November 3,
2024 NOTES NOT EDITED
The Gospel According to Mark, Pt21: “Miracles Don’t Last”
Mark 8:1-21
Some things just don’t last. The flavor of chewing gum. Th battery of a smartphone using WiFi. Ice cream in the freezer when the electricity goes off. The word “encyclopedia” (You might have to think about that). A piece of fried chicken at a Baptist Fellowship
Things just don’t last. That includes, you and me, at least physically. If you live long enough, you are going to wear out. You know your life is moving toward the finale when:
- Your Monday Night Football Team scores a touchdown, and your pacemaker opens the neighbor’s garage door. - When you remember when the Dead Sea was only sick. - You and your teeth don't sleep together. - Your back goes out, but you stay home. - It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired. - You sit down in a rocking chair but need help to get it going. - You wonder how you could be over the hill when you don't even remember getting to the top of it. - It takes a more than one try to get over a speed bump. - You realize that a stamp today costs more than a movie did when you were growing up. - Your childhood toys are now in a museum. (This is actually true for me. My Uncle’s store became a toy museum of Marx Toys) - Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper. -When your friends compliment you on your new alligator shoes and you're barefoot.
You might as well face it—nothing lasts forever, including you. But, this applies to something spiritual as well: “Miracles Don’t Last”
That may sound shocking but it’s true. Consider the raising of Lazarus. It didn’t last. He eventually died. Consider the miracle we will look at today: Jesus fed the hungry multitude in chapter six, and now in chapter eight, they are hungry again and the disciples are worried about where to get food to feed them. You cannot rely on miracles to sustain your faith—miracles don’t last.
Relying on anything but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot, and will not, provide eternal salvation. Only faith in Christ will last.
Let’s read our text together and I think it will make this plain: MK. 8:17-21
Back in chapter 6, a great multitude was hungry—5000 men plus women and children; perhaps, over 15,000 people. Jesus fed them miraculously with only five loaves and two fishes, until they were all “satisfied” and there were even some food left-over.
This miracle of
feeding 4000 is obviously similar. It is so similar many scholars believe it is
simply a “repeating of the previous event for emphasis.” Scholars see this
being a “repeating” of the former miracle primarily do to the fact that they
ask, “How could the disciples NOT remember the first feeding and simply
ask Jesus to do it again.” That is precisely MY POINT in suggesting this is a
completely DIFFERENT event—FAITH BASED UPON MIRACLES DOESN’T LAST. That’s my
point. Jesus clearly states in verse 19 they are different events. Sadly, even
followers of Jesus FORGET quickly all the “blessings and benefits” we’ve
already received. Therefore, the Psalmist, among other Bible writers, reminds
us (Psa 103:1):
Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and FORGET NOT all His benefits.
Now, two chapters later (perhaps 6-8 months later) the crowd is hungry again. There are many similarities between the two stories, but also some important differences. The first group consisted of primarily Jewish people from Northern Galilee. This is a crowd, mostly of Gentiles from Southern Galilee. One reason Mark may have included both these stories (along with Matthew) is to show that Christ is the Savior for both Jews and Gentiles. Another reason, as I said, is this text shows us, miracles are not a useful foundation to build your faith on. Whatever the reason, the lesson in both stories is the same—Jesus has miraculous power to meet any and all of our needs.
Along with the similarities, I think the emphasis in this passage is more on the false assumptions of the crowd, including the disciples, than on the miracle of feeding a multitude with a small lunch. The Feeding of the 4000 exposes some “false” foundations people put their trust in for this life, as well as eternity. That includes putting trust in “miracles.” Miracles don’t last. The first false foundation for faith exposed in our text is the false trust in
1. MATERIALISM (1-10, esp v8)
(NIV84) 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Materialism has many cousins. Scientism is one cousin. The belief that all of life can be understood simply by what we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch—or in short, anything we can measure with instruments. Naturalism is another synonym for materialism. Basically, it states that this world is all there is—the sum total of existence. Materialism is all about “stuff, and the getting and controlling of as much stuff as possible.” Materialism is simply living for the moment and satisfying desires.
Paul referred to “materialism” as “the god of the belly” (Phil 3:19)
Another way to describe “materialism” is “worldliness.”
If you look down in verse 15 you will see that Jesus gives a very stern warning to the disciples. He says, “avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.”
Yeast represents a “bad influence leading to a bad experience.” The Pharisees represent the “bad influence of religion, or traditionalism” which we have talked about quite a bit in Mark and will a bit more al little later today.
Herod, represents outright “worldliness,” or worldly lusts—craving the pleasures of fame, fortune, and comfort and power. There was nothing spiritual or particularly religious about Herod. Herod and his family were “politicians.” As corrupt as politicians today.
