Mark 8:31-33 Do You Have the Mind of Christ?

Mark 8:31-33  He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.  He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.  “Get behind me, Satan!” he said.  “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

The above scriptures follow Peter's proclamation: "You are the Christ," which Jesus said was inspired by God: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  (Matthew 16:17-19)  However, immediately after Peter proclaimed those blessed words, Jesus rebukes Peter, stating he is in league with Satan himself.  How could this happen?  One moment Peter is mouthing the words of God; the next moment Jesus denounces him an instrument of the devil.  Is this possible that Jesus plans to build his church upon Peter's confession of faith, and Peter suddenly puts himself in the enemy's camp?  Yes, this spiritual confusion and double mindedness is the inimical condition of the human race.  We want God and his blessings, but we often want them for our own purposes and not his eternal plan.  We want his presence to embellish our own lives, to do what we need, to fulfill our wants.  We want him to bless our dimensions and view of reality: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.  We want God in our kingdom, not necessarily in his kingdom.  Our self-interests and desires many times trump his reality and purposes.  Peter was not a bad person in his own eyes when he rebuked Jesus for saying He must die and rise again, yet he was completely outside of the will of God.  In Christ's view, at that moment Peter was in league with Satan.    

Peter loved the Lord passionately.  As we see later on in his life, Peter is fearless.  Probably the reason Peter with his comrades James and John were always near Jesus in difficult places was that Jesus could trust Peter.  He was a rough man on the outside, yet full of passion, even ready to die for his Lord.  We see Peter in the Garden defending Jesus with a sword.  At that time he intended to die with Jesus, for they were seriously outnumbered; and when Jesus told him to put away the sword, Peter was dismayed.  Peter must have thought, How can I defend this Jesus without my sword?  How can I have his back if He will not fight for himself?  Consequently, Peter merely followed Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest; and then when confronted as a follower of Jesus, he denies knowing him.  All of this story reveals why Jesus rebuked Peter: Get behind me, Satan!” he said.  “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  Peter was willing to fight for a kingdom he could image with his natural mind: the restoration of the Jewish nation.  But, he was not willing to fight for a kingdom he could not perceive by his senses.  He could surmise easily that Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed one who could bring back the glory days of the Jewish people; but his spiritual eyes could not conceive of a Messiah led away by soldiers to die.  But Jesus called his perception earthly, evil.  Peter wanted a kingdom for himself and his people: he was willing to die for that.  But Jesus told him he did not understand the realities of God's kingdom.  Jesus was saying, Peter, your mind is centered on this world, on the temporary things of this world and not on God's plans.  God is establishing another kingdom, an incorruptible kingdom that will never end, where there will be no more sorrow and sickness, and death will pass away.  

Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  (Matthew 16:24-25)  Dying to the flesh and living for Christ is the central theme of the New Testament.  Those who want to establish a kingdom of niceties here for themselves are diametrically opposed to the purposes of God.  As with Peter and his idealistic panoramic view of life, Jesus says, Get behind me, Satan!  Jesus illustrates true faith in God's kingdom in his comment about the widow's mite when He says she put in everything — all she had to live on when she gave her two coins worth less than a penny.  (See Mark 12:42-43)  For her this world was not her home.  Jesus tells us the rich young man could not sell everything and give it to the poor, for this world was still his home.  Jesus tells a man, if you want to follow me, don't go home and say goodbye to your loved ones, leave the things of this world and follow me now.  If you prefer the formalities of saying goodbye to your family before following me, forget it: you are not worthy of me.  Strong words, strong commitment; yes, but that is the definition of Christianity.  Christianity is not a vaccination you take to show others you are heaven bound; it is a lifestyle: not my will or perceptions, but your will and perceptions, Lord.  Any other idea about life is wrong: You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  Jesus is telling Peter, you do not understand because you are still established in the Kingdom of men, not in the Kingdom of God.  You cannot serve two masters: No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.  (Matthew 6:24)  Money illustrates the things of this world.  You cannot serve this world and fully commit to God.  You cannot live for your self-interests or the interests of others and serve God wholeheartedly.  When we try, we will hear the Lord say, “Get behind me, Satan!" “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”     

Mark 8:27-30 Jesus Is the Christ

Mark 8:27-30 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi.  On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”  Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. 

