Sixteen Sermons on Mark's Gospel
Mark 10:
June 29, 2003
by Rev. Stephen C. Magee
David, of David and Goliath fame, was a truly great
man. But his brothers did not think much
of him at first. David was supposed to
be watching the sheep, at least that was what his oldest brother
contended. But David was stirred by the
challenge of one giant Philistine against the living God and His people. Eliab, David’s
oldest brother, was not impressed.
1 Samuel 17:28-29 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men;
and Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he
said, "Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few
sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for
you have come down to see the battle."
29 And David said, "What have I done now? Is there not a
cause?"
With great courage he goes to King
Saul, and asks for the right to do battle against the adversary:
31 Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him. 32 Then David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"
Despite Eliab’s negative
assessment of his youngest brother, God had great plans for David, and not just
for him, but also for his descendants.
God, in fact, promised David that One of his
descendants would be on the throne forever.
David was not
only a great king of
Psalm 2:6-10 6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." 7 "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.' "
In another psalm (Psalm 110) he speaks of the Lord
speaking to his (David’s) Lord, who would sit at the Lord’s right hand until
God had made the enemies of the Son of God a footstool for this Anointed
Son. Christ Jesus is this long-expected
Son of David, who is David’s Son according to His human nature, but David’s
Lord as the second person of the Godhead.
This great Son of David, who is also the Son of God, has
come to do what no great King of any of the nations could do. He has come to give his life as a ransom for
His subjects, and thus to save His people from their sins.
THE PASSAGE:
Marriage, Family, Goodness, Riches,
and the
In this tenth chapter of Mark’s gospel, we have more to
learn about the Kingdom that this Son of David brings. Here Jesus uses every event to teach us
something about His role as a Messiah, and about the roles we must take up if
we are to be His followers.
The chapter begins with incidents in the public life of
Jesus where questions about wives, children, merit, and wealth are used by the
Master in ways that shine light upon His role.
The Pharisees first try to test Jesus with a question about marriage and
divorce. This controversy had not too
long ago been the death of John the Baptist, and it might be interesting to see
how Jesus would fare, since some very powerful people (such as Herod) could be
offended by a bold statement on the question of divorce.
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Jesus answers with a question: “What did Moses command
you?”
They come back with an answer that will not do. They speak of a passage from Deuteronomy
where divorce is permitted, but this was not what Jesus asked them. He did not say to them, “What did Moses
permit you?” He said, “What did Moses
command you?” Moses never commanded divorce. Don’t go to the fifth book of Moses for the answer.
Why not look at the first book of Moses, and see what Moses wrote about
what God had said in the beginning when He made them male and female: “A man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is the command concerning marriage.
God joins them together. They
shall be one flesh. What God has joined
together, let not man separate.
The disciples continue the discussion with their Master,
and Jesus speaks about marriage, divorce, and adultery. On the most obvious level, Jesus is
reinforcing strongly what He has already said.
The question is not about what is permitted. The question is what is commanded. One flesh. Forever. Till death do us part. Marriage.
But there is more here than the obvious. When one considers the continual emphasis in
this section of Mark on the
In Isaiah 50:1 and Jeremiah 3:8, it is God who has given
a certificate of divorce to
The
The next episode again provides a teachable moment
concerning the Kingdom. Every church
planter’s dream of a zealous, wealthy convert casts himself at the feet of
Jesus, and the Lord examines his faith with love, and then presents him with
the stark choice that causes the man to go away in sorrow.
Here is a man who kneels before Jesus and calls Him “Good
Teacher.” The Lord explores this title
by questioning his intention behind the use of the word “good.” He says, “Why do you call Me
good? No one is good but One, that is,
God.” Will the man see Jesus as more
than a good teacher? Will he see Him as
God, and thus “good” in the fullest and most exclusive sense of the word?
Christ knows the man’s need, and He knows the man’s
resources. The man has far too low an
assessment of the glory of the obedience that God demands from man, and far too
high an assessment of the merit that a ‘good’ man can bring to the table. This combination of errors causes the man to
consider his own life to date as compared with the perfections that the law
requires and then to conclude, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”
Jesus then tests the man’s Kingdom eyesight. He gives him an instruction that will only be
followed by a man of true faith. The
truly good Son of David is right before him.
