Love the Lord your God

Welcome to our women's Bible study on the book of Mark, which we are calling Following Jesus. This is week 10 in your study guide, and what we're doing is finishing chapter 12, all of 13, and a little bit of chapter 14. I'm not sure why I originally decided to break week 9 and 10 right at this spot. I like how I have broken it. Maybe I made that choice so that we could follow that same theme of the main thing where we ended off on last week and this week. Maybe I did it just so that we're roughly at 55 or 60 chapters a week. That's one of my considerations, just so that we have a moderate amount of verses. But look at what we have on our roadmap today for what we're going to go through. These first verses, again, like last week, are going to point us in the direction of the main thing. And then we're going to look at signs of the end of the age and finish with what I call an opportunity with Jesus. And like I said last week, we talked about keeping the main thing the main thing. We talked about the temple area and how Jesus came to cleanse that area out and what it meant for us. All those things in our lives that should be living in the margins of our lives that somehow become so important and take a place that they're not meant to take, that we need to take a good look at those so that we can be fruitful in God's kingdom, fruitful for the Lord. And so we begin this lesson now with the scribe asking Jesus a question, which he will respond in a very similar way, just using different vocabulary. So we're in John, excuse me, we are in Mark chapter 12, verse 28.

So in our study guide, I revealed that what Jesus was answering with was really from Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four. It's what the Jews called the Shema. It was very familiar to them. They recited it daily. And so what I love here is that the scribe affirmed Jesus's answer. Jesus says something very familiar to him. He was devout and he affirmed his answer. And then he added a little bit more weight to it by saying that love of God and love of one's neighbor, like Jesus just said, was actually greater than following the rituals and the traditions of the law, the offerings and the sacrifices. So then Jesus turned around and affirmed him. And he said, yes, you are right about that. And he added that he was very close to the kingdom of God. Interesting situation. We've never really had a conversation like this with a scribe or a Pharisee before that was very, that he was actually asking to find out information. And so I think that this is interesting, but what was it that Jesus said was the main thing in life? Love. He said, love is the fulfilling of the law. And if we truly love God, it will be expressed in doing the things that God wants us to do. It will be expressed in loving others around us the way that God wants us to do. And so Jesus had told the scribe, you are not far from the kingdom of God. So the very next teaching that Mark brings us, whether it was right along with this same conversation or just in Mark's mind followed completely, kind of answered the question for us. So if he's not far from the kingdom of God, what would tilt him into the kingdom of God? Okay. And so we look at the next verse 35.

The point that Jesus was making here is that he was both the son of David and the son of God. That understanding is what would have tilted the scribe into the kingdom of God to believe in the Messiah. They were looking for the son of David, who was David, a great King, a great conqueror, a great warrior, someone to take over. So if you're thinking of the Messiah in those terms only, that is only one dynamic. But Jesus here clearly said, no, he's both David's son and his Lord. What he was saying was, I am the son of God. I am the son of David, but I am Lord as well. I am God. And that understanding. Now, what I find interesting about this, I was doing my workout the other day and I was in the book of Acts. So I was listening to Acts while I was doing my workout. And all of a sudden the same scripture pops up, okay, in Acts chapter two. So I'm going to put it on the screen for you. What I love about this is thinking about Peter, because this is really Peter's account being recorded by Mark. I think about Peter just 50, 60 days later, having this rolling in his heart. Jesus had just said this. And now at the day of Pentecost, Peter brings up the same thing. Look at Acts 2.34,

And he goes on to say, therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Do you see those things? When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And the answer to that is a different lesson in a different book for a different time. But what I just loved about this is thinking about Peter, listening to Jesus, talk to the scribes, explaining this, and then how the Holy Spirit just brought it back up. And you know, Peter became the dynamic preacher in the book of Acts. So anyway, in the book of Mark, Jesus, he goes on to give us two contrasts now that Jesus pointed out. The religious, who obviously love themselves more than they love God. And then this widow, who obviously loves God more than she loves herself. So let's look at these two contrasting stories. Verse 38.

And then he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which made a penny.

And so the contrast that Mark wants us to see through Jesus' words and observations is the person who loves themselves more than God, wants other people to love them too, to pay attention to them too, trusting in themselves. And then this widow who, because her love of God causes her to trust in God to the point where she is able to give all that she has knowing that God will care for her. So I think those are two really sweet and pretty straightforward contrasts there. So I want to move into our second part here on our roadmap, which is the signs of the end of the age. And this is all of chapter 13. And we'll start with chapter 13, verse 1.

