Sermon - Fruit from the True Vine - John 15

Lots of people love fishing and eating fish.  But from what people have told me around here, if someone caught it around here, you’d better ask where it came from.  There’s a great debate whether fish caught out of the Pigeon River is good to eat given the history of pollution. 

When it comes to fish—you’d better ask about its source.  The same is being said about fish and seafood caught in the northern Pacific Ocean after the Fukishima Radiation leak out of Japan.  More and more of that radiation poisoning is showing up in tests. 

The same can be said for fruits and vegetables.  I prefer to buy fruits and vegetables from the USA because I know we have a few more standards for pesticides and cleaning. 

When we talk about fruit, we’ve got to talk about the source.  Because the source of our fruitfulness makes all the difference. 

To see that source, we need to look at John 15.

As we begin John 15 we need to look at the context.  The last line of ch. 14 says “Come now, let us leave.”

They are leaving the upper room where they celebrated the Passover Meal, what we know as the Last Supper.  He’s talking to a group of Jews who have grown up hearing how they are born into the Promise, born into the covenant because they are Abraham’s descendants.

Jesus is headed toward the Garden of Gethsemane where He knows that Judas is betraying Him. He knows His arrest is coming, His beating and crucifixion.  He knows that many of these men with Him will desert Him.  He knows it all. 

This begins one of the longest sequences of Jesus speaking and teaching.  And the first thing He begins to talk about is how He is the Vine and we are the branches.  How in Him we are supposed to produce fruit.  Notice how many times this comes up in just 17 verses.

John 15:1-17

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last”

The word “fruit” appears 9 times in these verses.  Sometimes Jesus is comparing someone who bears no fruit with someone who does.  Other times, Jesus is describing the source of our fruitfulness and the desire of God.

Look at how Jesus describes Himself.  Jesus is the True Vine—He is the source from which all fruit comes.  Every branch, Jew & Gentile, Church or individual must be connected to Jesus.  From Him we draw our support, from Him we draw our nourishment and everything we need to produce fruit.

Many other teachers, religious figures claim to be a source for truth but only Jesus is the True Vine.  Jesus says that we can bear no fruit—no fruit that has eternal value, no fruit that lasts apart from Him.  Apart from Him we can do nothing—nothing of significance, nothing of real importance.

Look at how Jesus describes God the Father.  He is the Gardener.  This is the same role the Father plays in the opening chapters of Genesis when He plants a garden as a place for Adam & Eve to live.  He cultivates it and decides what fruit is to be grown.  And the most important harvest, fruit that He wants to grow is you and me—those who are created in His image!  Above all else, God desires us to be fruitful and multiply—multiply those who love, honor, obey and worship Him.

The Gardener has a very watchful eye—He closely inspects every branch to gauge its fruitfulness.  And if a branch is not fruitful, He does something to it. 

Many of you read this passage and wonder if it is talking about someone losing their salvation.  I would say no.

Most of your translations say “takes away”, “remove” or “cuts off”.  But those imply something that doesn’t happen till later.  The literal translation of this word is a form of “to lift” – “He lifts up”.  Now it could be for removal, but any of you who have ever grown tomatoes should know that lifting of the vine, lifting of the branches is extremely important if you want to grow tomatoes.  What happens if you don’t lift up the tomato plant?  It gets buried in the dirt, the fruit rots and won’t produce.  You lift it up out of the dirt, out of the filth of the world, that way it drinks in the light, the dirt washes off, and the unfruitful plant will begin to produce fruit. 

All this time, this branch has continued to be “In Me”—like last week when the owner of the vineyard comes and inspects His tree—He gave plenty of time for fruitfulness—then additional time—another year, digging around it and giving extra fertilizer.  That’s what’s happening here.  He is lifting up the branch—giving another opportunity to bear fruit.

But this opportunity doesn’t last forever.

I believe Jesus is talking to these Jewish men and dealing with an issue that is still a very common attitude today.

Many Jews thought they were guaranteed a safe and secure afterlife solely on the grounds that they were born Jews, born Abraham’s descendants because they had the Torah or sacrificed at the Temple. 

Many of our friends & neighbors make a similar mistake, that just because you or they were born in America, born to Christian parents or raised in church that they are set. 

