Sermon Series: Getting to Know Jesus 

Lord Of All 

Mark 12:35-40

PSBC 9-15-2002

In a nutshell: The Lordship of Jesus in our lives requires an upward and an inward look at how we respond to Him.

I. Introduction

A. …as long as you're sincere

One of the most prevalent, politically correct statements of our current culture is, "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere." We've all heard it countless times from people who don't want to make waves when it comes to religion or faith based discussions. It sounds so broad-minded. It is so non-committal. And it has just enough of a ring of truth to it, that most people buy into it. But is it right? Think about it.

Illustration: I love riding my motorcycle up around Warner Springs, along Highway 79. One of the things Warner Springs is known for is being a good place to go for a glider ride. And it is magnificent to see those wide-wing-spanned gliders sail around in the sky. I've pulled off the road on a number of occasions and just watched in awe. I've often thought that it would be great to just stick my arms out and glide around the sky like that.

Well, what if my dream turned into a belief? What if I really believed with all my heart that I could sail in the sky like a glider. Let's say that I believed it so much that I would climb to the top of one of the small mountains near Warner Springs, run as fast as I could toward the edge of one of the cliffs, and lept off of that cliff, while holding my arms straight out to catch the air currents.

Well, we all know that despite the fact that I was thinking sincere and positive thoughts regarding my flight, about half way down I'd realize I'd made a big mistake!

Or, here's another one. What if I sincerely believed that I was an excellent aircraft fighter pilot. After all, I've seen the movie, Top Gun, at least a dozen times. How hard can it be? Right? But you and I both know that even if I managed to get into a jet fighter, I'd never get the thing off the ground.

Being sincere is simply not enough. If the facts are false, you may sincerely believe them, but you will be sincerely wrong.

-Hundreds of years ago, most learn-ed people sincerely believed the earth was flat. They believed that if you sailed a ship far enough, you would fall off the earth's edge. -Also, back in history, most people believed that the sun revolved around the earth. They, like those who believed the earth to be flat, sincerely believed this because of what they could see and observe with their human senses. But they were wrong!

It really does matter what we believe-especially when it comes to the truth.

B. The Scribes

The scribes of Jesus' day were supposed to be experts in biblical knowledge. In the section we're going to study this morning in the book of Mark, Jesus confronts them with an important question about what they really believed to be the truth about the Messiah. Was the Messiah to be merely a human national deliverer, or was He more than that?

In the verses we're going to study this morning, Jesus reveals the supernatural nature of the Messiah, and the position of leadership that He is due in human beings' lives. The message this morning is a very simple one: Jesus Christ is Lord.

C. The Importance to Us

And the questions that this message will put before us this morning are of critical importance: -What are the implications of Christ's lordship for me? -Do I really understand what it means when the Bible says "Jesus is Lord"? -What do I really believe about Jesus?

You see, friends, what we believe is important. -Because what we believe determines how we behave. -If we accept Christ for who He is-the Lord-then we will see ourselves for who we are-His servants.

So, Mark 12:35-40 will point us in two directions when it comes to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. First it will challenge us to look upward, and second it will challenge us to look inward. Each challenge has a profound implication. Please turn with me to Mark 12.

II. An Upward Look-A Supernatural Lord

A. Jesus Goes on the Offensive

Jesus had been arguing with the scribes and religious leaders in a game of questions for months, leading up to this point. Up to now, it was the scribes and religious leaders who had been asking the questions.

But now Jesus goes on the offensive. Look at verse 35…

Mark 12:35 35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David?

Jesus is challenging these scribes to tell Him what they really believe about the Messiah. In essence, He's publicly putting them on the spot to tell the people what they really believe.

If you didn't know, the word Messiah and the word Christ are the same word. -Messiah is the Old Testament Hebrew version. -Christ is the New Testament Greek version. Both of them mean "anointed one." The Messiah was to be the anointed one of God. And the Scribes and religious leaders were expecting this anointed one to be a national, political hero who would deliver them from the bondage of Rome.