Most of us have heard sermons on today's passage of scripture, especially Peter's answer when Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter correctly says, “You are the Christ.”  In Matthew's account of the exchange, he adds a phrase, recalling Peter saying: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:16)  In those sermons, we have often heard Peter's confession of faith juxtaposed with Peter's later denial of Jesus at the cross when he fulfills Jesus' prediction, "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times."  (Mark 14:72)  The same man, so full of faith and hope in his Messiah, turns away in Christ's time of need and appears not to know him or have anything to do with him.  The same man who knew Jesus was certainly not John the Baptist or a prophet of old come back to life feared for his life rather than standing up for his Lord.  Only a few chapters separate the two events, yet both pictures of Peter are true when we view the man; both give us a look at the vicissitudes of the flesh and the trials of a person sworn to follow Jesus, one who has given up all to follow Jesus.  When Jesus spoke of the difficulty of entering into heaven with riches, Peter said, “We have left all we had to follow you!”  (Luke 18:28)  This is not a man who has not considered his choice, who has not taken up his cross to follow Jesus.  When he confesses Jesus as Lord, as the Christ, he draws from a wealth of knowledge and a depth of faith in his heart.  The word he uses for Christ means the anointed one, chosen by God to lead the people.  Peter had no doubt in his mind when he called Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.  The Holy Spirit came upon him and witnessed this reality.

Jesus began his questioning by asking who others said He was because He was leading up to the more important question He wanted to ask them: Who did they say He was?  He must have been disappointed to hear his disciples repeat the answers of the people in the surrounding area without countering them.  To say that people thought He was John or Elijah or another of the prophets without saying, "But we know that is not true," must have been difficult for Jesus to tolerate.  Surely, after traveling with him so long, they could have testified to his identity.  Even the demons recognized him when He cast them out.  Once when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, a demon possessed man came in and the demon yelled in a loud voice, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”  (Luke 4:34)  The forces of darkness recognized the greatest force of good and knew they were powerless to resist the hand of God.  When Jesus came into a situation where the enemy had bound a person, that person would be freed, for where the Son of God is there is freedom.  Jesus said if you sin, then you are a slave to sin, but you need not remain in that sinful state, for He came to set sinners free from bondage to sin.  He concludes, So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:36)  This is the freedom we have as our inheritance in Christ.  We should not become entangled in the things of this world, the cares of life and the enticements that draw us away from our first love for Jesus our Lord.  Paul wrote: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)

Since we are aware of who we are in Christ and who He is, our Messiah and great deliverer, we must go forth as a mighty army for our Lord and King.  We will fail at times and fall short, but realizing our hope is in him and that we can do everything through him who gives us strength, we will press in and press on.  We will make our confession of faith with Peter: Jesus, you are our Christ, the Son of the living God.  We accept you as our personal Savior.  We are committed to do your will, Lord.  Teach us your ways.  Put them in our hearts and minds that we might not sin against you.  Let our lights shine for you in the darkness of our everyday lives.  Help us to discover and to use the gifts and talents you have given to us.  Show us how to reach hurting and lost people.  Lead us to new pathways where we will meet needy people who are hungry for you.  This week as we celebrate your birth, may we remember to praise you for your life, death, and resurrection that brought us into your family, making us sons and daughters of the Most High God.  Thank you for the gift of life everlasting.  We honor your beautiful name and give you thanks for the many wonderful works you have done in our lives.  May the fruit of the Holy Spirit show a great harvest in our lives in the coming new year as we yield ourselves to you.  May others see an abundance of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in us.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  

 

Mark 8:22-26 Do You See Men as Trees Walking?

Mark 8:22-26  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 go into the village.” 

In the above passage we see people begging Jesus to heal a blind man.  The blind man's disability prevented him from easily navigating through this world.  He could perceive his environment through his touch and smell, but his maneuverability in this world and even his perspective of life was hindered by his sightlessness.  Are we somewhat like the blind man as we navigate our world?  Most of us have all our biological senses to help us, but we cannot truly understand a correct perspective of life itself, for our spiritual senses are not functioning as they should because of the way we live life.  The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people.  They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.  (Ezekiel 2:1-2)  As Christians we need a constant awareness of our attitudes, our choices, and where we are headed in life.  Are we living as the blind man, not aware of our surroundings or even fully understanding the consequences of being sightless in a dark world?  As Christians, are we walking in the light of Christ with full revelation of the spiritual world around us?  Are we living life more abundantly with an eternal perspective, or are we living life with only our biological senses tuned to this natural world, looking to our daily needs, not understanding that our spiritual eyes are not open and our ears do not hear the Holy Spirit?  Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:9)   Jesus is implying that we need new ears to hear and new eyes to see.  We need a healing of our spiritual senses.  As with the blind man, we need our eyes opened.    

