The Aim of the Passion

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

And today kicks off a brand new sermon series, The Passion. We are going to be looking, starting in Mark, at the very end of Mark chapter 8, but really mostly from Mark 9 all the way to Mark 16. We're going to cover that in four weeks, and of course we are going to end with the resurrection on Easter Sunday. So for this week, you know, March 14th, 21st, 28th, and then April 4th, we're gonna be walking through the Passion. And so if you wanna turn there, you can Mark 831 is where we're gonna start today. Before we go on, let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the opportunity to come before you. And I pray that you would help us listen, learn, that you would speak to us, that your word would not return void. And it's your name that we pray, amen.

Good morning. The Passion. What is the Passion? Well, a lot of times the Passion, whenever you're talking about Jesus's ministries, you're talking about the aim, the goal of his ministry. What is setting him toward the crucifixion? What is driving him toward that way? Traditionally, whenever we talk about the Passion, it is summed up in events. So you have Passion Week or Holy Week that begins Palm Sunday, whatever Jesus enters Jerusalem on a cult, and it ends on Easter Sunday with the resurrection. But sometimes the Passion emphasizes the latter half of that week. So for example, the movie, the Passion of the Christ that came out, it begins with the Last Supper, and then it goes through the Arrest, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. And still, sometimes it gets even shorter from just the trial to the cross. That's illustrated, if you're familiar with the Stations of the Cross.

It's very prominent in Anglican, Catholic, Methodist traditions. A lot of Episcopalians, they're going to use the Stations of the Cross to talk about Jesus' passion, and they're going to begin with the trial, traditionally. And they're going to end with the burial. And so whenever we discuss the passion here at Sal Brulason, we need to clarify, we're going to go a little broader with it. And we believe that the passion begins with a major turning point in Jesus's relationship with his disciples. Now last week, we saw the disciples seem to turn a corner where they begin to understand. So there was a two-stage miracle where Jesus heals a blind man by doing one thing. He says, what do you see? You know, do you see anything? And then he heals him. And you see that repeated in Jesus dealing with the disciples. He says, who do people say that I am? And they kind of answer.

But then Jesus in the second stage says, who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? And Peter answered him, you are the Christ. It seems that right then a switch is flipped. Because right at that moment, right whenever Peter says, you are the Christ, Jesus speaks to his disciples from that point on, from Mark 8:30 all the way through the end, through Mark 16, Jesus speaks in a much more direct manner, both with the disciples and with the crowds. He's much sharper with his words. much clearer in his point. And I believe this is when the passion comes to the foreground. You begin to see something. We discover the passion, in other words, when the time is running out. When Jesus begins to understand, okay, the disciples know that I'm the Christ, all right, now we're taken to turn and we're headed straight toward this. And so Jesus, he knows the clock is running out. Jesus

is turning up the intensity and he begins relaying extremely important truths in a very direct way. And this is the passion that we're going to be looking at the next three weeks as we finish out the Gospel of Mark. So today we need to get a sense of what the passion is and we see that it centers on two central truths that are woven together. And when we identify those truths, it really allows us to cut through the confusion and the doubt and to plainly see what Jesus came to do. It allows us to discover that passion. And so let's begin with Mark 8:31. And we will find the first truth that Jesus is pressing in upon them, very obvious because initially Jesus is direct about his resurrection, excuse me, about his rejection, his death, and his resurrection in that order. And he discusses it at length three different times. And so we're always, we're only

going to be in Mark 9 and 10. We're going to finish out in Mark 8 at the very end, and we're going We're going to stay in Mark 9 and Mark 10 today. And in that chunk of scripture, from Mark 831 to Mark 10:45, three different times, and I'm going to look at all three, three different times, Jesus says something like this. So this is right after Peter famously says, you are the Christ. Jesus says, it says in Mark 831 and the beginning of 32, and he began to teach them that the Son of Man suffer many things that be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again." And he said this plainly. He tells him again a chapter later in Mark chapter 9 verse 30 and 31, they went on from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know for he was teaching his disciples saying to them, the Son of man is going to be

delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he is killed after three days he will rise. Again, super plain, Jesus is not mincing words. He says that a third time at the end of chapter 10, Mark 10, 33-34, Jesus is saying, see we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will lock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him and after three days, he will rise." Okay, super obvious every time. However, every time the disciples totally whiff. They don't get it. A very indicative passage is right after the second one. It says, but the disciples did not understand the saying. In other words, they didn't know what he meant. And they were afraid to ask him. So the disciples are listening to him and they might even be nodding, but they have no idea

what he's talking about. They don't understand. They're not getting it. Jesus is being as plain as possible. I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to be offered up to die. I will die and I will rise again after that. And for the disciples, part of the reason they don't understand what's going on is because when they're thinking about a kingdom, and remember in Mark we've established it very well that Jesus is talking about a kingdom. He's talking about something that is coming. And for the disciples, death was contrary to that kingdom. So Jesus is saying, and they're agreeing, I'm the Messiah. And they're saying, yes, you're the Messiah, you're the Christ. But then Jesus talks about being rejected and dying, and it doesn't match their idea of a king. In fact, the first time after Jesus tells them that he's going to die at the end of Mark 8, Peter famously takes him aside and rebukes him.

