“He is the King of the Church”

May 11, 2003

by Rev. Stephen C. Magee

Exeter Presbyterian Church

Introduction: The Church – A Divine Institution

Since the time of the Great Awakenings, the role of the church in our world has been a very open issue. Many have urged people to abandon their church relationships, and to seek the blessings of Jesus Christ on their own, emphasizing the believer’s personal relationship to Christ at the expense of our relationship with the Lord as a part of His body the church. We need to recognize this tendency as very American, very revivalistic, and very new – at least when compared with the pre-American history of the church.

One example of this that we noted when we read Hughes Oliphant Old’s excellent volume entitled Worship, was the substitution in the last several hundred years of individual devotions as a replacement for daily times of worshiping together that were more standard in earlier centuries in the church. As we evaluate the individualistic spiritual trends of our day, our only measure of what is right must be the Bible itself. The question we must address together is whether the Bible supports the abandonment of church duties and privileges in favor of personal piety.

Is Jesus a Savior for me alone, or is He my Savior as I am a part of His body the Church? Is Jesus the King of the Church? In the last two weeks Mark’s gospel has displayed for us the Son of God, and the Lord of the Sabbath. In Mark 3, in the midst of even more controversy, the Son of God, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, shows us something of the Kingdom that He is building among men.

Religious Leaders Try to Take Control

Last week we experienced the first controversy about the Sabbath in Mark’s gospel. With the healing of the man with a withered hand, we have another episode in this conflict, but the emotion is much more intense here. Now there are people in the synagogue that are watching Jesus closely in order to catch Him at some fault.

Have you ever found yourself in such a situation, where you were against a person for some reason, just waiting for him to slip – sure that he was so wrong, and sure that you were doing the right thing in trying to find his fault? Now consider the fact that there were people who felt that way about the Son of God. They were so sure of themselves and so ready to stand in judgment against Him. They wanted to accuse Him.

Jesus does not hide from those who would be His accusers. He knows what they are looking for, and He gives them the evidence they desire, but He does so as the one in charge of the situation and not as a clueless victim. He intends to heal this man who has some very obvious deformity. “Step forward,” He says. The man is brought right up front in the midst of those who would stand in judgment against the Lord of the Sabbath.

Remember that the Sabbath is all about God’s perfect mercy and God’s perfect justice. It is all about God’s promise and God’s plan being fulfilled. It is one day in seven when the faithful worshippers are able to put away all their other tasks in order to testify in worship and mercy that they believe in the power of God to save and to work His perfect salvation. The accusers don’t understand all that. They think the Sabbath is about a law through which they can show that they are right and that this Jesus is wrong. They would be His teacher if He would only submit to them. But He will not. He will be the lead teacher here.

The teacher has two questions for those who are auditing His course that day. “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil.” Is it lawful on the Sabbath “to save life or to kill.” Who are the real Sabbath-breakers after all, the man who will show the power and mercy of God in just a moment, or His accusers who are plotting evil – the evil of seeking an accusation against this Divine Teacher who is speaking with such authority. The accusers came there that day to gather evidence. They did not expect to be questioned. The text says that they were speechless. They could not respond to His questions.

He surveys the crowd with His eyes. Would they be His judge? When they should come to learn, would they instead come to accuse? He looks at them with anger. Does that surprise you? Don’t let it. There is an anger that is not sinful. There is an anger that is consistent with righteousness. There are people there with withered souls that need correction, and the Teacher knows this. This anger is consistent with grief over their condition. Like a parent who sees children that are making big mistakes, Jesus is angry and grieved over their foolish and hard hearts. Their hearts no longer feel what they ought to feel. Their minds are poisoned with shadowy reason. They should feel shame and repentance but there are calluses over their consciences, for they are pursuing a righteousness as if it will come from their own efforts, and they are accusing the only one who can save them from bitter and envious hearts. They seem unable to listen, and unable to see.

He gives them the evidence they came for right in front of their eyes. “Stretch out your hand.” The man’s hand was perfect. He was healed. This was what they came for. They could leave now. Their withered minds could not see His righteousness. They saw what they wanted to see. He did the right thing on the wrong day, and that was enough to take counsel together with the purpose of destroying Him as a law-breaker. The word used suggests that a formal meeting took place of various religious leaders representing different factions within the religious climate of the day. They all saw it the same way. They all were quite sure that they were right. Jesus would have to be destroyed.

What was his sin? He spoke powerful words on the Sabbath. He said, “Stretch out your hand.” When did it become unlawful to speak on the Sabbath? They could not see clearly enough to see how there own foolishness was judged by Him that day – that they were on trial in His courtroom, and not He in theirs. They could not see that they were the Sabbath-breakers – gathering to do evil – gathering to kill – speechless before Him, but foolish enough to leave thinking they had what it took to be His judge.

