The Ideal Disciple

Imagine Jesus standing before you. As your head moves towards the sound of His voice you are astonished to hear these words:

What do you want me to do for you?

Put yourself there. Hear his words to you. How would you answer that question?

In Mark 10, James and John answered that question by essentially saying, “make us epic”. In their case Jesus’ question was provoked by their demand, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you”. They respond by telling Jesus that they wanted to sit at the His right and left hand—having a special place of honor.

A blind beggar, named Bartimaeus, answered that question differently. He simply says, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight”. Whereas the sons of Thunder wanted to be epic, Bartimaeus simply wants to be normal.

The Ideal Disciple

I’m convinced that Mark has placed these two stories together to highlight Bartimaeus as an ideal disciple: one who is desperate and sees Jesus as his only refuge. When you don’t realize how utterly inadequate and miserable your condition is, you say dumb things like, “make me epic”. Or, “yeah, we can drink the cup of suffering—we’ve got what it takes, Jesus”. And then you go back and fight with the other disciples about who Jesus loves the most.

Not so with Bartimaeus. He is desperate. And this gospel account would have us notice that Jesus “stops” for the forlorn. When you read something like, “And Jesus stopped…” you ought to stop as well. His face is set like flint to Jerusalem. This narrative is on the heels of the triumphal entry. Stopping Jesus at this point is like stopping a jet cruising down the runway ready for flight—if it stops it is for a good reason.

God wants us to know that He stops for desperate people crying out for rescue.

Bartimaeus fits that bill. He is so desperate that a crowd full of people telling him to shut up doesn’t deter him. He must have Jesus. This blind beggar has recognized what so few people in Mark’s narrative could see—that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah that is overturning the works of darkness. Rather than striving for a seat of honor in Jesus’ kingdom, blind Bartimaeus just wants a seat.

This narrative screams a question out to us: “which type of disciple are you?”

In reality I am as Bartimaeus; desperate, destitute, no hope to be found except in Jesus. But do I recognize it? Does my prayer life reflect the cries and panting of an impoverished beggar or the smug request of a fool that only sees Jesus as a means to being epic?

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and so he is still asking today, “What do you want me to do for you?”

I pray that we answer as desperate Bartimaeus-type disciples.

The I AM in a Boat

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:47-52 ESV)

Regular people don’t walk on water. Not even exceptional people cascade over choppy waters.

Jesus did.

And that declaration gave 20th century liberals a headache. In searching for the “historical Jesus” (read non-supernatural Jesus) they could not grasp how the laws of nature could be broken by a man walking on water.

So they did what every smarter-than-the-text theologian does, they explained it away. Perhaps it was an optical illusion. Maybe it was actually a sandbar. Whatever solution you can concoct is more plausible than a man with a beard walking upon the sea instead of sinking underneath it. That is too astonishing of a claim.

I think they missed something.

Verse 48 (the water-walking verse) is not the most astonishing verse in that passage. What is most astonishing is verse 51, “and He got in the boat with them…” THAT is what is mind-boggling about this passage.

If we really read this text for what its saying we aren’t astonished that deity is transcending the “laws” of physics and walking upon water. And the Deity of Christ is all over this passage. His intention to “pass them by” is likely a reference to Exodus 33. And it certainly is a reference to Job 9. Where, as James Edwards has pointed out, “the Job quote summarizes a passage that begins in 9:1ff by recounting the awesome separation between God and humanity”.

The text screams out to us that this isn’t just some ordinary dude that has figured out how to walk upon H2O. The text screams out that this is God Himself. And that is why verse 51 is so mind-boggling. Because it tells us that the transcendent God, the wholly Other, the eternal I AM, has now become Emmanuel.  The majestic God that had to cover Moses’ eyes is now getting in a boat with a few smelly fishermen at 4 in the morning.  THAT is what is unbelievable about this text.

