Things Will Clear Up
Words & Works of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Why Do We Stop?
Why Do We Stop?
Have you ever had one of your children or g-children ask you, “Daddy, why do adults stop growing?”
Well, we do and we don’t.
Maybe you’ve noticed. New Years is a time for reflection. We pull out old photo albums, laugh about memories that come up on facebook, and look at our reflection in the mirror only to realize our faces fill the frame a little more, our stomachs fill our clothes a little more, and the spread we enjoyed throughout all the holiday parties has created a spread of its own.
Now we will endure all the commercials on TV for weight watchers, Golo, Peloton, Nordic Track, and Bowflex. All tempting us to invest in a new clothes rack.
Truth is, we don’t stop growing. Maybe we stop growing up, but we don’t stop growing out.
Speaking of growing up, maybe we stop maturing a little to soon, too.
Some of us still may be stuck in out attitudes and ideas that we’re still in our 20s, 40s, certainly not 60s.
The problem w/ this is, at least for me and Sara, we have 60 year old problems. So, if we’re thinking like we’re still 20 or 30 years younger, we’re not going to be able to deal with the problems we have.
Life gets harder as we age. Problems get bigger. And, one problem we face, is we get bigger. Thus, the annual diet.
Our eyesight gets a little fuzzier as the solutions to the situations we face seem a little fuzzier. And that can be frustrating. facing a situ and not clearly seeing the next steps to a solution.
It seems answers and next steps used to come quicker, easier. Maybe they did. But most of the tough situations we faced when we were younger were not as difficult as they are now.
Do you remember being back in Kindergarten? For some of us that was a loooooong time ago. Learning to count to 100.
Then, first grade learning to add and subtract. 2nd or 3rd grade and it was multiplication and division.
High school we learn Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, trigonometry, calculus.
Imagine being in 1st grade facing a calculus problem. One of the keys to being successful in calculus is simply know which formula to apply to the problem. But, if you face it too early in life, w/out the basic math skills, it would be impossible to see the steps to take to solve the equation.
Or, do you remember your reading circles in early elementary. Dick, Jane, and Spot. Chapter books later in elementary school. Having to read history text books for exams in middle school. Then the opportunity to read the Iliad, by Homer in college.
Thank God for good teachers all along the way. Thank you teachers!
Imagine being handed a copy of the Iliad in 2nd grade. Literally, a foreign language. It seemed still to be even after it was translated into English and we needed to be able to understand it and interpret it for essays and exams.
Do you remember struggling thru Shakespeare in high school. Was MacBeth feigning insanity? I couldn’t get past the old English to figure it out.
But, at least we had the chance to grow in our math and reading skills so we could succeed in college. If we already knew it, if the answers were immediately clear, then we wouldn’t have needed to go to school at all.
But, the answers, or even just the steps to the solutions, start our fuzzy, blurry, even completely unknown until we have the chance to learn a little more. Even then, the solutions can be hard to figure out.
Life is this way. Situs we face that we think we should know the answer to but don’t. We think we should better prepared, but aren’t.
The good news is, we don’t need to get frustrated, we need to grow, and the opportunities are there for us to do just that.
We need to face the reality that we don’t have all the answers, and the answers are not always obvious but require some work. But the work is there to be done to find them. And, it’s important to know where to put the work in.
Jesus had this message for the discs, and us, when He healed the blind man at Bethsaida.
Don’t get frustrated if there’s something about your life you don’t understand or don’t know what to do.
Growth is a process and God has answers.
Stay close and keep walking with Jesus.
Sometimes the discs come across as a comedy troupe. But if you put yourself in their place, everything they knew about God was changing. Even medical and physics principles were being blown up by Jesus.
About the time they think they figured everything out, a new situ arose that shined a bright light on their ignorance, if not arrogance. And Jesus had something new for them to get.
That happened here, in Mark 8, just after Jesus had miraculously fed thousands on a hillside. The disciples were still in the dark about what it all meant. It was fresh. It was new. And it was all so confusing.