Romans 9:6-8—“It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.  Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.”

In other words, who your parents are don’t guarantee your salvation, how much money you give doesn’t guarantee salvation, how many times you go to church doesn’t guarantee salvation. 

If you do have the privilege of being born to Christian parents, you have freedom to call on God, you have access to the Scriptures—essentially all the advantages to Knowing God—but you never make a decision on your own, never come to a saving faith—you are choosing not to draw any nourishment from the vine and thus not growing any fruit—you are choosing, despite all your advantages “not remain[ing] in [HIM]”—vs. 6—such a branch is thrown away—it begins to wither and dry up and is thrown into the fire to be burned.

The Gardener does everything He can to make you fruitful.

You’re like one of these branches out here on some of these trees—in the spring, you can tell which ones are dead and rotting because they don’t grow any leaves on them.  I’ve seen half the tree with leaves and flowers and the other half with nothing.

Jesus says in 15:8—that we show ourselves to be true disciples when we produce fruit.  So the opposite principle would say that if we are not producing fruit, we are not true disciples. 

Someone who has rejected Jesus cannot be producing fruit for Jesus—they are withering away and dying—life is being sucked out of them.  Fruitlessness shows that someone is cut off from the source—because if you were truly connected, you would be producing fruit.

Branches that do not remain in the True Vine—connected to the Source… those get cut off.  Without the first fruit of Salvation—all the advantages are wasted.  But there is always hope.

Even for the Jews who so long ago rejected Jesus--

Romans 11:23—“And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.”

But notice that if you are producing some fruit—that doesn’t mean God leaves you alone or ignores you.  He’s not looking for branches that produce the bare minimum—he’s not looking for grades like a D or a C.  He’s not interested in average.

God is not content to let any branch be just a little fruitful—he prunes it, He pays MORE attention to it so it will become even more fruitful. 

And so He Prunes us.  Pruning is not always a pleasant process—sometimes things need to be removed, other times they need to be shaped and moved to a new location, or so it will grow in a new direction.  The branch doesn’t ask for that treatment, probably doesn’t like that treatment, and cannot typically see or appreciate or understand the results—the goal of being more fruitful.

But the Gardener does—He knows exactly what it takes for us to be more fruitful and He will do whatever it takes in our lives to make us so.  He will nourish us from the True Vine.

God desires you and I to be fruitful, because that confirms that we are His disciples and it brings Him greater glory.  There is not supposed to be coasting, a retirement or resting on past achievements—God is always seeking for us to be producing more fruit, not less. 

That is His desire from us—and I hope it is yours.  I hope that is your desire for this church!  that is what the nourishment from the True Vine is for—so that we will produce, not just a little, not just some, but much fruit—abundant fruit—a harvest 100 times what was sown in us.

Fruit that has lasting, eternal value—fruit that has affects generations into the future.  The fruit that lasts is the fruit that likewise remains in Him.

So the question is, how is God pruning you to make you more fruitful?  What is He cutting away that is hindering your fruitfulness?  How is our Gardener shaping the way you grow, moving you into a new location?

The good news is that He wants you to be Fruitful—He wants to see you and I, and this church Produce much fruit—lasting fruit—fruit that remains in Him for generations.

And He wants you and I to abide, to remain, to stay in Him.  He wants you and I close and drawing our nourishment from the True Vine—does that describe you?

Ask for His pruning to make you more fruitful.

You may be hearing this realizing that you have not remained in Him and you feel your spirit withering away and you’re in danger of being thrown into the fire of hell.  That is not God’s heart for you.  Don’t cut yourself off from Him.  Today, right now you can be grafted into the True Vine through the fruit of repentance.

Why it is Reasonable to Apply the Bible to Modern Life - Part 3

Is the biblical text we have reliable or has it been corrupted?

This is Part 3 in a series about the Relevance of the Bible to Modern Life.  Part 1 and Part 2 dealt with the fact that human nature hasn’t really changed since the days of the Bible, despite our new toys & technology.

This discussion sets aside the issues of Inspiration and the possibility of God accurately conveying His intent to human authors.  Many people who reject the idea that God effectively used human authors will conveniently say, “Even if He did, and that’s a big if, what has survived has been corrupted.”