Jesus heard the plea of the people, saw the need of the blind man, and came to his aid.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.  He led him away from the crowd and their human perspective of what can be done and what cannot be done.  He then did something rather unusual: He spit on the man's eyes.  He placed his biological mucus on the man's eyes, anointing his eyes with his own spittle.  We might ask, why did not Jesus simply place his hands on this man's eyes and pray to the Father for his healing.  Or Jesus could have declared him healed with a touch or by simply speaking healing as He did in other instances.  Who really knows, but we do know that in this instance we see Jesus giving part of himself for this man's sight.  Only Jesus had divine sight: only He sees clearly.  In healing this man with his spittle, we see a man walking away to his family with clear sight and a better perspective of who he is and what he is in this world: loved by God.  No one else had done for him what Jesus did that day.  Jesus was a good shepherd to this man, and he cares for his sheep.  In speaking to his disciples one time, Jesus warned them against others who were false shepherds who came to steal and to destroy.  He said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."  (John 10:9-11)     

When Jesus first touched the blind man, the man did not see clearly.  Do we have a clear spiritual view or do we see the things of the Spirit as trees walking?  Are we sure of what we think we see and discern as truth?  Do we have just enough religion that we think we will get to heaven, but not enough of a walk with the Lord to bring us into true fellowship with him?   Jesus was not satisfied with this man's sight after He first touched him.  He wanted the man to see well,  to view life with clarity.  Today, some of us need Jesus' spittle on our spiritual eyes.  We need a clear view of the world, to avoid its enticements.  Jesus indicated He had no earthly home by saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  (Matthew 8:20  When one man wanted to bury his father before following Jesus, Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  (Luke 9:60   When one man said that he wanted to say goodbye to his family before he joined Jesus,  Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."  (Luke 9:62)  Jesus was saying in all these instances, this world is not our home.  If you are tied to the things of this world, you are not worthy to be one of my chosen ones.  You are still sightless; you are deaf to my voice; your spiritual senses have not been activated.  Jesus says, my eyes are clear and fixed on the Father.  I live to do his will: I am moving on to a new reality of life that seeks first the kingdom of God and not the interests of the biological man.  Are we moving on with the Holy Spirit on kingdom business?  Has the spittle touched our eyes or do we still see men as trees walking when God asks us to do his will?  Jesus said, if you love and serve even the smallest, most helpless child, you are seeing clearly and serving me.  You are loving me and my father, God.  We cannot open our eyes alone, we need the touch of his hand.  We need to be outside of the village away from all distractions, alone with him, so we will see the truth of living only for our sweet Lord.  

Mark 8:17-21 Jesus Is in the Boat!

Mark 8:17-21  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?”

Even though Jesus performed many miracles in the disciples' presence, they did not realize fully or appreciate the divinity of Jesus or what it meant that He was in the boat with them.  When they talk of bread, Jesus is frustrated with the disciples' inability to comprehend his analogy about yeast: the corrupting influence of the errant teaching and lifestyles of the Pharisees and Herod.  Instead of understanding the dangers of following false philosophies, they were thinking about not having enough bread to feed all of them.  Jesus expresses his exasperation, saying,  Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not see or understand.  Their dullness and lack of understanding of who Jesus really is causes Jesus to remind them of the supernatural acts they observed in his feeding of first the five thousand and then the four thousand.  Jesus questions why would they wonder about having enough bread to feed them when He, who has fed thousands, is in the boat with them.  Jesus shows disappointment with their lack of faith and spiritual depth.  They have seen marvelous supernatural acts, but they still cannot view life beyond their limited temporal perspective.  He bemoans their lack of insight and hearing.  His frustration is clear: Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?  Rather than thinking about eternal and substantive matters, their senses are stuck on earthly matters, which Jesus has recently proved He can take care of through his miraculous feeding of thousands of hungry people.  What He really wanted them to know that day through the yeast analogy and his subsequent teaching was to beware of false teaching and that true and eternal food comes from the Spirit, from the hand of God, and not from the flesh.  He wanted them to trust him with their immediate concern for daily bread and to focus upon what might destroy their very souls.

  

Are we Christians like the disciples?  Do we find ourselves spending a great deal of time considering our daily problems as the essence of our lives, forgetting we are eternal beings?  God has a plan for our lives: He has chosen us to be his image on earth.  Without a doubt, God is concerned about our daily needs: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.  (Matthew 10:29-31)  But our daily lives and surely our eternal destiny do not consist of living on bread alone: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.  (Matthew 4:4)  The disciples' eternal lives did not depend on that one loaf of bread in the boat, but their eternal lives did depend upon whether they correctly discerned the words Jesus was telling them that day.  They needed their spiritual ears attuned to what Jesus was trying to teach them.  Are our ears on the right frequency; are we attuned to his voice?  Or are we so concerned with our daily routines and needs that we miss what God is trying to teach us through his abiding Spirit?  When our lives become overly focused on our present needs, we tend to dismiss or lose track of the many miracles God has performed for us and through us.  Just as the disciples were worried about having one loaf of bread after observing Jesus' miracles, we can be that quick to forget the merciful acts of God to us.  When he wrote the psalms, David constantly extolled the blessings of the Lord.  Even when he spoke of his trials and his enemies, he never lost track of God's goodness, and he rested in God's strength: Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.  (Psalm 103:1-5)   