Still Confused
Still Confused
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
They had just left the hillside where Jesus had miraculously fed thousands. They had 7 large baskets full of bread left over. Yet, no one thought to bring any along for them to eat as they traveled.
Then, as they leave this non-Jewish area, Jesus, keeping in mind his discs are all Jewish and raised in good, Jewish households that had submitted to the teaching of their synagogue and temple leadership, warned them about falling back into that.
Jesus is in the process of transitioning His ministry from being a strictly Jewish org to a new one that welcomes and involves everyone, equally. This was a difficult transition for many who had been steeped in the old ways.
So, the warning was don’t fall back into old habits, following old teaching, and doing things in old ways. There is a new way coming and a new day dawning. But with that new day that dawns, Jesus knew He’d be gone and they’d need to look for help from someone or somewhere else.
He recently had told the discs to feed both the 5000+ Jews then the 4000+ Gentiles. They couldn’t do it. They didn’t have the resources. So, in both cases, He asked them for what they had, He blessed it, multiplied, then the discs passed it out and accomplished what He originally asked them to do.
The point being, not that no one will never go hungry again. But, whatever the discs needed for ministry, they should only look to Jesus to get it and He’ll provide it. Don’t try on your own. Don’t try doing it old ways.
And, the movement from Jew to Gentile opened up the doors to everyone. They were going to be asked throughout the book of Acts to do things that stretched the beyond their abilities. They had to face the reality they couldn’t do it. But, Jesus could, and would thru them. Everything He asked them to do, He would do it using their hands, feet, words, their work.
Again the encouragement. Don’t look to old ways to accomplish these new things.
The yeast of the old guard. He’s talking about the teaching and ways they taught ppl to act. You know how yeast works. A small amount of yeast in a lump of dough that will become bread, causes the entire lump to aerate and expand.
A little bad teaching will spread throughout your life and have adverse affects on all of you. Don’t let any of it in.
The discs were still confused, thinking he was talking about bread. They didn’t bring bread.
He had just miraculously created enough bread to feed thousands. He could feed the 13 of them. They still don’t get it.
Notice, He does not get onto them for not planning ahead. Nor was He upset they did not grasp the meaning of his warning.
He was angry b/c of their failure to understand the meaning of His presence w/ them. They had eyes but could not see the significance of Jesus w/ them. They had ears but could not hear the truth He had recently taught them.
Last week I taught about the time He unstopped the deaf man’s ears so He could hear. And He spat and touched the man’s tongue so He could speak clearly. This was more than just for casual conversation about their New Year’s menu or the football playoffs.
It was to show the man, and everyone present, that Jesus will speak to your ears if they are open to what He has to say. And he will give you the words to say if your mouth is willing to receive it.
He had given sight to the blind. They could now watch the neighborhood soccer game. But more importantly, they had spiritual insight into the truth of Jesus and could be saved.
No, the discs did not have the resources they needed. But if they would ask Jesus He would provide. Not only would He provide enough for them to do what needed to be done, He’d provide and abundance so that they would have a lot left over. He would provide powerful and practical solutions to their issues. But more than that, He would give them spiritual understanding and growth that they had not had prior to needing in that moment.
He was frustrated w/ them. And, no doubt, they were frustrated, too. Frustrated at Jesus for the mysterious ways He taught. Frustrated at themselves for not getting what they should have got.
We do, too. We get frustrated when we don’t understand how to handle a situation that we feel like we should.
Jesus took them to Bethsaida where they encountered a blind man whom He could use to teach them that not everything comes to them right away.
Growth, understanding, learning is all a process and Jesus will lead them thru it.
The Growth Process
The Growth Process
They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”
He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.”
This is the only miracle written about in the bible where the healing was not immediate and complete. No, Jesus’ batteries were not low. This was not a stretch for Him. There is a method to his madness.
There is a lesson for us and the discs in why his sight was a 2-step process.
Understanding takes time. Learning takes work. They heard what Jesus said. We read it. But until we experience a situation where the lesson is called for, we may not fully understand what Jesus is meaning.
Sight is regularly used by Jesus as an illustration for spiritual understanding. Knowing what to do and what to say in a situation that has spiritual implications.