The typical story goes that the Bible has been copied and recopied so many times that what we have today cannot possibly be accurate to what was originally written.

In relation to Jesus, the Gospels were written so long after the fact, stories were embellished and legendary materials and/or mythology entered into the text and so we have things like His miraculous feedings or healings, we have the Virgin birth, we have the resurrection.

Such critics claim none of these stories are actually historical.  If true, these are deal breaking issues. 

But are these charges accurate?  Are there reasons to think that what we have today is well preserved and very close to the original text? 

I would answer, Yes.

150 years ago the age of biblical Higher Criticism began its ascent.  The theories vastly undermined the trustworthiness of the Bible as the Word of God.  One of the things that contributed to the theory was the limited number of ancient manuscripts—especially those in the original languages like Koine Greek or Hebrew. 

Some of the earliest Hebrew manuscripts we had were around 800 AD, some 1200 years after the close of the Old Testament.  We had some Greek texts from the 300’s & 400’s but most Western scholarship was based on translations in Latin.

So after copying and recopying coupled with translating and retranslating, the academic world was convinced that the text we have could not possibly be anything close to the original text.  They proposed that even those “originals” were really compilations of various authors—edited and compiled together with no real connection to the names listed as the authors.

They were able to make this argument largely because of a lack of evidence.  That was then… this is now.

We actually have an abundance of manuscript evidence.  We now have more selections of the New Testament—over 5000 selections and fragments in Greek alone—than any other ancient document.   Here’s a comparison with a few important documents.

Author	Date Written	Earliest Copy	Approx. Time btw. Original & first Copy	# of Copies
Pliny	61-113 AD	850 AD	750 yrs	2
Plato	427-347 BC	900 AD	1200 yrs	7
Herodotus	480-425 BC	900 AD	1300 yrs	8
Caesar	100-44 BC	900 AD	1000 yrs	10
Tacitus	Circa 100 AD	1100 AD	1000 yrs	193
Aristotle	384-322 BC	100 AD	1400 yrs	49
Homer (Iliad)	900 BC	400 BC	500 yrs	643
New Testament	45-100 AD	Circa 120 AD	Less than 100 yrs.	5600 in Greek + other languages & quotations

The NT has more manuscripts from dates closer to the original writing than any other ancient documents—from Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Homer’s Illiad and others that scholarship does not question. 

That is not accounting for the thousands of manuscripts in other languages like Syriac or Coptic.  Neither is that accounting for the quoting of the New Testament by the early church fathers—with which scholars estimate we could reconstruct the entire NT except for 11 verses. 

In other words, if scholars are going to dismiss the accuracy of the New Testament, they will have to throw out every other ancient document which cannot match the close proximity of copies and the sheer number.

We have almost too many documents—too much evidence about the New Testament because there are so many documents.  This high number of copies let us see the mistakes, blunders, edits and insertions.   Some site these variations as indicative of the unreliability problem.  But in most cases, the divergent texts are limited to certain geographical areas in the Mediterranean and can be compared to others where the same changes have not been made. 

In other words, they can be cross-checked for accuracy and increase our sense of reliability. 

Ron Rhodes gives an example of the kind of variations we typically see and their significance.

By practicing the science of textual criticism – comparing all the available manuscripts with each other – we can come to an assurance regarding what the original document must have said.

Let us suppose we have five manuscript copies of an original document that no longer exists. Each of the manuscript copies are different. Our goal is to compare the manuscript copies and ascertain what the original must have said. Here are the five copies:

Manuscript #1: Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole worl.

Manuscript #2: Christ Jesus is the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #3: Jesus Christ s the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #4: Jesus Christ is th Savior of the whle world.

Manuscript #5: Jesus Christ is the Savor of the whole wrld.

Could you, by comparing the manuscript copies, ascertain what the original document said with a high degree of certainty that you are correct? Of course you could.

This illustration may be extremely simplistic, but a great majority of the 150,000 variants are solved by the above methodology.

By comparing the various manuscripts, all of which contain very minor differences like the above, it becomes fairly clear what the original must have said.

Most of the manuscript variations concern matters of spelling, word order, tenses, and the like; no single doctrine is affected by them in any way.