And of course, we know that Jesus uses everything as a teaching opportunity. So here comes his teaching,

And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, so they've traveled a bit, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when will all these things be and what will be the sign when all of these things are about to be accomplished? And so I want to restate for you what I put in your study guide, and that is that Jesus gives many signs in this conversation, which is called the Olivet Discourse because they were on the Mount of Olives, but these signs can really be neatly categorized into two groups. Let me remind you by putting them on the screen again. Here are the two groups. First of all, age-long signs. These are the things that we can expect to see over the entire church age, from the time that Jesus was saying these words, all the way until the time he comes again. And the second category that we're going to be looking for is age-ending signs. And these are the things that we're going to expect to see at the very end of the church age, not the whole way through, only at the very end. So two categories of these signs that we're looking for. Age-long signs and age-ending signs. Okay, with that in mind, let's keep reading verse 5.

So let's put on the screen what we just learned that are these age-long signs. Look at this. Wars and rumors of wars. Have we seen wars in 2,000 years? Yes. Nation rising against nation. Absolutely. Isn't it fun? Have you ever watched one of those videos of the boundaries of Europe changing over 2,000 years? You should find one. It's fascinating. It just shifts because nations rise against nations, and they take territories, and then it goes the other way, and this and that. Earthquakes. Famines. Have we seen that for 2,000 years? Yes. This is nothing new. Why is this important for us to be reading and categorizing? Because someone might say to you, there's a big earthquake. It's like, oh, it's a sign. It's a sign. Jesus is coming any day. Well, yes and no. It has been a sign for 2,000 years, but one particular earthquake is not anything that Jesus said, hey, this is just going to happen, and we've seen it, right? Verse 9.

So let's go back to our list. Let's add two more things that Jesus said. Persecution because of Christ. Has this been a thing for 2,000 years? Yes. And the gospel to be proclaimed to all nations. And the word has has consistently been going out over this time period as well. Verse 12.

So let's add one final age long sign, and that is division between family and friends. Division between those who have spiritual ears to hear and understand and have embraced the Messiah and those who haven't. This is something they could expect during the entire church age. Okay. Then Jesus went on to describe the second category. Okay. So now we're going to be looking for age ending signs. Okay. And what we mean by that is signs that we would expect to see at the very end of the age. Okay. And verse 14 gives us a clue that we're switching gear, because what's the first word? But. Okay. There's a change here.

Okay. And so that's what they heard. When you see the abomination of desolation, it's the beginning of the sign. So then Jesus described what it would be like. We'll keep going then.

So what Jesus was describing was a terrible time for Jerusalem, which had already experienced some terrible times already. Number one, terrible time. We studied it in the book of 2 Kings when Nebuchadnezzar came in and took the people, desecrated the temple, and took everything away. That was a terrible time. Another one that we don't have a biblical account of, but we have a historical account, is in 167 BC when Antiochus, king of Syria, came in and desecrated the temple. And what the disciples didn't know about yet because it was just going to happen in a few decades from now, was in AD 70, the Roman emperor Titus would come in and do the same thing. So we have some precursors here that are like types of this prophecy, but not the big one. Okay, the last judgment is the big one, and which will occur at the very end of the age. Let's keep reading, verse 19.

Let's add on to our list of age-ending signs. We have the abomination of desolation. Let's add on to it a great tribulation. Okay, Jesus said this is, this is so great as the world has never seen before. So it's different than other tribulations. Clearly people in the course of history have gone through tribulations. There have been terrible things that people and individuals and countries have endured. But Jesus said, and they, maybe some of them could even be considered a type of this, I don't know. But, but this is the great tribulation that will be over the face of the whole earth. So Jesus inserts this warning here. Beware that you're not led astray. Verse 21.

And then finally he returns again to the subject, to the end of the age. Verse 24.

So let's add again, I put this under the great tribulation because it happens quickly after the great tribulation. The sun and moon darkened, stars and heavens shaken, the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. This is what we call the second coming of Jesus Christ. And then finally the gathering of the elect. Now the church has already been removed from the earth, so this gathering of the elect is those that have come to faith in Christ and survived the great tribulation. And so then Jesus finished with another kind of organic parallel with the fig tree and he said, from the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and put out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near at the very gates. Actually I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Now when you read that, this generation will not pass away, we think of generations in terms of age groups, okay? Paul and I live in one generation. Our parents are another generation. Our kids are another generation. Our grandkids, that's how Americans hear the word generation. So we should probably think about this a little bit and how this word, that Hebrew word or Greek word that is translated into English, is used in other passages. In other passages, it often means the nation of Israel or if we would say the generations of Abraham. If you say the generations of Abraham, you think, oh, all of Abraham's descendants. And so really what I think Jesus is saying here and how it's probably used in verse 30 is that God's chosen nation, the Hebrews, God's elect, will not pass away. They will be sustained until the very end of this. They will not be extinguished. Some nations are extinguished. Some people groups get completely extinguished, but the Jews would not be extinguished until all of this takes place. So verse 32,