He rebukes and he says, no, no, no, don't talk like that. So the disciples really don't get it. And so we need to remember the clock is running out for Jesus. The intensity is ramping up and Jesus is beginning to challenge them directly on what they believe about the kingdom. This leads us to our very first truth. Again, we have two of them that are interwoven today. The first truth is that the kingdom is coming in an unexpected way, and that's putting it mildly. But the kingdom of God is coming in an unexpected way. It's not coming in a way that they think. It's not coming in a way that they expect. They are looking for a king. They are looking for a kingdom. And Jesus is not that kind of king, and Jesus is not ushering in that kind of kingdom. So we need to keep reading to find the second truth that's interwoven because in Mark 9 and 10, it's not just Jesus telling his disciples that he's going to die.

It's doing Jesus talking about a lot more than that. And so we see it as Jesus turns to the crowd. So Peter has just rebuked him. Jesus has just rebuked him back. And then Jesus turns to the crowd and he says in Mark 8, 34 and 35, He says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever could save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it. Jesus begins to lay out, very plainly, two paths. He says, either you're going to try to save your life and lose it, which is death, or You're going to lose your life for my sake and find it. Two paths. He does the same thing with a child, Mark 937. He does it again in Mark 10, 15. Both of them are up there. Jesus says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

So he's saying receive, you receive a child. You're receiving me. And again, he says, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. So again, Jesus is taking a child as an example, and he's laying out two paths. Either you receive a child in my name, or you come and enter the kingdom as a child, or you don't enter the kingdom at all. You either receive me like a child or you don't receive me at all. You either enter the kingdom like a child or you don't enter. Jesus, what is he doing? He's being direct. He's being direct about the kingdom and how we enter it. So before, whenever you, especially when you're Mark 8, Mark chapter four from a couple of weeks ago, Jesus is veiling the gospel in parables. He's speaking not in riddles per se, but he's definitely veiling the gospel, hiding in plain sight to see who will search for it.

Now, Jesus is not doing that. He's throwing the doors wide open, the veil is turned, is completely off. Listen to Jesus talking to the crowds here in Mark 9 47. Jesus says, and if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. Again, Jesus is speaking in stark contrast. There are two ways to live. Either you enter the kingdom, having discarded the root of your sin, because He doesn't just say with an eye, He also says if it's your hand cutting off, if it's your foot cutting off, if it's your eye tearing out, you either enter the kingdom having discarded the root of sin, or you keep it and you get thrown into hell. Jesus, unafraid, unafraid to talk about hell, unafraid to say, hey, there's two paths being really clear, not just with the disciples, but also with the crowds.

He has a famous encounter with the rich young ruler. And after that rich young ruler goes away sad, Jesus turns the crowd again and again using really stark turns. Mark 10:25, he says, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Now listen, some people are going to take this verse and they're going to say, oh no, there was a gate named the camel gate. Jesus meant it was really hard. No, that is not what Jesus meant. There is no such camel gate. That's a lie. That's silly. What Jesus is saying, um, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Those words stunned the people that were listening. I mean, they stunned us. This is why people will look at this verse and go, surely Jesus meant something else than an actual camel and an actual needle.

No, because look at the next verse, Mark 10, 26, it says, and they were exceedingly astonished. They're not astonished about a camel going through a gate. They're astonished because it's impossible for a camel to go through an eye of needle. And they said to him, then who can be saved? They are saying, the crowds are saying, Jesus, what are you talking about? And Jesus is astonishing people because he's being so direct. He is nailing them down with this and he's not letting up. He's leaving no room for confusion. He is telling people in no uncertain terms, disciples, crowds, anybody who will listen that entering the kingdom of God does not happen with a half-hearted response. doesn't happen if you go, if you're kind of coming to God like really skeptical and you don't believe that you're not entering the kingdom of God. Jesus is warning them and warning us that we must desire with a whole heart to follow

Jesus. No holds far and we can begin here to see the second truth that's woven in with the first, that entering the Kingdom requires a wholehearted response. Not half-hearted, has to be wholehearted. If you're going to enter the Kingdom of God, it requires your whole heart, something where you would tear out your eye if that's what it took. And so let's begin to kind of put this together. Let's hear Jesus's message. This first truth, the Kingdom comes at you in unexpected ways. The disciples again, the disciples are thinking a throne. Jesus is saying a cross. The crowds are hoping for a political revolution. Jesus is working toward a soul renovation. Jesus is going something, going for something totally different than what everybody else is going for and he's saying he's trying to warn them. This isn't going to look like you thought the kingdom is going to come at you in a way that you don't expect.