We should not frustrate the grace of God by failing to appreciate what God has done in our lives.  If we forget to value his acts of kindness or we dismiss his previous works, we will probably miss what He is teaching us presently.  If fear or anxiety cloud our thinking, we will end up believing He does not know what is happening to us right now, and we might think He is not working out what is best for us.  Paul faced many trials and sorrows, yet he rejoiced in the Lord's sufficiency.  He wrote: Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Then he went on to express his trust in the Lord: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.   (Philippians 4:4-7 & 12-13)  When we forget God's miracles, we are like the disciples who forgot the feeding of the thousands.  We might forget as the disciples forgot that the crowds went away well fed.  Instead, our focus will be on the insufficient one loaf for everyone in the boat.  If so, we will have forgotten, as the disciples did, who is in the boat with us: the Christ, the Son of God, the First and the Last, the Creator of all things.  Divinity was in that boat that day, but the disciples did not recognize him as the All-sufficient One.  Christian friends, He is in your boat today.  He is speaking to you right now, for He is always speaking if we will listen.  He is reminding you to be cognizant of the yeast of a worldly view and understanding of life.  As Jesus testified in the wilderness, we who trust in God, do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Therefore brethren, live today, knowing you are in his presence, content to trust in his mercy and grace.  Listen to his words as He speaks to you, understand his abundance comes from belief and trust that Jesus is in the boat.  

   

Mark 8: 14-16 Beware of the Pharisees' Yeast!

Mark 8: 14-16  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.” 

After his interaction with the Pharisees and his frustration with them for asking for a sign from heaven to prove who He is, Jesus immediately gets in a boat with his disciples and leaves the religious teachers.  As they go their way, the disciples discover they have forgotten to bring bread, and Jesus uses this to make an important point.  He warns, "Be careful.  Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod."  We can almost see the inner turmoil of the disciples' thinking processes as they are still thinking about their lack of bread, and now here is Jesus talking about yeast.  So they conclude, this must have something to do with our lack of bread.  But they missed his meaning about the yeast completely.  Eventually, because of their answer, Jesus is going to move on to discuss their lack of faith, but what He wanted to talk to them about in the first place was the work of yeast.  He was not talking about the need for bread to eat but of the power of yeast.  He was saying just as a small amount of yeast makes a huge batch of dough rise, a small amount of wrong teaching can lead a whole generation astray and away from God's holy truth.  He was telling the disciples about the dangers of listening to the words of the so-called religious teachers, for as with yeast, a little bit of their wrong thinking could spread and corrupt the good teaching of Jesus without the hearers realizing it was even happening.  As the Good Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus was saying, "I am the good shepherd, and my sheep hear my voice."

We see what Jesus is talking about with the yeast of the Pharisees in Galatia with the early church.  Paul writes to them because they have been led astray by teachers who want to bring them back into bondage to the law.  He asks: You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish?  After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?  (Galatians 3:1-3)  He wants them to realize they must rely upon the Christ in them for everything.  The same Spirit that brought them to God will perfect them and lead them on the path to glory.  They have been listening to the wrong voices, and these voices have taken them back to the sinful nature that says, "I was saved by faith, but now I am going to do good works through my own efforts that will make me more perfect for doing God's work."  A little later in this letter, Paul says, You were running a good race.  Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?  That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.  “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”  (Galatians 5:7-9)  He says they were running the race of faith so well until they let someone distract them, until they let a little yeast come in and it began to corrupt their lives.  It is as it was with Adam and Eve: one lie can bring us down; one act of disobedience or unbelief can be the yeast the works its way through our lives until we have lost our purpose and taken our eyes off the author and the finisher of our faith.

In our day, there are so many distractions, so many spirits to bewitch us, so many wolves in sheep's clothing.  We must persevere, we must bow before him, we must praise his holy name.  None of us is worthy or righteous through our own efforts, but each of us can come boldly through the shed blood of Christ our redeemer, Lord, and soon coming King.  He calls us to his side.  Jesus took time that day to warn his disciples of the yeast of the Pharisees because He loved them dearly.  He cared about them, and He wanted to protect them from the attacks of the enemy.  We are so thankful for the writings of the Apostle Paul, yet he was a humble man who calls himself the chief of sinners and says he has no confidence in the flesh.  He writes, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13-14)  He knew who he was in Christ and who Christ was in him.  He was not going to let anyone or any circumstance of life keep him from obeying the truth he knew in Christ.  He was not turning back to the former things of his old ways of thinking and behaving.  He was not going to begin in the Spirit and then try to be made perfect through human means.  No, this same Paul was willing to  give everything for the cross of Christ, for he had met his Redeemer.  He had partaken of the Bread of Life, and he had drunk from the cup of Living Water, so he would never hunger or thirst for the things of this world that do not satisfy.  He was sold out to serving his Lord and spreading Christ's message: Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.  (Mark 8:34-35)