Now these scribes were supposed to be experts in the Old Testament. They were given great respect among the Jewish people because of their devotion to acquiring biblical knowledge and understanding. -They knew all about the prophecies that indicated that the Messiah would come from David's line. -They believed what the Scriptures taught that the Messiah would sit on David's throne.

So, Jesus, using their own Scriptural knowledge, questions them.

Mark 12:36 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." '

Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110. All these Bible scholars agreed that this was a Psalm that was written by David. And these same scholars also all agreed that this was a prophesy about the Messiah.

So, Jesus gets to the point He wants to make...

Mark 12:37 37 David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight.

Like I said, these scribes were looking for a national, political deliverer. They expected someone like a David to appear and lead them, like an army, against Rome. Since the Old Testament said the Messiah would come from the lineage of David, they expected the Messiah to be just that, but only that-a physical descendant of David. The thought of the supernatural never entered their thinking. To them, the promised Messiah would simply be a man.

B. Messiah as Lord?

So when Jesus said, "David himself calls him Lord", He threw the scribes into a theological dilemma. How could the Messiah be both David's son and his Lord? The scribes had never thought of that.

Now, what Jesus was getting at was that the Messiah could not be both David's son and his Lord if He were merely human. It would take a human being who was also a divine to do that. So, it's no surprise that the scribes had no answer. They had never thought of the Messiah in terms of being a supernatural being. -They were looking for a human deliverer. But what the world needed was a divine Savior. -They wanted freedom from the bondage of Roman rule. But what the world needed was freedom from the bondage of sin. -A human leader might win them political freedom, but it would take a divine leader to sacrifice Himself and give them spiritual freedom.

In saying what He said, Jesus was revealing the truth about who He was. He was God.

C. Jesus and David

Now, Jesus was a physical descendant from David. As a matter of fact, as you trace the lineage of Jesus you find that on both sides of his family He descended from David. Both Joseph and Mary were from David's line.

The reason this is important to understand is because Jesus really was not physically descended from Joseph. So, His physical lineage had to be traced through Mary because He was divinely conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit without the benefit of Joseph. That fact made Jesus both divine and human

Romans 1:3-4 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

According to the flesh of His mother, Mary, Jesus was a descendant of David. But according to the power of the Holy Spirit, He was the Son of God. And the resurrection proved it.

The message Jesus was speaking to these religious leaders is clear: -The Messiah is both human and divine. -He is both physical and supernatural. -He is both David's son and David's Lord,

D. Implications for us

The earliest statement of faith known to Christianity is this… Jesus Christ is Lord. But what does that mean to you and me? What does it mean to say Jesus is Lord?

Many of us have grown up thinking that Lord is simply part of Jesus' name. We grew up hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. It is almost as if Lord is His first name, Jesus His middle, and Christ His last. But that's not true. Jesus' full and proper human name was Jesus ben Joseph. Which literally means Jesus, son of Joseph.

Christ, like I said before, means anointed one. It is the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament word, Messiah.

Lord, on the other hand, is a term exclusively reserved for God. It is the Greek word, Kurios, which means, supreme authority. To say that the Messiah, the Christ, is Lord, is to say that the Messiah is God. As God, He is the supreme ruler of all creation. He is the divine governor of all of human-kind, including you and me.

The implications of Jesus being Lord are huge! -If Jesus is Lord, then one day everyone will all be accountable to Him. -If Jesus is my Lord, then I'm under obligation to obey Him, right now.

But the scribes and religious leaders didn't see His lordship, so they went blissfully on their way, doing what they did best-calling attention to themselves. And friends, unless we see the reality of the Lordship of Christ and grapple with its implications for our lives, we will, like the scribes, go about our business and end up serving ourselves instead of the Christ.

So, there's the upward look. Jesus is a supernatural Lord. He is God. He is the supreme authority.

III. An Inward Look-My Lifestyle

But now, Jesus is going to take things a step farther. Now He's going to give us an inward look. An inward look at our lifestyle.

You see, if Jesus really is your Lord, then it follows that you will adopt a certain kind of lifestyle that will please your Lord. But if He's not your Lord, like He wasn't the Lord of the Scribes, then you will adopt a very different lifestyle-a lifestyle very much like that of the Scribes.