The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone (Psalm 118:22, First Peter 2:8). Jesus is the rock on which the church is built according to Peter, but the religious leaders – those who would build up Israel in the faith – have just decided that the chief cornerstone must be destroyed. There is Someone in charge here, and it is Jesus.

The Crowds Try to Take Control

The religious leaders may not like Jesus, but the crowds cannot get enough of Him. People are following Him from all over the place. They come for healing, and there are so many of them, and they press Him so much to touch Him that there is serious danger that they will crush Him. This is what Jesus himself indicates to His disciples, as He instructs them to prepare small boat for His safety. In the next chapter He will use that boat to preach from.

In addition to the danger He faces from the crowd, He has the additional annoyance of demonic enemies of God who would disrupt His teaching and acts of mercy, and try to rule the timing of Jesus’ self-disclosure. They are sternly prevented from usurping His authority. So far in this chapter we see scribes that want to be in charge, crowds that want to be in charge, and even demons that want to be in charge of the events that signal the coming of the Kingdom of God. We also see that there is One Man who truly is in charge – Jesus.

Jesus Appoints Leaders for His Kingdom

Christ executes this authority that He possesses by selecting the leaders of what will be the visible church. He himself will be the cornerstone on which the church is built, as both Paul and Peter testify. Lined up with Him will be the apostles and prophets of the first century church who will provide the foundation of this new building in the Lord.

It is important to see here that we are not talking about some vague society of people being formed by some common understanding. Here are twelve particular real individuals who were set aside by the Head of the Kingdom of God and who would be the first teaching officers in the church of Jesus Christ. No man was permitted to simply presume that he was in this group. They were chosen.

Who did Jesus Christ choose? Our text says that He called “those He Himself wanted.” By any standard they are a surprising group of people. They include four fishermen, one tax-collector, one who is called a Zealot, five unknowns, and one betrayer. Perhaps what is even more revealing is who is not chosen.

It might have made sense to choose Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. These two men would later show some real sympathies for the teaching and work of Christ, and they both were already respected religious leaders. But they are not called up on the mountain to be Apostles. We might have expected that James and Jude, two of the Lord’s brothers, would have been included in the number. After the resurrection they would be important church leaders and they would each write a letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that would end up being a part of the New Testament. They are not chosen to be Apostles. Some might suggest that Mary, the mother of Jesus, would be a good candidate for this role. She had received a visitation from an angel that informed her from the beginning concerning the glory of her son. None of the members of Jesus’ earthly family would be in the group of twelve.

The people that are chosen are not famous or powerful. Jesus demonstrated His authority in His choice of those He wanted for the task that He had determined. These men are not the choice of the existing religious rulers. They are not the choice of the crowds. They are the ones Jesus wanted, and He is in charge of His Kingdom.

He chose these twelve “that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.” Let me make a note here concerning their ministry of healing and casting out demons. An office with attached miraculous powers is not a normal thing throughout the scope of biblical revelation. We find that when God is bringing a new word to His people, he attests to the truth of that new word through special signs. This was especially the case at the giving of the Law through Moses, and at the coming of the prophetic age through Elijah and Elisha, and here at the giving of the New Testament through Jesus and the Apostles. Their primary mission would be to preach and teach, and the miracles would attest to the truth of this final Word, which is Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2, 2:1-4).

The preparation for this ministry of preaching would be that these men would be with Him, and they would learn from Him. What is undeniable is the complete centrality and authority of Jesus Christ in His choice of these humble men, in His commission of them, and in His purposes for them. They are unexpected pillars – unexpected builders of the temple of the Lord.

Let’s just take a quick look at just one of these men, the fisherman, Simon Peter. This man was selected by Christ as one of the foundation stones of the church. He would face much suffering as one who would bring the message of Jesus to the world. After the resurrection, Christ would address Peter specifically on this point. After testifying to the task that He had been given of preaching and teaching (“Feed/tend my lambs/sheep”) Peter is informed that “one day … you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry where you do not wish.” We are told that this was spoken to Peter to signify “by what death he would glorify God.” Church tradition tells us that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down. He faced great suffering for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God, and he wrote to others on the topic of suffering as a Christian.

…now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls (I Peter 1:6-12).

This Peter was one of the twelve, a fisherman who was called to be with Jesus as a disciple and to be commissioned by Him as an Apostle – to go through profound suffering with the joy inexpressible that comes from the sure hope of the glorious Kingdom. His words encourage us as we travel this same road of suffering unto glory.

