Mark: God's Servant - The Servant Teacher

August 17, 2014

Mark: God's Servant

The Servant Teacher

Mark 7-8:26

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

(Advance Slide #2)

Mark is the gospel of 'action.'

• Throughout the gospel of Mark there is example after example of what Jesus DID!
• In this lesson we will find some important teaching of Jesus.

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• God's Servant will be the Servant Teacher!

I am grateful for teacher...I LOVE teachers...in fact, I’m married to one!

• It has been said about teachers, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

(Advance Slide #4)

Text

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15

To Paul’s Jewish audience:

• This meant believing that Jesus Christ of Nazareth truly is the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel.
• It also meant believing in His death and resurrection.
• But in order to believe, they must hear the Word, for it is the Word that creates faith in the heart of the hearer.

In the text today Jesus audience is both Jew, Gentile, and the disciples!

• To be a follower of Christ is to answer the call to be a proclaimer of his word.

(Advance Slide #5)

• When you become a proclaimer of the Servant’s teachings, the text says that your “feet are beautiful.”
• They are perfect!

Lesson

In the text that we will study this morning we will see Jesus teaching through words or miracles to 3 different groups of people:

• Jews, Gentiles, and His own Disciples

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Teaching the Jews - vs. 7:1-23

While Jesus is teaching the Jews there are four stages of this drama:

accusation - the Jew’s make an open accusation about the disciples.

• They accused the disciples of failing to practice the act of washing.
• It was not about hygiene or even about law...it was a tradition of the scribes and Pharisees.
• It was not just a conflict between God’s law and tradition but also two views of sin and holiness.

condemnation - Jesus defends His disciples and exposes their hypocrisy.

• The Pharisees were “playactors” whose religion and worship was in vain.
• True worship is from the heart...directed by God’s word not man’s heart!

declaration - Jesus declares that the source of holy living is from within not from without.

• While nullifying Mosiac system of foods He was breaking down a wall between Jews and Gentiles.
• God wants love and obedience from the heart, not just obedience to rules!

explanation - was given privately to the disciples when they asked Him.

• While the explanation is obvious to us, the disciples grew up under these food laws.
• The human heart is sinful and produces all manner of evil desires, thoughts, and actions, everything from murder to envy
• He realized that man is a sinner, unable to control or change his own nature, and that is why Jesus came to earth—to die for lost sinners.

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This dramatic lesson on “truth vs. tradition” could only irritate the Jewish religious leaders more and make them want to silence Jesus.

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Helping the Gentiles - vs. 7:24-30

Jesus performed 3 miracles as He ministered to the Gentiles in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

• He was practicing what He had just taught the disciples
• There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, for all are sinners and need the Savior.

(Advance Slide #9)

Casting out a demon - out of the 53 recorded miracles only 4 involved a woman directly.

• Jesus went to a home and desired a little privacy.
• But a concerned mother discovered He was there and came to Him for help.
• She was a Gentile..He was a Jew; She a woman...He a man
• Despite the barriers, she begged for help!
• Jesus spoke about feeding the children (Israel) first and not throwing their food to the dogs.
• Gentiles aren’t scavenging dogs!
• He was giving her hope and she took hold of it!
• She did not deny the special place of the “children” (Jews) in God’s plan, nor did she want to usurp it.
• All she wanted were a few crumbs of blessing
• The Gentile woman was commended for her belief!
• Again, Jesus heals ‘from a distance’ and the woman left in faith that Jesus healed her daughter.

(Advance Slide #10)

Healing the deaf man - Jesus is in the Gentile area of the Decapolis.

• A man who was deaf and could not speak was brought to Jesus.
• NOTICE - Jesus took the man away from the crowd so that the healing would be private and the man would not become a public attraction.
• Since the man was deaf, he could not hear our Lord’s words.
• He could feel Jesus’ fingers in his ear and the touch on his tongue.
• He wouldn’t have heard the command, “Be Open!” but he was healed.
• In spite of our Lord’s strict command for the people to keep quiet about the miracles, they told the news everywhere.

(Advance Slide #11)

Feeding the 4,000 - Only Mark and Matthew record this miracle.

• Critics will point to this as a contradiction, but differences are in the text:
• The first was in Bethsaida (Jewish area), the second was in Decapolis area (Gentlie)
• In the first Jesus took “5 loaves and 2 fishes, the second records only “a few fish”
• The 5,000 had been with Jesus 1 day, the 4,000 had been with Jesus 3 days
• Two different types of baskets are described:
• kophinos - smaller wicker type basket
• spuris - larger more like a hamper
• We are encouraged by our Lord’s compassion and His control of the situation
• Yet, we are discouraged by their blindness and unbelief.
• How often we forget the mercies of our Lord!

All we need do is trust Him, give Him our all, and obey.

(Advance Slide #12)

Warning the Disciples - vs. 8:20-26

Jesus and the disciples crossed to the western side of the Sea of Galilee where they were met by the Pharisees likely still angry from the last confrontation.

• They wanted a sign from heaven to prove His authority.
• No more healing people or bringing them back from the dead...we want a ‘real sign.’
• Take note of His response:
• Their desire for a sign from heaven was but another evidence of their unbelief, for faith does not ask for signs.
• Jesus left them and crossed to the east side of the Sea of Galilee, and en route taught His disciples an important spiritual lesson.

It appears as though they were as blind as the Pharisees!

• They were having a private discussion because they forgot food.
• The fact that He had multiplied bread on two occasions and fed over ten thousand people had apparently made little impression on them!
• Why worry and argue over one loaf of bread when you have Jesus in the boat with you?
• Their minds were dull, their hearts were hard, their eyes were blind, and their ears were deaf.

(Advance Slide #13)

The main lesson Jesus gave was on “leaven.”

• In scripture “leaven” is consistently used for evil, false doctrine, unjudged sin of the church, and hypocrisy.
• Herod and the Pharisees practiced and encouraged hypocrisy!
• We can never be too careful about detecting and avoiding false doctrine.
• It will grow and infect everything.

Prayer

Conclusion

(Advance Slide #14)

The disciples learned some valuable lessons on this trip.

• Lessons that they would remember and apply later in their ministry.

We too need to learn these same lessons today:

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1. Don’t seek after signs, learn to live by faith.
2. Trust Jesus, and Jesus alone,  to meet our needs.
3. Avoid the leaven of false doctrine.
4. Let Jesus work His will...the will of the Father!

Mark recorded the events of some busy days in the ministry of God’s Servant!

• In the next chapters he will take us “behind the scenes.”
• As the Servant instructs His disciples and prepares them for His death on the cross.