Now that's the point. That is the point of what Jesus was saying, right? He was telling his followers these things so that they would stay awake. They would be alert and also so that they wouldn't get like fixated on all the conversations about when is this going to happen and how is this going to happen? This conversation to me says, God's got it all figured out. And Jesus gave some really good information. This is good for us too, because people will undoubtedly come to you and say, well, doesn't the Bible say somewhere that in the end times there's going to be X, Y, Z? Why? Yes, it does. But look, we have just now categorized it in our minds. And when someone says, doesn't the Bible say that there's going to be famines like right at the end? Well, yes and no, because there's famines during the entire church age. And so we have a greater understanding of these things now. For us, staying awake, staying alert, I love that Jesus gave this sort of a parable here about being on guard, watching for the master to return. That's a message we need to hear often, because do not the cares of the world just want to make their way in and take the place that they're not supposed to take. And so the charge for us as we read through this is, all I need to do is just stay awake, be alert, be ready, be ready for the Lord to return. Okay, we're going to finish up with our third category, which I called An Opportunity with Jesus. This is now in verse one of chapter 14. We're going to read 11 verses. And what I wanted to do is I wanted to put these three kind of opportunities with Jesus into this lesson so that next week we begin right with the Passover meal with Jesus and his disciples. And so what I saw in here is people seeking an opportunity with Jesus. And we're going to look at the three different ones. Chapter 14,

And so the first group of people that were seeking an opportunity with Jesus were the religious leaders. And what was their motivation? They wanted to arrest him and put him to death. But they had decided they didn't want to do it during the feast. They didn't want to do it when everybody was there. But that's exactly how it turned out, because God had decided that the Passover lamb would be sacrificed in the middle of Passover. And so their plans to wait turned into plans to move forward. But that's what they were after in having an audience with Jesus. Let's look at the next one, verse three.

And so I want us to consider this woman as the second individual person who wanted an opportunity with Jesus. Now we learn from the same account in the Gospel of John that this was Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. And what the opportunity that she was seeking with Jesus wasn't to arrest and kill. The opportunity that she was seeking was to lavishly love on him. To just, as Jesus himself said, anoint him for his burial. He's going, he's going to be gone physically from the earth soon. And she just was lavishing her love. Of course, it says this was spikenard and this ointment that they said was so precious. You know, in our dollars, maybe it's $50,000. It is. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money to pour over someone. But Jesus understood what she was trying to do, understood her heart. And so that was her opportunity with Jesus. And then there's one more that we need to look at in Mark's account. Look at verse 10.

And so Mark gives us this really tidy contrast and understanding that not everybody sees Jesus the same way. Some want to arrest and kill, some want to express their gratefulness and their love, and some want to betray. And so we look at that and a question would arise in our hearts. Where do we fit into the story? If we have an opportunity with Jesus, what is it that we want? Do we want to take? Do we just want salvation and then just go our own way? Or do we want to lavish love like Mary did? You know, that's how our lesson started, wasn't it? With Jesus saying, what is the greatest commandment? To love. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And that is always a good message for us to go over and over again. How does that foundation, how am I building my life upon that foundation? To love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my mind, all my strength. It's a good thing for us to consider, isn't it? So I think I'll pray about that, and then we'll discuss. Father in heaven, I thank you for these words, Lord. I thank you for that Jesus explained what we can answer. in the future. And we rest in the explanations that we have in the Word, Lord, without having to know all of the details. We know that you have it figured out, and we rest in you. But Lord, this call to us to love, to love you, and to let everything that we do in life, let all our motivations in life emanate from our love for you. Lord, we thank you for this. And I pray, Lord God, that you would soften our hearts, that you would till up the soil of our hearts, that we would begin to walk more in line with what you are saying, Lord, and that we would be able to filter everything, every decision that we make, everything that we're doing through this lens of love for you, our gratitude for you, our gratefulness, Lord, knowing that you have purchased us with your precious blood. And Lord, we just want to say we love you for that. We thank you for that, and help us to keep the main thing, the main thing in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.