This is not the path that we might choose for ourselves in some way. Our impulse might be to say, “Lord give me pleasure now, and about heaven, whatever.” Like the crowds pressing in upon Jesus, we are desperate to be fixed by Jesus, even though it might crush Him. Jesus has picked these twelve men to proclaim the glory of a Kingdom where the pathway they will see and follow is the pathway of the cross, yet with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

The Power of the Spirit of God in Jesus’ Kingdom

The final two section of this chapter highlight for us the powers that God will use in the furtherance of His Kingdom – the two powers of the Spirit and the Word. First, the Son of God, we are told, does what He does by the power of the Holy Spirit. His enemies want to suggest another power that is behind the undeniable miracles that attend His public life. They say that He is destroying the kingdom of darkness by the powers of darkness. The Lord exposes these words as unreasonable (Mark 3:23-27), and warns them of the danger of a hardened rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit as it is evidenced in the ministry of the Son (Mark 3:28-30).

The Power of the Word of God in Jesus’ Kingdom

Finally in the last few verses we hear of the power of the Word of Jesus Christ. His family is concerned for his well-being. They want to speak with Him. He uses their request to point out the familial bonds that are being formed between Himself and those who sit listening to His teaching. Those who come to learn and to follow the will of God are connected to Him in a way that is more important than even the bonds of his earthly family relationships.

This is the kingdom that you are a part of through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a Kingdom that will not be run by the religious leaders or the will of a mob. It is a visible kingdom with leaders of Jesus’ choosing, a kingdom empowered by the Spirit of God and the Word of the Lord, a kingdom of present suffering, with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Who then is this man according to Mark 3?

He is the King of the Church

and He will not suffer His Kingdom to be

a religious aristocracy

or a popular democracy.

HE WILL RULE BY WORD AND SPIRIT.

If you are visiting here today don’t be surprised if you don’t understand half of what I have been saying, or if you don’t understand half of what we are doing in this worship service this morning. But don’t miss this: there is a way to have true peace with God and it is entirely based on the work of a Savior Jesus Christ, and He insists on being Your King, and He is the King of the Church.

Ministers of the Word Must be Humble Ambassadors Not Proud Kings

I want to make two brief applications based on this chapter for all of you to consider here today. First, if Christ is the King, then we who preach as ministers of the word are not kings. We are ambassadors. We must first understand what He has to say, and then faithfully serve it to you who would hear Him and follow God. Ministers in this Kingdom must not be arrogant. They must be humble. It is true that no one can come into this Kingdom unless He humbles Himself and receives it as a little child. If this is true of every member of the family of God, it is especially true of every ambassador who would be presenting the Word of the King.

Those who insist on their own way in the church of Jesus Christ are trying to set the agenda, and the King has already done this for us. We must follow Him. What kind of Kingdom would the religious aristocracy of Israel have set up? Perhaps they would have liked miracles on demand in order to authenticate their own wrong understanding of the Law of God. What kind of Kingdom would the crowds have chosen? They might have preferred an unending ministry of healing and bread with a lot less teaching. I can tell you that both of these groups would have had no use for a Kingdom where the King dies on a cross, and where the followers are called to follow Him in willing lives of glorious sacrifice.

Unfortunately there are times when we also have no use for the way of the cross. In my own life, like any church planter, I desire to see the church grow. But do we realize that a growth in the church is a growth in pain, as you enter into the lives of those who are your brothers and sisters, and attempt to minister the Word of God? But God calls us to this suffering. As another example, in our own family, we are longing for the day when the adoption of the children from Romania will finally take place. The last two years have been painful because of that waiting. But do we realize that the coming of the children will involve more pain, and not less? This is the way for us – a way that Christ has forged for His family, and a way that true ministers of the Word must represent. He rules. We hear and follow. He was crushed for our iniquities, and He has called us to Himself.

Members in the Household of Faith Must Hear and Follow the King by Hearing and Following Faithful Ministers of the Word.

If ministers must preach the Word faithfully as ambassadors, the family of God that gathers must receive the Word of God as the Word of Christ the King. We must be those who desire to follow Him, and therefore long to hear His Word. There are many advisors that would speak to us in this world. They may speak their peace. But what does the King say? This ought to be the longing of our hearts.

Does He say that the road that we are to travel is the way of the cross? He does. And it is not the way that the world would advise. Let the power of God be displayed in the church as the Word is heard and followed. Let the urges of the crowd, and the misguided understanding of other religious gurus fade. And let Christ speak to His people as you gather to listen.

Conclusion: The Spirit of the Age Will Never be A Reliable Guide

We live in a nation of pragmatists and free-wheeling practitioners of various spiritualities and philosophies. Every time and place has a particular “spirit of the age.” Ours has been cooking for about 250 years, and the mixture is neither healthy nor ultimately satisfying. It is time for us to reject our impulses, and to listen hard to His Word. He is the King of the Church, and we belong to Him.