and then we combine that with the second truth, that entering the kingdom requires a wholehearted response. Jesus is saying again, very directly, that the kingdom doesn't look like a kingdom, and that entering that kingdom, salvation, it doesn't look like salvation. The kingdom doesn't look like a kingdom. Salvation does not look like salvation. This is why Jesus began saying all the way back in Mark 8:31, If you want to save your life, you've got to lose it. And if you're trying to save your own life, you're not going to succeed. In other words, Jesus is saying you might feel like you are saving your own life, all in your own power, but you're not. And then conversely, you might feel like you're losing your life, but not if it's for me, not if it's for the Lord Jesus Christ. says, if you lose your life for me, then you're not really losing it. It might

feel that way. It might hurt, but salvation does not look or feel like salvation. The reason that is, is not because Jesus is trying to trick us. It's because we put limits or a frame on salvation that doesn't belong there. And And it's really easy to do. We all do it. We all put limits on our salvation. Many of us think that salvation is going to include keeping our lives the exact same way it's going right now.

We don't think that Jesus is going to ask us to change a thing. And the older we get, the more we fall for that lie. So you might think that salvation includes keeping your same career. Or that salvation will not include you looking dumb or losing face. You may think that salvation means that you don't have to deal with that thing from the past. That you can just kind of sweep it under the rug and never think about it again. You may think that salvation means that you're always feeling good about life. And I believe the most common limit that we put on salvation is that you only experience it once. And I'm not talking about the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. I'm not talking about if saved, always saved, or anything like that. What I'm saying is that salvation is something that is like a wellspring of life, that the life keeps coming, that in salvation, life, salvation itself, continues to come. It is a

journey of salvation, that in other words, there are opportunities that continue to come your way to participate within the kingdom. That salvation isn't just a one-time thing. Salvation is something that we continue to live in. And that when those opportunities come, our encouragement, Jesus' encouragement to us is that we say yes to it. Jesus says, it's not gonna feel like salvation, but you can trust me. It's going to hurt to give your money away, but it's for the good. It's going to be painful to let go of things that make you feel secure, but I'm going to bless it. I'm going to use for something that you could never dream of. Jesus wants to take our small insignificant lives and make them useful in his kingdom. But he cannot do that if we are always trying to engineer our own salvation. If we are always trying to to lay hold or keep control over

everything in our lives. Jesus says, I want to bless that, but you need to give that to me. Salvation means we continue to give things to Jesus. It means we have continued opportunities to participate in the kingdom. This is the passion of Jesus. This is why Jesus is so direct, because he wants to bring about salvation, life-changing, new, heart-living salvation.

And not just a one-time thing that kind of feels good and, okay, I got my ticket to heaven. No, no, no. A salvation that grows and builds inside of you, that changes you from the inside out, that restores relationships, that fixes broken places, that mends broken hearts, that heals old wounds and that gives you a brand new perspective on why you were created and put on this earth in the first place. This is the kind of salvation that Jesus is passionate about. This is why Jesus is being so direct with his disciples and the crowds. He wants them to understand salvation is not what they think, but that it is at hand. And this is what we see at the end end of Mark 10, Mark 10 45, what many believe is just the theme verse of the whole book of Mark. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. I'm going to key on that word ransom. Jesus is our ransom. In other

words, it is a straight trade. When you pay a ransom, you pay money and you get someone back. That's what a ransom is. And that's exactly what Jesus means by ransom here in Mark 10, 45. It's not some particular use of the word. It means ransom. It's a straight train. We give him our life. He gives us his life. And yes, there are many implications to that. But I just want to ask you right now. Have you said yes to this? Have you said yes to Jesus giving you his life? Not just when you think it's a ticket to heaven, but have you traded in everything that you hold dear to receive something even more precious? Something you could never attain on your own? Have you accepted salvation in Jesus? And this is what we mean. This is what Christianity has been about for centuries, that we just say it simply, Jesus saves. And you have a choice. Heaven or hell, death or life, being at war with God,

or being saved by God. It's up to us. Are we going to say yes? Have you said yes to that? And today I just want to put the choice before you and say, if you want to say yes to that, please go to South Burleson.org slash connect. Fill out a connection card. Let us know that you've made this decision. When I get that from you, I will contact you immediately. You are going to get an email or a phone call or a text. However you indicate that you want to be contacted, and we can help you take that next step. If you have never said yes to salvation in Jesus, if this sounded like something brand new to you, then I would encourage you to consider Jesus' offer, His life for yours. It's a ransom for many. If you do want to make that decision, you can even pray with me now. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you for the opportunity to come to you and be saved.

It's just that simple. Help us to never forget the simplicity of the salvation that you bring us to, that you call us toward, that you are so direct about in Mark 9 and 10. Thank you for just spelling it out clearly for people who could not get it. And for people who are too rebellious to say yes, Jesus, speak life into us. Help us accept your salvation. Help us to continue to live in it. And it's your name that we pray. Amen.