He tells the man to sell all that he has and to follow Him. This is the way to eternal life. You may think that this is a lot to ask of a
man, but it is not at all. After all, it
is the Lord you get to follow. If you are this man, and you are thinking
clearly at all, then you would weigh the worth of all that you own, compared
with the glory of the Son of David, and respond to Jesus by saying, “Is that
all I need to do? Marvelous! Praise God!
I have eternal life. Get rid of
it all! Give it to the poor! I will follow You, Lord.” Instead he was sad, and went away sorrowful,
for he had great possessions.
All of your merit, all of your supposed obedience, all of
your wealth, all of your riches, could never satisfy the debt that you owe to
Almighty God for your sin. This rich man
is married to the world, and he is not willing to walk away from all that he
owns. Either one “divorce” or another is
required. Either he must be divorced
from the world or be divorced from Jesus.
He wants the world and
Jesus. That is not an option. At least for the moment, he chooses the
world. His Kingdom eyesight is very
poor.
The Death and Resurrection
of Christ and the
Of course, the man is not alone. Many are not able to see and understand the
Kingdom. Perhaps he will be given eyes
to see. All things are possible with
God. Perhaps he will see that anything
he is to lose for Jesus and the gospel will be more than compensated for by God
even in this life, though with persecutions, and in the age to come – eternal
life. But today he does not see.
Not everyone is able to see and receive. What kind of Kingdom has suffering and death
first for the King, and then a life of servanthood
for the followers of the King? Jesus,
for the third time, as the great Son of David, the King of the Kingdom,
explains to His disciples that He must die.
He must be handed over to the Gentiles, be mocked, be scourged, be spit
upon, be killed, and then on the third day He will rise again as the
Resurrected Son of David to reign as King forever over the true Israel of God.
James and John want the seats of high authority and power
in this Kingdom. They think they
understand what they are asking for, but they do not. To be high in this kingdom is to ask for
suffering. To be the highest one is to
be a servant of all in the kingdom.
Next, in one of the most important statements in Mark’s gospel, Jesus
says this: “For even the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for
many.”
This statement requires some very serious
consideration. In it He calls Himself
the “Son of Man.” This is the glorious
title of the Messiah from Daniel chapter seven, where the prophet speaks of One who comes in glory on the clouds, as Christ will come at
the end of the age. The surprise here is
that Jesus uses this glorious title to speak of His suffering and death. This great “Son of Man” has now come to serve
rather than to be served, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
This ransom needs to be understood. A ransom involves a payment that is made in
order to secure the release of prisoners of war or slaves. There are three parties in a ransom transaction. First, there is the one to whom the ransom is
paid. Second, there are the prisoners
who are seeking freedom from bondage.
Third, there is the benefactor who is able to pay the ransom price, and
does so in order to secure the release of the prisoners.
Now, it is of critical importance for us to understand who is the one who must be paid the ransom price. It is not the devil. It is God Almighty. We are greatly in the debt of the Lord
Almighty. By the disobedience of our
father Adam, and through our own sin and rebellion, the glory that should have
been presented to God in our own perfect obedience to His revealed will has
been stolen away from Him. We have given
glory to ourselves, to other creatures, and to Satan, the foul adversary of the
Lord. This has all been against the Lord
Almighty. We are in His prison house of
sin, death, and eternal misery.
The price that must be paid to Him for this offense is
enormous. We must see that there is
absolutely no way that we have, within our own resources, the capacity to pay
this debt, and thus to secure our release.
We stole away the glory of perfect obedience that God required of those
created in His own image. He demands
that perfect obedience be paid, and we in our poverty of depravity can not pay
the price.
We, the elect
“Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!”
How fitting then, that the chapter ends with the unstoppable cries of a blind beggar who will not be silenced. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” No one can stop Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus from crying out these words. He does not come to test Jesus, as do the Pharisees that ask Him about divorce. He does not try to keep the children away from Jesus, as do the misinformed disciples. He does not claim that he has kept the commandments from His youth, as does the rich young ruler. He simply cries out for mercy. “Pick me up, Father! Don’t leave me to rot in this prison-house of blindness and misery! Pick me up in your arms, and bless me, Father! I am begging you, pick me up, Father! I am your child. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
He Came to Give His Life as a Ransom for Many.