You may ask, what sorts of situations are those?
Just about every convo, confrontation, problem, and issue as a spiritual element to it. So, this is important for everything you may face.
Once again, they tried to tell Jesus what to do and how to solve the man’s problem. Touch Him. That’ll do it.
Jesus took the man aside, out of the village, away from the crowd. Only the disciples would have followed. This was a lesson for them.
This also gave Jesus the opportunity to establish a personal relationship w/ the man. Again, there is no mention of faith by anyone. It is implied that the ppl had faith in Jesus’ power to heal. Jesus wanted the man to have faith in His person to save Him.
The privacy of this event gave Jesus that opportunity.
Imagine being this blind man. Excited. Anticipating something special. Being led by the had by Jesus outside the village. They stop. Expecting a miracle.
He suddenly senses that Jesus spat in his face. What’s up?!
But, not just his face. His eyes. Dude, seriously.
Then, he blinked. Images began to appear. But they weren’t clear. Fuzzy. Blurry.
He saw ppl. But they looked like stick figures, or trees moving around.
It was not due to his lack of faith that the healing was not immediate. There is no mention of the man’s faith.
The best understanding is that by Jesus spitting on his eyes and touching him w/ his hands is to stimulate His blind faith to give him sight of the truth. Jesus is the truth.
Saliva was seen, still is in some cultures, as having healing properties. There are Haitian Witch Doctors who use their saliva in healing rituals.
We speak of licking our wounds. Animals do that and it helps in the healing. If you hit your thumb w/ a hammer the first thing you may do w/ it is put it in your mouth.
The partial sight was intentional on Jesus’ part for what the discs just went thru thinking they were in trouble for not bringing bread. The man was no long totally blind, but he still could not see clearly.
The discs had come a long way. They were not totally blind to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. But they still had much more to learn and understand. They were in the process of growth. Their maturity was obvious. But so was their immaturity.
Jesus put His hands on his eyes one more time. Immediately his site was fully restored. No need for corrective lenses. He didn’t even need cheaters, reading glasses.
I kind of look forward to the day I have to have cataract surgery so I can get new lenses implanted. But, then I’ll still need reading glasses.
Jesus is better than the best eye doctors we have today.
Jesus sent him home and told him not to go into the village. Again, to avoid multitudes and crowds that would prevent Him from doing what He came to do. Too many ppl would get in the way and prevent Him from establishing relationships with the ppl he reached and limit his teaching ability.
Next, in the context, what I’ll teach next week, Peter ID’s Jesus as the Messiah. He is sure. And then He immediately says he will die trying to prevent anyone from trying to kill Jesus.
Peter gets it, but he doesn’t. He has more understanding than he used to. But he still has a ways to go to understand Jesus must die to accomplish what He came to do.
We understand that. Later, Peter would write this:
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
Taking what Jesus had said to him and the others earlier about avoiding the yeast, or teaching of the old guard. Crave the good stuff.
We know Peter was married, Jesus healed his mother in law. He must have had children. Or, at least he knew how newborns acted in the middle of the night when they woke up hungry.
“Mommy had rough day. Sure, I’m hungry. But I think I’ll let her sleep.” Right?
Baby screams bloody murder until he gets fed. That’s the energy and drive that Peter says we should have to go after good, spiritual food that helps us grow up, mature spiritually, understand more so we can more easily resolve tougher issues.
A New Year’s Day tradition for us is to eat a bowl of black-eyed peas. It’s a southern tradition. Sara’s parents are both Texans and steeped in southern traditions like this. Supposedly, you’ll have good luck during the year if you eat them on Jan. 1st.
We have taken this tradition w/ us everywhere we’ve lived.
When we moved to N. Dak., Sara couldn’t find them among the bags of beans and vegetables. She asked and then found the black-eyed peas in the foreign food section next to the salsa and Chinese noodles.
N. Dak. is dramatically different in culture than most of the rest of the US. But, the South is not a foreign country to the Upper Midwest.