Some people are consumed by “materialism.” They live to satisfy their carnal wants and desires. Materialists live to consume and to fill their lives with stuff. Materialism has many cousins. Scientism is akin to materialism. Scientism is a faith that excludes God and accepts only what can be measured, tested, quantified, and controlled. Naturalism is another form of materialism. Naturalism supposes that this world is all there ever was or ever will be. There’s no place for God in it.
Paul warns against trusting in the foundation of “worldliness.” In Titus Paul warns the young preacher saying:
Titus 2:12: “Deny godlessness and worldly lusts.”
Basing your sense of happiness and well-being on “materialism” will guarantee you will never be satisfied. You will always hunger for more. The Crowd of 5000 was fed till they could eat no more, and now they were hungry again. Miracles don’t last. Materialism will never satisfy, and certainly never satisfy you eternally.
Jesus had an encounter with a woman who came to the local well to draw water to quench her thirst. In her encounter with the Woman at the Well Jesus pointed out the short-coming of a “materialistic” view of happiness. Jesus said, (John 4:13-14)
“Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well x of water springing up within him for eternal life.”
This will always be the case when anyone seek satisfaction through “stuff.” You may feast one day, but you will be hungry again the next.
2. EMOTIONALISM also won’t last (18a; 20a; 21b)
Notice what Jesus says regarding disciples questioning “how in the world could we ever find enough bread in this wilderness to feed a crowd of 4000 people?”
18a: “Don’t you remember” 20a: And
when . . .
and 21b: “Do
you still not understand?”
By
“emotionalism” I’m talking about “having an experience” that moves you
deeply—even a religious, or spiritual experience.
Just a few months or less ago, Jesus fed 5000 men with women and children. Just a few MINUTES ago, Jesus fed 4000. The emotional high from those MIRACLES didn’t last very long at all. Spirituality based upon emotion and experience are more shallow than a Kamala Harris press conference.
If I were Jesus, I’d say what I heard my Mom and Dad say more times than I want to count when I was growing up. Usually, this speech came right after something had crashed to the floor because the Clegg Boys were running through the house. Dad or Mom would say, “How many times have I told you not to run in the house.” Or, when my little brother would come home with blood gushing from a wound on his head because we were using rocks as grenades in neighborhood battle reenactment. “How many times have I told you not to throw rocks. Do you want to put your brother’s eye out?”
Well, I often contemplated saying, “Hey, he’d make a neat pirate with an eye patch.” But, my good sense got the best of me and I didn’t.
How many miracles was it going to take before the disciples would finally and fully realize, “Jesus is the Messiah, Almighty God, the Alpha and Omega, and Jehovah Jireh the Eternal Provider?” Well, dozens, perhaps hundreds of miracles hadn’t solidified the faith of the disciples to that point.
Jesus was saying, “How many people do you have to see me miraculously feed before you will trust in Me to care for you?
Most of us, and many non-Christians, have had a moment when God seemed to leave heaven and sit right down beside of us. I’m thinking during a moving moment at a funeral, or an emotional sermon at a revival, or a moment of intense spiritual growth at camp. There’s nothing wrong with getting emotional when we have a significant experience with the Lord. We should be deeply moved.
But, emotionalism and experiences alone will not do you any more good than it did the disciples. They went to the top of the mountain with Jesus. They saw him feed a multitude with a meager lunch. Yet, 6 months or so later, it’s like nothing even happened. The emotional feelings had subsided, and the disciples were just as they were before.
This has no doubt happened to many in church. In a moment of intense emotional response to something in a church service people will walk down the aisle to “get saved.” They get saved, and then get baptized, but soon they get right back to what they were doing. The emotions die down, and their commitment dies off.
Emotionalism will not last. It will not take you down the path to eternal salvation. You need something more.
3. Third, TRADITIONALISM will not last (11-13, 15)
11 The •Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him,
demanding of Him a sign from heaven to test
Him. 12 But sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? I assure you: No sign will be given to this generation!” 13 Then
He left them, got on board ⌊the
boat⌋ again, and went to the other side.
……………………………….
15 Then He commanded
them: “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of
the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
As we have noted in several previous sermons, the Pharisees were the quintessential example of “religious people.” The Pharisees had built a system of rituals and traditions that demanded extreme devotion and utmost purity, taking the basic Ten Commandments and expanding them to hundreds of commandments. Much like the Catholic Church, and other “religious” groups have done. It’s all about maintaining the “traditions.”