This is the right way to speak to the King of this
Kingdom. He has ears for this
request. He did not come to be served,
but to serve. He came to give His life
as a ransom for many. When I think
about how to apply this great truth to your lives today, let me first make
quick work of picking the obvious fruit on the tree, and then dig deeper to a
consideration of the importance of the root that is the source of such blessed
fruit.
Quickly then, marriage is forever. You are either moving toward more profound
intimacy, or toward distance and divorce.
You are one flesh. Move toward
intimacy. Children are a gift from
God. Let them come to Him. Do not hinder them. Help them.
Christian infants are a part of His Kingdom, not a bother. You can not win God’s favor through your own
obedience or through your riches. Don’t
let anyone or anything stand in the way of your following Jesus. If you do, you are not seeing things clearly.
All of these good ways of kingdom living are the fruits
of receiving the grace of God as an unworthy beggar. Let me proceed, then, to the three
applications that seem most important this morning. If you get these next three, the others I
have mentioned above should follow close behind.
APPLICATION:
Coming to God as a Beggar
for Eternal Life
First, if you have not given your life to Jesus Christ,
what could you possibly be waiting for?
Are you waiting to be a better person first? Come to Him now with the urgency of the blind
beggar who would not be stopped. He has
eternal life for all who believe. Follow
Him. If you must give up everything you
have, do so. It is all nothing compared
to eternal life. If you do not, how will
you ever pay the debt that you owe to God for your sin?
Coming to God as a Beggar
for Christian Contentment
Second, if you have surrendered your life to Christ, and
professed your faith together with all the church, you are a new creation in
the Lord. Do you lack anything? Do not look to your own heart – your own
feelings – for the answer to my question.
Look to the Scriptures. Ephesians
1:7-8 says that Christ has lavished
upon you the riches of His grace. Do you
believe Ephesians 1:7-8 this morning?
The “old man”
does not wish to accept the word of God on this or any other matter. The old man wants to look at events, and
meditate on losses, and consider the evidence that can be seen, and thus come
to some dismal conclusion. The new man
believes and follows. It is as a beggar
that you came to the great Son of David for eternal life. You were baptized into His name. You professed your faith in His works for
you. You were declared to be a child of
God by those God has appointed for the task.
Now today, believe again in His word, and find His hand stretched out to
you in this very service of worship. His
hand is stretched out to you with all the contentment that you need as He calls
you again to hear His voice and pursue godliness with contentment, which is
great gain. Do not fight Him on this
matter. Receive the gift of the
contentment of the Kingdom as a little child.
Coming to God as a Beggar
for Kingdom Joy
In the third place, seek Him all the more as a beggar,
that your joy may be full. He is not
finished with you yet. That is why you
are still on this earth. There is more
worship for you to give Him while you are in your mortal body. There is more glory for you to give Him as
you serve others. There is more joy
unspeakable, flowing from your justification, adoption, and sanctification.
Do not give up.
You came here as a beggar asking for mercy. He heard you then. He is still a gracious and merciful Redeemer. He gave His life as a ransom for many. You are included in that number through faith
in Christ. Come now and seek Him for the
joy unspeakable that he grants to His children.
What is it that you have lost in following Him? He repays 100-fold, yet with persecutions –
but then in the age to come, eternal life.
Conclusion: Sons of God
Finally, the Son of David
has done His perfect work of redemption, and is seated at the right hand of the
Father. In Him you have everything. In Him we are called sons of God. Here is your life that you lost. Here is your contentment that seemed to run
away from you. Here is the joy that has
been eluding you. Here is the relative
that you lost, and the property that you gave away. It is all in Christ. In Him you are sons of God.
And the Philistine Goliath is down on the ground. The Son of David has felled that giant,
through one great act of obedience on the cross. He
is the stone that felled the enemy. The
stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone of the