We’ve introduced a number of Yankees to the delicacy. Some in IN. We had a few folks over Monday who had never experienced the unbridled joy of Sara’s bowl of black-eyed peas, ham, onions, tomatoes, and a little hot sauce. They will never be the same.
We even got Dan Wittig to eat a bowl. He’s from Pennsylvania. He took seconds!
Some like them the first time they try them. Others, need to develop an appetite for them.
I’ve told you, all the vegetables and beans I was served as a kid came out of a can. They were mushy and tasteless. Not until I married Sara and tasted her cooking did I appreciate the difference of fresh vegetables and beans that were not flavored w/ tin or aluminum.
Sometimes it takes time to develop an appetite for things like this.
Peter is saying we need to develop an appetite for good spiritual food. It make not be all that pleasing the first time. But keep trying. You will grow to like it, even love it.
Whoever wrote Hebrews wrote this:
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
He was writing to a group of ppl who stopped trying. Their problem was not that the material was hard. It may have been. They stopped trying to understand.
They had been believers long enough that they should be teaching the material. Just pay a little attention during good sermons and you’ll pick up enough to be able to pass it along yourself.
But they wanted to go back to the ABCs. How is a person saved. They’d been saved for years. They didn’t need to know that. But they hadn’t digested it enough to be able to lead someone else to X.
Murder is bad. Adultery, bad. Stealing stuff, bad. Honoring your parents, good. Loving God more than anything else, very good. But, it’s time to move on to tougher topics.
Solid food, deeper spiritual truths;
Can you lose your salvation? Why or why not?
Should we be speaking in tongues? Why or why not?
Can you give a basic chronology of what is going to happen in the end times? Why do you think it will happen that way?
What about how much money you should be putting in the offering basket? Where do you find that in the NT? How do you know if you’re giving enough? Too much?
Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Right from wrong
Constant use. Use of Jesus’ teaching. Use of Paul, Peter, John, Moses, and the rest.
Trial error. Early on, more error. As we mature, less. But the only way to learn is to study it then try it. Correct what needs to corrected and repeat what needs t/b repeated.
It’s a process. We don’t come out of the womb w/ the ability to read Shakespeare. We don’t come to X the first day with the ability to parse Greek words.
But as we grow, we can.
Don’t get frustrated w/ something you don’t know how to do. Get busy. Stay in the process and let Jesus take you from stick figures to complex drawings, from Dick and Jane, to Homer and the Iliad.
Jesus will take you where you need to go and provide what you need to succeed there. That’s an important lesson to get early in our spiritual lives.
Applications
Applications
Bread
Bread
It’s not always about the bread. But what the bread represents.
Jesus is the bread of life. The more you understand Him, the more you will understand about your life.
Your reactions and responses will be more helpful and less troubling.
He will open your eyes, unstop your ears, and loosen (or tighten) up your tongue. Whatever you need at the time if you’ll turn to Him and ask.
Keep getting to know Jesus better and follow His instructions a closer.
Not the same
Not the same
Jesus is not bound to do the same things the same way all the time.
This guy, he spat on his eyes. Another guy, he spat on the ground and made mud. Others, He touched. Some, he just spoke.
You may see Jesus do one thing one way for your friend. But don’t expect Him to do it the same way for you. Don’t be disappointed when He does.
He will do what’s best for you. Let Him decide.
Don’t get frustrated
Don’t get frustrated
Don’t get frustrated when you can’t, or don’t know what to do.
You know it’s a lie when someone says God won’t give anything you can’t handle. He does it all the time. That’s the way we grow.
Our muscles grow when we lift weights. Our minds grow when we study tough subjects. Our spiritual lives grow when we face difficult situations.
If we try on our own we will fail and get hurt.
But when we ask God for help, he is always faithful to help and provide exactly what we need to do what He wants us to do. Not necessarily what we want to do.
Jesus will send you to school. 1st grade, 7th, senior, grad school. Each level will challenge you. But He won’t give you an assignment w/out giving you the opportunity to ask for the resources to do it successfully.
Don’t get frustrated if there’s something about your life you don’t understand or don’t know what to do.
Growth is a process and God has answers.
Stay close and keep walking with Jesus.