A. The Scribes

Before we examine this issue of our lifestyle, it's important to understand just how these scribes lived.

Scribes were easily recognized because they wore long, white linen robes which reached all the way down to their feet. The bottom of these robes, were hemmed by a long, white fringe. Most of the common people wore colored robes. But these fancy white robes made the scribes stand out wherever they went. One writer I read said they were… "…power dressers! Ecclesiastical swans, regally gliding amongst the common mud hens of humanity." (Stedman)

-The scribes were commonly greeted by the respectful title of "rabbi"-which means "my great one" or "master." -When a scribe passed by, the people rose respectfully to honor him. -At the feasts of the wealthy, scribes were given the place of honor, seated to the right and left of the host.

In Jesus' day, scribes were honored above the elderly, even above their own parents. In the synagogues, the scribes were given the place of ultimate honor-they sat on a bench with their backs against the chest that held the Torah, with their faces toward the congregation. That way they could be seen by everyone. They were considered holy men, and most of them in Jesus' day played the part very well. Most of them were proud and arrogant. And Jesus zeros in on this.

Mark 12:38-40 38 As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

B. Us

Jesus lets these power dressing, prideful pretenders, have it. They had chosen to serve themselves rather than God. On the front of your copies of "This Week…" I put a verse from one of Bob Dylan's old songs…

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk, You may be the head of some big TV network, You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame, You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You're gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you're gonna have to serve somebody. (You Gotta Serve Somebody, by Bob Dylan, Special Rider Music, 1979)

That is so true! We will either serve the Lord Jesus Christ, or we will end up serving ourselves-which ultimately is serving God's enemy, Satan, himself. That's exactly what the scribes did.

You see, a self-centered lifestyle, is the antithesis of the lifestyle a Christian should live. According to a variety of passages in the New Testament, a Christian should be known as one who seeks to serve, seeks to give, seeks to love, seeks to build up-all the things that are important to God and necessary to "…His Kingdom coming".

But so often because of the greed and self-centeredness that surrounds us and that has permeated our modern culture, even Christians buy into the ways of the world, rather than the ways of God. Too many of the followers of God have placed themselves at the center of their universe instead of God. And all it takes for that to happen is for a person to disregard the implications of the lordship of Jesus Christ.

But Jesus rebuked and refuted this self-centered lifestyle of the scribes. They loved to walk around in their flowing robes so people could see them, and could greet them respectfully, and would stand in their presence. They loved to go to banquets so they could sit in the most prestigious seats. They loved being in the center of things. They loved the honor and deference. Since they hadn't submitted to the Lord, they were busy making themselves their Lord.

IV. Conclusion

You see, friends, what you believe really does matter. It determine how you behave. Especially when it comes to Jesus, the Christ. What you believe about Jesus determines whether you live your life for Him or for yourself.

On one occasion, Jesus asked His disciples a very important question. He asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus is asking you that very question this morning. Who do you say I am? Who is He to you? -Is He merely a historical figure? -Is He simply someone you've learned about in church and Sunday School? -Is He someone who was a prophet or a good teacher? -Is He merely your fire insurance from Hell? Or is He your Lord?

Friends, only as we see the risen Christ as our Lord-the Leader of our lives-can we begin to see ourselves for who we need to be-His servants. -Becoming a Christian means that I commit myself to allowing Jesus to make a difference in my life…every day. -Becoming a Christian means that I not only acknowledge Him as the Lord, but I also acknowledge Him as my Lord. And this acknowledgement is not merely a verbal acknowledgement, it is an acknowledgement by the very way I live my life…to honor him according to His holy Word.

Illustration; Charles Sheldon wrote a powerful little book a number of years ago entitled, In His Steps. In that book, people in one community decided that they would begin to live their lives and run their businesses with one thought in mind -What would Jesus do?

In every decision they faced, in every course of action they planned, they asked, "What would Jesus do?"

It seems to me that the pressing need for Christians today is to ask that very same question: What would Jesus do? You see, the implications of Christ's Lordship or leadership in my and life, and yours… means that we must ask ourselves that question in every decision we face, "What would Jesus have me do?" Then we must do it.

Amen.