to us – Jesus knows this is relevant

1^st Satan says prove it: Make these rocks into bread

Matt. 4:3

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Now Jesus has been fasting for 40 days… do you think he was hungry

• Ya he was starving – even says he was hungry
  • Why because he was human
  • And this test isn’t fun
• Tester tries to undermine Jesus identity by pointing out circumstance
  • You are the son of God – yet going through hell in hunger/thirst
  • Tester: If you are loved son… why are you starving in the desert

And the angle is trying to undermine Jesus’ trust in the Father

• If Jesus needs to make bread into stone to prove who he is…
  • Its calls into question the Father’s ability to lead him
    • I need to prove this (to myself because of my situation)
    • This was also the test Adam/Eve fail… Jesus passes
• This comes up again (Pilot) – Test does he trust the Father w/ his life
  • That my circumstances don’t define who God is to me (root)
  • Or who I am to Him
  • Which is totally not something any of us deal with… right…

And Jesus responds: Man shall not live by bread alone but every word

• Now Jesus isn’t saying we don’t need to eat… just Bible (silly)
  • Do people need food to live… yes
  • Jesus says you don’t ONLY live on bread
• Meaning we can exist and eat and be taken care of
  • And still not truly live as a fully flourishing creation of God
  • So you can survive… and still not live
  • Because we need more than survival – Need purpose/identity
• So we survive on bread… we thrive through who we are in Christ
  • Jesus: I might live or die – That isn’t the net sum of my life
  • My life has meaning because of the Word spoken by Father I trust
  • Even more than my circumstances
    • Story is amazing… what it means to be human

2^nd test Satan says: If you are… See if God will save you

Matt. 4:5-6

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written He will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Now don’t start thinking Jesus & Gargoyle hiking up Camelback together

• What is Jesus experiencing… something outside of physical realm
  • We could speculate some type of inter-dimensional teleportation
    • More likely its what we see consistently in Hebrew scripture
    • Jesus is having a visionary experience
  • Where he can see realities in spiritual realm
    • He can see into this spirit reality that is all around us
    • Interact with the heart of the human story
  • Only analogy I can think of is Froto when he puts on the ring
    • He is in the wilderness… yet he’s in on top of the temple
    • Or next he’s looking at all the kingdoms of the earth
• So devil quotes this Psalm that talks about truth/protection/love
  • And says lets go to Gods house… the temple
  • I dare you to see if God is going to protect… because he won’t
• And this is the Devil twisting God’s own words to his own agenda
  • So this Psalm that is all about trust/love/confidence
  • Satan twisted into this “IF – THEN” statement
  • That if you are who you think… no harm can come to you
    • Which makes God the genie in the bottle
    • Something goes bad… summon God to make it go away

Jesus answers “Also written – Don’t put the lord your God to a test”

• Quotes back when Israel was in the wilderness (like Jesus)
  • They were mad at God that he freed them from slavery
  • They demanded that God prove to them that he cared
  • Which he did… but they have super short memories
• And Jesus is saying to do that – Puts God in my service
  • And that’s not how this relationship works
  • A son trusts the father… no tricks needed

3^rd test Satan says: Keep your mission… do it a diff way

Matt. 4:8

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor (There aren’t any tall mtns). All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.

So this is a shift in tactic… no more if you are the son of God

• Now he is just offering pure power and authority
  • Appealing to Jesus’ destiny and preying on the how he gets there
  • Is Jesus the king // Is he destined to bring kingdom to earth… YES
    • The question is how is that gonna happen
    • Because evil usually in Bible is addressed not as personal
    • Its principalities and powers that influence human behavior
• And the tester claims he has authority over how current world runs
  • And I think we can all agree that this is true
  • Depiction that this creature hates life/God/His image – Obvious

Question: What kind of King and what kind of Kingdom is Jesus bringing

• What does Jesus do… its different (doesn’t start with scripture)
  • Jesus says: YOU GET OUT OF HERE… there’s emotion there
    • Why – Because 1^st two times Satan questioned the truth
    • This time Satan gave the truth
    • But a truth he cause in the exploitation of love/choice
  • Jesus is emotional because his creation is so distorted
    • It is so much the opposite of what He created
    • And Satan has audacity to say he will give back for worship

And then that’s really the end – Devil leaves and angels bring V-B boost

• But the reason this story is such good news
  • Because what Jesus does is establish his victory over evil
  • Jesus passes the test that every human has failed
  • And for the rest of the story evil wear this mask of defeat
• And this victory Jesus has through his life/death/resurrection
  • Shows us the truth of what it means to exist/life/be human

So what is the reason Jesus tells this story

Because this is a test that we all face…

• Just look at the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray
  • Very last line: Lead us not into temptation/deliver from Evil One
  • Pray not to take us into the wilderness
  • But if we are there – Give us strength to remember who we are
• Because when we follow Jesus in this upside down world
  • You will be tested… just like his disciples were tested
  • But Jesus gave us a perfect example on how to win
• And these voices that Jesus has to interact with (are they familiar)
  • If you really are the son/daughter… why is your life like this
  • Can you trust a God who leaves you in this situation

Do you recognize that voice for what it is when it comes.. this is a warning

• And do you know what to do when that voice starts talking
  • Where do you go – It’s gotta be the scriptures
  • And do what Jesus did… get out of here Satan
• And rely on the truth that you are loved and valued and cared for
  • Because Jesus thought your life was worth dying for
  • And don’t ever doubt that
• The voices that try and devalue your life – all life (They are evil)
  • They will destroy you if you listen… you know I’m talking about
  • But remember this is the test… and even if that test takes my life
    • That doesn’t define my existence – Because it isn’t the end

[PRAY]