God walking on water is not so hard for me to grasp.  After all He is God.  What is hard for me to grasp, though, is that this transcendent God bridged the gap of separation and could be found in a boat.  The I AM has become Emmanuel and that is astonishing!

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Originally published here.

10 Tips for Destroying Your Children’s Souls

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. (Mark 9:42 ESV)

This was part of the text that I am preaching on Sunday morning—Father’s day.  The above text is actually more about not being the means by which disciples falter, but with it being Father’s day it made me think through even more pointedly how the verse relates to being a daddy.  It goes without saying that I do not desire the destruction of my children.  One because I love them.  Two because a millstone seems like a really uncomfortable necklace—especially for swimming in the sea. 

If you, however, think a millstone necklace would be fashionable attire here are 10 ways that you can work towards making your children stumble and turn away from Jesus.  In no particular order

1. Be an unrepentant hypocrite.  We all have elements of hypocrisy.  It’s when we are unrepentant in our hypocrisy that it becomes deadly.
2. Display with your life and lips that things are more precious than Christ.  The thing you pick can be as insignificant as parking spaces or as significant as a large house.  It doesn’t matter.  Set something other than Christ as your affection and you are well on your way to shopping for a new millstone. 
3. Neglect teaching.  Leave it up to the Sunday school teacher, the television, their peers, or favorite musician and you can start picking out millstone colors. 
4. Don’t pray for them.  Discipleship is a work of God.  Your own sanctification as well as that of your children demands a prayerful life.
5. Be silent in times of danger.  You wouldn’t let little Sally have a tea party on a freeway but will you let her give her heart to an unbeliever?  You probably won’t let junior have a pet cobra but do you let him be saturated with the not so subtle advances of our sex-crazed culture?   
6. Be loud in times of pain.  Read Job’s counselors if you want to know how best to get in line for a millstone around your neck.  Counsel your children with truth wrongly applied and see what happens to their souls. 
7. Preach moralism instead of the gospel.  Father’s are not only called to teach their children right from wrong they are also called to point them to the Savior.  Teach your kid the rules without a relationship and you’ll be sucking down salt-water instead of air in no time. 
8. Live in disunity with their mother.  You model Christ.  Abandon your wife, neglect your wife, dishonor your wife, become apathetic toward your wife, and your preaching a really bad gospel to your kids.
9. Model spiritual independence.  If you don’t need the church then it doesn’t matter how many times you drag little Johnny to it when he’s but a tot.  Once he gets wheels he’s going the way of daddy.  By the way this is a call for more than just showing up at church on Sunday.  The word “need” is italicized for a reason.
10. Help them establish an identity in anything other than Christ.   Convince them that they are amazing or worthless it doesn’t matter—just make sure their identity isn’t found in Christ.  

There you have it.  Do these 10 things and you’ll secure your reservation in Davey Jones’ locker. 

Actually the word “unrepentant” could be added to any of these.  If you find that you have totally blown it—or even moderately blow it—in these areas take heart, Christ is a great savior.  Repent.  Turn around.  Believe the gospel, and make war on these millstone earning behaviors; because faithful fathers also make war! 

Jesus Has More Power Than My Lack of Bread

The disciples frantically shuffle through all their belongings hoping to find some bread.  “I thought Andrew was bringing the bread”, remarks a beleaguered Thomas.  “No, it was Thaddaeus”, Andrew responds.  Back and forth they go only to find one measly loaf of bread. 

Then their greatest fear is realized.  Jesus says, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 

“GREAT! The Master knows.  Our foolish act of forgetting bread has been exposed.  And now Jesus, speaking in parables like he always does, is rebuking us for being so dense.  We are going to starve out here in the middle of the ocean all because none of us remembered to bring the bread.”

Then Jesus interrupts.  “Fellas, I’m not talking about bread here.  Is this really what you are worried about?  Are you really so dense to get this worked up over bread after I’ve just fed 5,000 and then again 4,000 with only a few loaves of bread?” 

Silly disciples. 