The earliest fragment we have of the New Testament is called the John Ryland fragment from the Gospel of John, dated to the second century--about 120 AD  (though there has been a recent announcement regarding a selection from the Gospel of Mark that may prove to be from the first century—we’ll see more of that announcement and intense scrutiny within the year). 

Given that John is considered to be the last gospel written, the most theologically oriented and thus considered the “most corrupted”—the fact that this fragment exists in Egypt a mere 20-30 years after the latest it could have been written—about 90 AD in modern day Turkey (allowing for transportation around the Med.) and you’re establishing the gospels written within the lifetime of the first apostles. 

Atheist Antony Flew stated: “There’s a much greater richness of manuscripts for all the major early Christian documents than there is for, say, the plays of Aeschylus or Sophocles or the works of Aristotle. But of course, that’s not evidence about Jesus, but very good authority for the accuracy of the text that is printed in translation in the New Testament”

Here’s some more evidence about the copying process.  They did take it seriously.

If you’ve heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls you should know that they were an amazing discovery back in 1947.  The manuscripts were in Hebrew and pushed back our earliest copy of Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts by 1000+ years in some cases.  Most famously is the complete scroll of Isaiah that is about 24 feet long.  It has its own museum called, the Shrine of the Book.  Scholars are able to compare documents with 1700 years worth of copying and recopying between them and assess the differences.

What they have found is a remarkable consistency—roughly 95% of the text is the same over 1000 years of copying.  I don’t think Xerox could do that well.  The other 5% are mostly misspellings or word-order switches.  No significant doctrine is altered or contradicted by any of these changes.

That is astounding and should put to rest the notion that the copying process automatically ruins the reliability.

What about the idea that the New Testament was written so long after the events? 

Scholarship reflects a spectrum much like politics with a Liberal and Conservative wing.  Most scholars agree that Paul began his writing in the late 40’s and early 50’s (keeping in mind Jesus’ crucifixion occurred around 33 AD).  Most scholars tend to follow the idea called Markan Priority—which believes that since Mark is the shortest Gospel, it must have been written first (I don’t find this compelling, by the way).  Liberals and Conservatives differ on the dates with conservatives arguing mid 50’s for Mark and liberals mid/late 60’s.  Extreme liberal scholars deny any Gospel was written in the first century but that has proven a harder position to defend given that early church fathers in the late first century (90’s AD) were quoting extensively from them.  It’s hard to quote a document that doesn’t exist.

So Mark was written somewhere between 20-30 years after the events it describes.  That may seem like a long time, but for its day, that was quick—far too quick for legendary material to enter the story.  This is also within the lifetime of eyewitnesses who could confirm or deny what they saw.  After all in the year 2021, I’ll still be able to refute someone who says space aliens destroyed the World Trade Center.

That is one point that Paul makes in his statement from 1 Corinthians 15:3-8—“For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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 •Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen •asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one abnormally born, He also appeared to me.”

This statement was taught to Paul during the time shortly after his conversion and can be reasonably dated to within 5 years of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Notice what is already part of the “story”:

• Jesus died – they weren’t stupid and Romans were very good at it
• The theological reason – for our sins
•  Jesus was raised on the third day
•  All “according to the Scriptures” – thus believed the events to be fulfilling Old Testament Prophecy
• Numerous eyewitness accounts of Jesus appearing to them

One new argument to show the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses makes use of Name Frequency.  I highly recommend watching the video on the link. 

Lastly, I will post the words from a minister named, Voddie Baucham and I would recommend you watching the sermon.  He bases this statement on the text of 2 Peter 1:16-21

“I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report [of] supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claimed that their writing are divine rather than human in origin.”

Voddie Baucham – Why I Believe the Bible - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZNXMJGYNG8

Since I believe that the Bible is accurate and reliable and because I believe it speaks accurately to the human condition, and most importantly because I believe the Bible has a divine rather than merely human origin; I believe it is very reasonable to apply what it says to modern life despite the fact that it is “so old” or in spite of the fact that we have advanced so much since those days.

