24th July 2023

24th July 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - Mark 12:35-37


Message Alan Burke 


There is a wee book that is ‘Called Why Johnny Can’t Preach?’ written by a man called T. David Gordon while he was undergoing cancer treatment which he didn’t think he’d survive so he doesn’t pull any punches. If you want a fuller review of his conclusions search for Kevin DeYoung’s review and it’s in two parts or even better get the book and read it. In the main Gordon’s conclusion for why Johnny can’t preach is because Johnny can’t read. Johnny doesn’t read carefully, nor does he read literature or poetry, he doesn’t read for enjoyment but that is indicative of the wider culture with its image based entertainment and trivialities which means we read and often just skim over what is before us without engaging with the words on the page. We can all do that and there are times that we come to read something and when something we missed is pointed out to us think to ourselves ‘How’d I miss that’. While it is also true that our own expectations, culture, desires, also play an impact on how we read. Well here Jesus teaches from scripture and he does so he basically makes the point that the baggage that they brought to the text had made the miss something really significant, it wasn’t because they didn’t read, or that they skimmed over it but because of their own blindness. 


A couple of things as we come to this passage that I want us all to take note of. Firstly where this comes in the narrative, for this is still the day after Jesus had cleared the temple where we were told in 11:18 “The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him”. That sets the tone for all that has followed, confrontation after confrontation, and while the last encounter was different as the teacher of the law asked a question not to trap Jesus but with a genuine desire to have his question answered. At the end of that account we are told that verse 34, “And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions” (Mk 12:34).


The question that Jesus begins with here, saying that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David, wouldn’t have ruffled any feathers, it’s as uncontroversial as saying our minister wears glasses, you’re not going to ruffle any feathers with that statement although what you say about the glasses that they wear might. But there are a couple of things that I want to draw to your attention, you likely already know them but it’s important that we understand them as we get more into this question as the week goes on. Firstly from time to time you’ll hear me talking about the Christ (hopefully at least once in every sermon), then the Messiah, you might even hear me use Christ and Messiah interchangeably and the reason is mean the same thing, they are titles that can be used interchangeably. The Greek word Christ comes from the Hebrew word Messiah, whether the Greek word is used or the Hebrew word, both mean that it is the anointed one, the Messiah is the Christ, the Christ is the Messiah. 


Well secondly the teachers of the law were saying that the Christ, the Messiah is the son of David. This hope of the Christ, of the Messiah can be traced right from the fall, the Messianic hope that the people would come. It comes first in the midst of the fall, of the serpent crusher that would come (Gen 3:15 often referred to as the protoevangelium) and from there we can trace it through, stage by stage, throughout the Scriptures until the coming of Jesus, the Christ the Messiah. Our hope is in the Messiah, the Christ and who is the Messiah, the Christ is Jesus the one who came to take away our sin, and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Thanks be to the Father that in His eternal purposes that he decreed to send Son would come for our salvation.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q106 What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
In the sixth petition, (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, (Matt. 6:13)) we pray, That god would either keep us from being tempted to sin, (Matt. 26:41) or support and deliver us when we are tempted. (2 Cor. 12:7–8)