Better yet, silly me.  Just like the disciples I can have my eyes blind to what is really significant to Jesus.  And just like the disciples I can get worked up over my failure to do something, like bring bread, but neglect the much bigger picture. 

Jesus is less concerned about having perfect bread bringing disciples than he is about having disciples that—in the midst of their brokenness and failures—stand in awe of his power to take our lack of bread and transform it into an abundance of bread.

What matters in life and ministry is not that you brought the bread.  What matters in life and ministry is that Jesus has power, He is building His church, and nothing will stand against Him. 

Sifting Through Donkey Dung

In Mark 5 we read of a woman

“…who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.”

There were many options for this lady to find healing.  The Talmud lists eleven.  In Lightfoot’s Commentary we are made privy to a few of the more ridiculous ones:

• “Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an issue of blood.
• But if this fail, “Take of Persian onions nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: and say, Arise from thy flux.
• But should this fail, “Set her in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright her, and say, Arise from thy flux.
• But should this do no good, “Take a handful of cummin and a handful of crocus, and a handful of faenu-greek; let these be boiled, and given her to drink, and say, Arise from thy flux.
• But should this also fail, “Dig seven trenches, and burn in them some cuttings of vines not yet circumcised (vines not four years old); and let her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led from this trench and set down over that, and let her be removed from that, and set down over another: and in each removal say unto her, Arise from thy
  flux.”

Apparently she never Arose from her flux.  MacArthur gives us a few more examples:

• One was that you had to carry the ashes of an ostrich egg in a linen bag in the summer and transfer them to a cotton bag in the winter...
• Another was that you had to carry around on your person a barleycorn that had been found in the dung of a white she-ass**

I would imagine that within that twelve year period of time this woman drank plenty of potion, slung around a good amount of corn found from donkey rear, and heard more than her fair share of “Arise from thy flux”.  But NOTHING worked.  (Don’t seem so surprised). 

This issue of blood would have left her ceremonially unclean.  So, this is more than just a physical malady.  This is something that is hindering her worship and making community almost impossible.  This woman is in much pain. 

One day she hears of Jesus.  Maybe he can help.  She probably thought to herself “I’ll drink anything, touch anything, be told anything, etc. I just want to be healed.  This guy seems pretty powerful so perhaps if I touch the hem of his garment I will be better”.  Maybe it was superstition and Jesus was just another name on her list of “Junk I’ve Tried”. 

Or maybe not.  We don’t know. 

But what we do know is that she grabbed hold of the only thing—the only Person—that could actually give her healing.  That which potions, doctors, magical chants, and ostrich eggs could not fix Jesus was powerful enough to heal by her touching his robe. 

Dung Sifting in the 21st Century

There is a lesson here for us as well, because we are like that woman.  We would often rather feed a donkey some barley, follow him around with a pooper-scooper, and sift through his dung than we would actually follow Jesus.  Because if I get my hands stained with donkey excrement I can at least say that I’m dedicated and that I discovered my own cure. 

Actually we are worse than that woman.  She didn’t have a dusty Bible sitting on her shelf.  She hadn’t heard of Jesus.  She only knew of a few remedies to “Arise from thy flux”.  Not us.  We know Jesus.  We know his power.  And yet for some reason we still shuffle through donkey dung looking for barleycorn while we neglect Life Himself. 

Today I want to be humble enough to take my burdens to Jesus.  I want to start, progress, and end with trusting Jesus to make me “Arise from thy flux”.  (Though I’m not certain if dudes can have a “flux” or not).  I want to find all of my feeble solutions to healing and discard them on the way to following Jesus.  Only Jesus.  Only Jesus.
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**As a side note if a preacher wants to wake up the snoozers a sure remedy is to say the words “white she-ass” in your sermon.  That will wake them up.  It may be the last Sunday you preach…but you’ll have their attention for at least a couple of minutes.