I believe the Bible describes our sinful condition and also describes the cure.  I believe the Bible is God’s love letter to us—recording Him trying to reach out to us and save us from our biggest problems, sin and death.   For example:

It speaks to modern families; it defines marriage and calls upon parents to champion the education of their children.  It speaks to how we should relate to governments and calls us to work to change society for the better through the power of the Gospel.  It shows us how to handle our money, our jobs and our time; encourages us to avoid laziness and work hard even when the boss is not watching.  It teaches us to break the cycles of retaliation and violence.  It calls us to personally care for the poor and those in need rather than pass the buck to another agency.  It challenges us to avoid harmful behavior—that harms anyone, including ourselves by taking care of our body.  It calls us to be responsible with our resources and not go into debt.  

The Bible gives us our purpose, identifies the fundamental value of all human beings, invites us to a great adventure and calls us to a glorious future with our Creator.

You may not want to apply the Bible to your life, you may have many reasons.  But do not be foolish enough to think that it is unreasonable to include the Bible in modern discussions.

For Further Reading:

http://theresurgence.com/2012/05/28/what-to-say-when-someone-says-the-bible-has-errors

http://www.wtsbooks.com/pdf_files/9781567691825.pdf

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/07/08/an-interview-with-craig-blomberg-on-jesus-and-the-reliability-of-the-gospels/

Chicago Statement on Inerrancy - http://www.etsjets.org/files/documents/Chicago_Statement.pdf

Sermon-- The Message that Sent Jesus to the Cross-- Pt. 2

Last week we began looking at the Gospel of Mark for reasons why people would have wanted to send Jesus to the Cross. From Mark 1, last week we looked: Here is the Audio of the message.

1. A Message Shared with a Criminal
2. A Message of Fulfillment
3. A Message of Repentance
4. A Message of the Good News

All of these things contributed to many wanting to send Jesus to the Cross. Yes, even the Good News—that God is a God of Grace, that Salvation is a free gift that is not earned or deserved—so angered people, so stripped the religious Pharisees of unlawful authority that they opposed Him and hated Jesus for it.

But there’s more—there’s more in this passage that provided fuel to the fire.


1. A Message of Authority—1:21-22
a. Jesus has a teaching that is contrary to the world’s way of thinking. He comes right into the middle of our lives and teaches that mercy is better than sacrifice, that the thoughts and attitudes of the heart are just as important as one’s actions, that doing good in they eyes of man will never earn salvation. He confronts our apathy, He confronts our prejudices, He proclaims that the Love of God is not based on ceremony or ritual but forgiveness & holiness, especially sacrificial love. A love so great that the answer is that the innocent would lay down His life for the guilty.

b. But one thing that upset the local leadership is that it didn’t take people long to figure out that Jesus had a greater authority than they did.

c. One reason why Jesus stood out so much in this day and age was because very rarely would a speaker or teacher speak for themselves. They would always quote and say what someone else said. Some famous teacher, some commentary on the Torah. They would speak with someone else’s authority to try and bolster their own. Reading the words of Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount—“You’ve heard it was said, but I say to you…”—it was different—Jesus spoke not just as one who had read and heard things all his life, but as One who knew the heart of God so well, One who remembered the intent of those laws when they were written before all the baggage

d. Matthew 7:28-29—“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
e. For years, the people had depended on the voices of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law. They were the Gatekeepers—Access to God was granted or restricted based upon the adherence to their rules and regulations.

f. They set the rules, they said what you could do and couldn’t do—only if you satisfied them, would you be granted access to God. but their rules were not based upon Scripture—but the additions of opinion—there were the rules of the law—and to avoid breaking those laws—we’ll make buffer laws, or we’ll make special exceptions so you can do the same thing without violating the law. You don’t have to honor your father and mother if you say “corban” and dedicate your wealth to God—after you die of course. You don’t have to honor the Sabbath if you follow certain paths, but you violate the Sabbath if you do good or pick a few seeds.

g. I’ve heard some—Christians shouldn’t play cards—shouldn’t go to the movies—women shouldn’t wear pants—no dancing—you must have a quiet time before your feet hit the floor out of bed. Many of these rules are not necessarily wrong—they have elements of truth and warnings of danger—but they are convictions—the hard part, the dangerous part —the excessive demand and rule comes when you or I try to take those convictions and make them rules or mandates that every “good” Christian should follow.

h. You do know what makes a good Christian don’t you? Everyone who agrees with me and does what I do.

