“It's a Jesus-Thing!”

Scripture: Mark 12:1-12

Today we conclude our series on the Gospel of Mark, “It's a Jesus-Thing!”
In Jesus' parable (our Scripture Reading), He deals with the Jews' past as well as their future
(A.D. 70 Rome destroys Judaism).
But in today's lesson He deals with their present (Vine-growers and the Son).

•  Contrasting People's Concerns with God's, (Mark 12)

A. Contrast #1: “The Secular versus The Sacred,” (vs. 13-17)

1. As in our day, the religious people wondered how much the state should be in religion and how much religion...?
a. ( vs. 13-15a ), “And they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in a statement. And they came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know you are truthful, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or not pay?'”

1) Herodians = political; Pharisees = religious. Normally these two would be on opposite sides.
2) Notice that their concern, is by any means possible (secular/religious) to destroy Jesus!

b. ( vs. 15b-17 ), “ But He, knowing their hypocrisy, asked, ‘Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.' And they brought one, and He said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?' And they said to Him, ‘Caesar's.' And Jesus said to them, ‘Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they were amazed at Him.”
1) Are we to submit to government? ( Rom. 13:1 , “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” ; John 19:10-11 , “So Pilate said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You' Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.'” ; Acts 25:11 , “If I am a wrong-doer, and have done anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of the those things is true which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”

Thus, the answer is, “Yes,” we are to submit to the government!!!)
2) But if there is a conflict between the government's concerns and God's, then we are to follow Christ and accept man's consequences, ( Acts 4:19-20 , “But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about
what we have seen and heard.” ; Rev. 1:9 , “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” )!

c. God's people are mistaken when they believe it is God's concern for His church to redeem society's ills.
1) Marching on Capitol Hill, promoting candidates, etc. Individuals, may! The church, never!
2) It is our mission, not to put a Republican/Democrat/or even a Christian in the White House, but to place Jesus on the throne in the hearts of those who are lost!!! THINK SOULS!
3) ( 2 Tim. 2:4 , “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” ; Matt. 6:33 , “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

B. Contrast #2: “Conservative versus Liberal View of the Scriptures,” (vs. 18-27)

1. The Sadducees were the liberal wing of the Jews. As the scripture says, ( Acts 23:8 ),
“For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.”
a. ( vs. 18-23 ), “And Sadducees (who say there is no esurrection) came to Him and began questioning Him, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves behind a wife, and leaves no children, his brother should take the wife, and raise up offspring to his brother [ Deut. 25:5-6, “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” ] . There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died, leaving no offspring; and the second took her and died, leaving behind no offspring; and the third likewise; and so all seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.'” – This probably worked well against Pharisees!

1) God has no problem with honest questions, ( Hab. 1:2 , “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!' yet You do not save.” ;
Rev. 6:10 , “and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth.'” ) This is a Gotcha Question!
a) “How long O Lord will I call for help, you don't hear? I cry, ‘Violence!' you don't save?”
b) “How long O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth.”
2) Today: “What about the thief on the cross?” “They had instruments in Old Testament and Heaven?!”

b. ( vs. 24-27 ), “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not know the scriptures, or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob?' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; You are greatly mistaken.”

c. Jesus responds to their liberal views in two ways…
1) He points out their ignorance of God's power.
a) The purpose for marriage was to create a holy institution through which God could bless man and provide for the continuation of mankind through childbirth.
b) But since there is no death in heaven there is no longer any need for marriage.
c) Yet since the Sadducees do not believe in the power of God to create angels or heaven, then neither will they know the power of God in the resurrection.
2) He is not afraid to mention their ignorance of how God communicates to us thru the scriptures.
a) The beauty of the written language is that it follows rules that must be kept.
b) It does not depend upon the personal feelings or desires of others, but what is said!
c) Example: Nouns have number (singular/plural). Knowing this rule gives us an understanding of God's promises, ( Gal. 3:16 ), “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,' as referring to many, but to one, ‘And to your seed,' that is, Christ.”
d) Example: Verbs have tense. So in this passage when God says, “I am the God…,” He is not saying He was the God of these men when they were alive.
Rather He speaks about them as still alive!
e) God's written communication follows rules of logic, e.g., syllogism:
Major Premise: “He is not the God of the dead but of the living”
Minor Premise: “He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”
Synthesis: Therefore, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not dead but are alive!
f) Remember, this was Jesus' point to Martha, ( Jn. 11:25, 26 ), “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies; and he who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?'”

d. So how do we talk to those with a “liberal view” of the scriptures? We do a “Jesus- Thing”!
1) The only way to come to faith is through God's word, so we share it, ( Rom. 10:17 ),

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
2) We point out God's power in His creation, ( Rom. 1:20 , “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” ). It's up to them to believe it or not!!!

C. Contrast #3: “Religion versus Relationship,” (vs. 28-34)

1. In the Jewish religion there were more than 600 laws! Can we keep some and not others?
What is important?!
a. ( vs. 28-31 ), “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them all well, asked Him, ‘What commandment is foremost of all?' Jesus
answered, ‘The foremost is, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.'”
1) The Jewish leadership had reduced what God had given them to a mere legal system!
a) This, then, forced the people to put their faith in their ability to keep God's law.
b) God condemns this legalistic focus; Gal. 3:10 , “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them'” ; Jms. 2:10 ,
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” ; Rom. 6:23 , “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” !
2) In Jesus' answer He sums up the entire law by showing how it involves putting our faith in God with our entire being.
a) Heart = Emotionally, Soul = spiritually, Mind = intellectually, Strength = physically!
b) Clearly, religion is about faith in ME! A relationship is about our faith in HE!


b. ( vs. 32-34 ), “And the scribe said to Him, ‘Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is one; and there is no one else besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.' And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom
of God.' And after that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.”
1) This scribe recognizes that God's concern for us is love and relationship, not religion and ritual!
2) Thus, he is close to leaving a “religion” and entering into a “relationship.”

D. Contrast #4: “Christ: Son of David and Son of God,” (vs. 35-37)

1. They may be done asking their questions, but Jesus has one of His own. His question gets right to the heart of His life and purpose!
a. ( vs. 35-37 ), “Jesus began to say as He taught in the temple, ‘How is it that the scribes say the Christ is the son of David? David himself said by the Holy Spirit, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet.'”
David himself calls Him “Lord”; so in what sense is He his son?' And the great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.”
1) The Jews knew the Messiah was to be David's son because of God's promise,
( II Sam. 7:13-14 , “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,” ).
a) Son of Man
2) Yet they also knew the Messiah would be David's “Lord,” ( Psa. 110:1 ), “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'”
a) Son of God
3) What they did not know was how this would be possible!
a) Jesus answered this in His parable, ( Mark 12:6 ), “He had one more to send, his beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.'”
b) To think of the Messiah in only human terms is inadequate!
c) This is why Mark began his gospel, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” ( Mk. 1:1 )!
Review & Conclude

Mark 16:15-16, “And He said to them, ‘Go, into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved
shall be condemned.'”