More Amazing than Walking on Water

[47] And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. [48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, [49] but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, [50] for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [51] And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, [52] for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:47-52 ESV)

The above passage was one that was the subject of intense debate in 20th century quest for the historical Jesus.  Some considered this story an optical illusion caused by Jesus walking on the shore, or perhaps a deception—in that he was really only walking on a sandbar.  It was impossible in the minds of many of these scholars that the laws of nature could be broken by a man walking on the water. 

But I think they missed something.  Verse 48 really is not the most astonishing verse in this passage.  The most astonishing verse in this entire passage is verse 51, “And he got in the boat with them…”  THAT is what is mind-boggling about this passage. 

Let me explain. 

The Deity of Christ is all over this passage.  His intent to “pass them by” is more than likely a reference to Exodus 33 (the glory of God “passing by” Moses) or more likely even a reference to Job 9.  As James Edwards has pointed out, “The Job quotation summarizes a passage that begins in 9:1ff by recounting the awesome separation between God and humanity”. 

The astonishing thing in this passage is that the transcendent God, the wholly Other, the eternal I AM, has now become Emmanuel.  The majestic God that had to cover Moses’ eyes is now getting in a boat with His ragtag band of followers at 4 in the morning.  THAT is what is unbelievable about this text. 

God walking on water is not so hard for me to grasp.  After all He is God.  What is hard for me to grasp, though, is that this transcendent God bridged the gap of separation and could be found in a boat.  The I AM has become Emmanuel that is astonishing!

When the Strong Man Gets His Way

Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head…every rise of lust, might it have its course, would come to the height of villainy: it is like the grave, that is never satisfied.   -John Owen

If you want to see this principle in full force then look no further than the Gerasene demoniac.  His story is told most vividly in Mark 5.  Here is a man “with an unclean spirit living among unclean tombs surrounded by people employed in unclean occupations, all in unclean Gentile territory.”  (Pillar NT Commentary, Mark by James Edwards, 155) 

His humanity has been utterly destroyed.  The portrayal is more like that of a chained animal than a man created in the image of God.  This guy once had a home and a family but now he is tattered, bloodied, naked, and living among the dead.  He is a menace to himself and a menace to society. 

This is what happens when the “strong man” gets his way (Mark 3:26-27); humanity is destroyed and the image of God is darkened.  Who knows where or how it started, but somewhere along the way this man left himself open to “the strong man’s” possession.  And it left him completely broken. 

At this point I am confronted with the fact that his story is mine.  I have never ran naked like a wild man in a cemetery (at least that I remember); nonetheless, his story is mine.  I too opened myself up to “the strong man’s” possession.  For years I made sin my dear companion.  It looked cleaner than the demoniac’s tattered rebellion but the sin inside me desired to have me destroyed. 

My cemetery was depression; my rocks were pride, slander, filthy talk, sexual immorality, and hatred (of myself and others).  I wore clothes, but inside I was a naked unfettered demoniac. 

Then Jesus came. 

He is the one, the ONLY ONE, that can “bind the strong man and plunder his goods” (Mk 3:27).  Nobody else has the power to overturn sins curse.  Nobody else has the power to rebuke a storm, heal a demoniac, or to change my wicked heart. 

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:9).   And that he has done.  He has taken scores of “demoniacs” and turned them into disciples “clothed and in their right mind” (Mk. 5:15).

So, the next time that sin looks tempted may the Lord remind me of the loneliness of the cemetery.  May I be reminded that sin aims to strip me of humanity and place me right back there.  But may I also remember that I am no longer possessed by that strong man.  I am possessed by a STRONGER MAN, one in whose hand I can never be plucked from because there is no one stronger than this strong man. 

Redemption.  That’s what happens when The Stronger Man gets His way.

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I am interested in this graphic novel by John Piper:  The Gadarene.  You can read the Advent poem that it is based from free online.  Here is a sample; it is part of the prayer of the demoniac’s wife: 

I think that you should ask the Lord
To lift his voice and wield his sword
Against the legion powers that bind
And blind your daddy's broken mind."