But, Jesus said, as I have pointed out before, “traditionalism” will nullify—make void—the grace of God (Mk. 7:13) Rather that making someone “fit” for heaven by their own righteousness, Jesus said of the Pharisees that their rules and regulations made their followers, “twice the children of hell!” (Mt. 23:15)
That’s pretty serious which is why Jesus offers a serious warning. Stay away from “religion and its traditions.” This is repeated so often in the N.T. that I wonder how we get so deceived into thinking that our traditionalism will serve as a foundation for eternal salvation.
It won’t. Traditionalism, like materialism and emotionalism, simply will not last. Just like the crowd once again becomes hungry after the first miraculous feeding, people cannot satisfy their deep spiritual need for salvation relying on traditionalism.
“Miracles don’t last.” Think about it. In another 6 to 8 months, or so, Jesus will be crucified on a hill outside of Jerusalem. The only crowd there will be the crowd crying “crucify Him! Crucify Him!” The only disciples that will be at the cross are some women, and John. Obviously, experiencing the miracles of Jesus did not increase the faith of the crowd. Neither did seeing Jesus perform miracle after miracle after miracle for three years increase the faith of the 12 disciples (except perhaps John). Miracles don’t last. Neither will “materialism, emotionalism, or traditionalism.” Or any other “ism.” No “ism” of any kind—miracles or not—suffice as a sufficient foundation for eternal salvation.
In fact, this very strong warning from Jesus teaches us that “False faith is as damning—maybe more so—than no faith at all.”
There is only one sure foundation that lasts for all eternity—
4. Only faith in Jesus Christ will last (v21)
The real key to understanding our text this morning is in verse 21:
21 And He said to them, “Don’t you understand yet?
Understand what? What did the disciples need to understand from seeing all the miracles that Jesus had performed, including twice feeding a multitude with only a small lunch? It is surely a lesson that seeing the miracles, even participating in the miracles, did not teach them.
They missed seeing the forest for the trees as the saying goes. They saw the miracles, but they completely missed the message. To understand exactly what they had missed, we need to go all the way back to chapter two, verse 6 to pick up the key theme of the gospels:
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: 7 “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus had just healed a paralyzed man who had been lowered down into His presence by four friends. Jesus had done many miracles before this one, but He said something different in healing this man that He had not said before: “You are forgiven!”
Immediately,
the religious leaders and traditionalists recognized what this meant—even if
the disciples would be slower to recognize it—Jesus was saying, “Watch me. What I do and what I say shows Who I am. I am Yahweh! [This
cannot be stressed enough!]
Now, we come to the Feeding of the 4000 and Jesus says, “Do you not understand—that is, do you not see that I am God Among You?”
That’s really what Mark is trying to show in his fast-passed, action-filled chronicle of the Life of Jesus Christ. Mark wants to show us that Jesus is “God Among Men.” He is the God-Man. He is All God and All Man. He is Lord. He is Savior.
Everything Jesus said or did was to prove one thing to the world. John, the last apostle to write a chronicle of the Life of Jesus put summed up the answer to the question that Jesus was asking here in Mark 8. Jesus gives that answer through John:
I am “the” Way, “the” Truth, and “the” Life. No man
comes to the Father but by Me.” (Jn. 14:6)
Materialism won’t get you to the Father. Emotionalism won’t get you to the Father. Traditionalism won’t get you to the Father. No salvation based upon such false foundations will last for eternity. The only thing that will last is faith in Jesus Christ.”
The Book of Hebrews states very clearly: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).
In verse 14 we see the complete ignorance of the disciples in regard to the main point Jesus was trying to teach them. When Jesus questioned them about not having but one loaf of bread among them the text says,
16 They were discussing
among themselves that they did not have any bread.
Jesus reply could be summed up in this manner: “Oh, foolish disciples. The problem is not that you don’t have any bread. The problem is that you don’t have any faith.”
They had only “one loaf,” but it wasn’t the little flat piece of bread in their hands, but it was Jesus Christ, Himself. In John 6:35 Jesus declared, “I am the Bread of Life.”
The disciples had travelled with Jesus for going on two years or more, and they had yet to “understand” fully Who He really was. We are so often just like these disciples. So many Christians travel through this life never fully understanding that salvation is “all about, and only Jesus.”
Only salvation through faith in Jesus alone will be a miracle that lasts!
Our families won’t last. Our careers won’t last. Our health won’t last. Everyone who was healed, eventually died. All those who were fed by the miraculous hand of Jesus hungered again. Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is the only miracle that lasts.
When it comes to eternal salvation, materialism, emotionalism, or traditionalism will not last any longer than a Kardashian wedding. What you should long for is something that really lasts—something that lasts for all eternity.
Ever since I was a little boy in Sunday School in Moundsville Baptist Church, I’ve thought of a little rhyme I learned:
Tis one life, will soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.
Miracles Don’t
Last—But Jesus Does!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.