i. Jesus is the only one who can say that. He possessed a greater authority than those in charge and the people were hungering and thirsting for it. That hasn’t changed.

j. So many people are hungering and thirsting for authoritative teaching. And there are many that are jumping forward to claim the title. Even Oprah is involved in a webcast of spiritual truth that thousands are following which says there is no such thing as sin—many ways to God—that the kind of divinity Jesus had is yours if you would only realize it. among other things that are contrary to biblical teaching. Many are claiming to be the authority—But Jesus is the one who has the Authority

k. And just in case there was any doubt to this authority, Jesus gives some proof with…
2. A Message of Power—vs. 23-26, 30, 32-34
l. Vs. 23-26—the demonic live in a spiritual reality—the things that we are typically not aware of is the reality they see every moment and understand.

m. The Demons Knew Him—“I know who you are”—they knew Jesus’ identity.
n. The Demons Feared Him —have you come to destroy us?—they knew what Jesus was capable of.
o. The Demons Obeyed Him
p. The Demons Fled from Him

q. Even the demons believed
r. Vs. 27-28

s. Such a contrary message—from other incidents in the New testament, we know that in Judaism, within the people blessed with the testimony of God’s intervention, blessed with the law, there were still people ravaged by demonic influence—some affected children, throwing them into the fire. Some were so violent and uncontrollable that they lived in tombs. Others caused an inability to speak. The demonic caused immense suffering—and many had lost hope at overcoming them. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were helpless when faced with this kind of opposition.

t. Then Jesus comes along—the demons know Him, they fear Him, they Obey Him. As long as this Jesus has this kind of power even over the spiritual world, then the teachers of the law would fear the influence of Jesus—“what do we do, they might start looking to Him, they might start listening to Him more than they listen to us.

u. Not just over the Demonic—but the Physical as well—vs 29-34—let’s us know that a fever, not caused by the demonic was cured—that many people with various diseases were brought to Jesus.

v. What’s worse for the leadership is that “the whole town gathered at the door” For those accustomed to being the mouthpiece of God, used to the attention and prestige for their religious authority—Jesus came in with authoritative teaching—came with demonstrations of authority of disease and the demonic.


w. Jesus claimed it, He proved it—and He awakened such an impassioned resistance even from the demonic that He was sent to the Cross—you will either want to embrace Jesus or you will want to crucify Him—this middle ground of –“Wow, He’s really interesting or a Good teacher” is not really a sustainable position—you must make a decision about who He is and what He has come to do.

x. Because it is in that message of authority and power that comes…

3. A Message of Calling—Mark 1:16-20
a. This good news Jesus did not allow His teachings to just become a nice set of laws or teaching philosophies. Jesus comes across people who’s hearts are seeking after God and He calls them out of their ordinary existence and puts them on the path of eternal significance. Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

b. He calls you and me to a decision—a decision that will radically change
i. what we are doing,
ii. why we are doing it and
iii. who we are doing it for.

c. Whatever you are doing in life—God calls you to a greater cause, a greater purpose, a greater more abundant life. I wonder what Jesus would have said if He had been walking in front of a bunch of
i. Accountants—Come, follow me and you will tally the harvest of heaven.
ii. Mechanics—Come, follow Me and I will have you repair those seeking the Way of Holiness
iii. Soldiers—Come, follow Me and I will have you rescue the fallen from behind enemy lines
iv. Professors—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring the true light to minds darkened by sin
v. Garbage Men—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring beauty to the unclean

d. There is no mundane life, no mundane job, no area of life that Jesus cannot transform into something glorious. The Call of God is to take our lives and Transform them into a grand adventure—for the Kingdom of God—it’s not about fame, fortune, brilliance, the bold or the beautiful—He calls you out of a life that does not fulfill our hearts desire and unite it to a more noble purpose.
e. 2 Timothy 2:20—“ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
2TI 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

f. Gold, silver, wood, clay—all of them were capable of being used for noble purposes. We miss that fact sometimes. We sometimes thing that only the best, only the smartest, only the most talented, only the best paying are capable of being used for God’s glory. But that’s not true—a noble purpose is something that only God is able to give.

g. People in the world by nature, do not do things of a true, eternal, noble purpose—they may be able to accomplish some good, even great things—for themselves, for others—but our purposes are always tainted by our sin nature that come through and taints what we want to do with greed, selfishness—and accomplish things that will not make a difference in eternity.

h. The truly noble things, great and meaningful tings are the ones which Jesus invites us to—because what Jesus invites us to will have an Eternal Kingdom Value.

i. And these men were seeking something—seeking something greater, something bigger, something more inspiring than the daily grind. Their hearts were yearning for something significant. Do you share that? Do you share the desire for your life to mean something? It requires doing what they did—immediately, with desire and urgency—follow Him—even if it means leaving behind the comforting things.

j. Jesus is calling you and me out of where we are and into a life of significance. There is something more to be living for and Jesus is the one with the Authority and Power to show it to you!

k. Let me say that I don’t believe you will ever look at your job, your life, your opportunities the same way again when it is your heart’s desire to glorify God and draw people to Him in whatever you happen to be doing.

Paul's Testimony and Mark's Ending

In response to a review of a book on Kevin Bussey's blog, here, I thought I should address some of the concerns added by one known as AskAnAtheist, who has a very enjoyable and reasonable contrasting perspective. The first that I addressed was Paul's use (or lack thereof) of his personal experience with Christ on the Damascus road in his epistles. AAA claimed that Paul didn't really believe this experience was real but used it as an "in" to gain access to the church that would otherwise resist his teachings. If he really believed it, he would have mentioned it more often.

The second issue was one that I enjoyed talking to Charlie about this very morning--the ending of Mark's Gospel. A3 claimed the long ending is not original--a claim I agree with. The why is a question that I address. I have not seen his response on Kevin's site yet, but he's welcome to post it here as well. Edits to my post on Kevin's site appear in [ ].

Here is my response.

A3,

Just like our political spectrum [with a] Left/Liberal-------Right/Traditional

that spectrum exists in the theological/historical realm as well

I'm teaching an introduction to World Religions class at a community college and just informed the class of that. The text we're using (not my choice) is very much on the theo left end while I let them know I'm closer to the r/t end.

With that said, each side can find someone to bolster their own ideas. I'm just more uncomfortable with the foundational assumptions that are made on the left (ex.--anti-supernatural bias)

As to your ideas about Paul and his testimony. I'm not surprised he didn't mention it in most of his letters. That's the kind of testimony usually reserved for a face to face [meeting]. He only mentioned it in Acts 22 b/c of the riot he was the center of--a face to face if you will. He mentions his "abnormal birth" in 1 Cor. 15 as if his readers already know the account. He refers to the events immediately following his conversion in Damascus in 2 Cor. 11:32-33 with those who question his apostleship. He referred to it again in Galatians 1:13-24. I feel like I'm leaving one out but I think you get the point. Specific challenges get a specific response but he doesn't have to rehash the same things over and over again. People knew who he was and his story--even he thinks it's silly when he starts touting his credentials [I'm out of my mind for talking like this, Paul says]. At least he didn't go 3rd person!!!

As to the ending in Mark, I agree with you that what appears in most Bibles is not the original ending. It's out of character, uses different words and is just a different style. Mine notes that (NIV Study Bible). I'm more and more convinced that the "they were afraid" ending was the original ending, for a specific reason. It's a perfect cliffhanger ending.

I always hated Season Finales of shows b/c they always did something to make you wait and anticipate next season. Star Trek--NG's Borg ending drove me nuts b/c I knew I would have to wait a couple months to see the resolve.

I'm of the mind that Mark was written especially to a Greek audience that wanted to hear a faster and exciting story, which is why it uses so many words like "immediately" and stories of power, while including the mystery and "[Messianic] secret" that the [demons know], the audience gets to hear but the characters don't know . This also explains why it's shorter. So the reader would have created a great tension in his audience who wants to know the resolve, how it ends, do they figure it out, etc.

When it ends there, with the cliffhanger ending, it is the perfect opening for an eyewitness to stand up and tell them exactly what they saw and heard--tell them the resolve, tell them that they did figure it out. Considering that Mark is generally understood to be the companion of Peter, it would be a perfect intro for Peter to then stand up and speak and reveal the Resurrection.

If that is true, then I surmise that someone later was uncomfortable with the ending and tagged a resolve on the end.

Your thoughts on this?