Mark 11:1-6 - Procuring a Donkey

Mark 11:1-6
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

Message: Procuring a Donkey

Time: Mark's personal connection with Peter gave him the source material for this book. This book was composed probably between AD 57 and AD 59. It's a book that is on the move, leading to the cross. 39 times is the word 'immediately' used. Mark reveals Jesus as God's servant, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.

What the Lord is Saying:

Preface - Jesus is headed to Jerusalem, but along the way continues to speak of his death and resurrection, predicting it for the 3rd time. The disciples, notably James and John, saw it as an opportunity to gain a special place with Jesus in heaven. Jesus uses that question to teach them and the disciples about what it means to truly be great: service to others. Greatness can be achieved but not to have power over others, but to serve others.

They approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. This is a good picture of these places. They seem to be coming from the east. The Mount of Olives has been a Jewish cemetery for 3,000 years. It represents 3 peaks of a Mountain range of about 2,700 ft. elevation. Bethpage is about 3.5 miles from Jerusalem and Bethany is about 5 miles from Jerusalem. Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Most likely the village was Bethphage. and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

We read that when Jesus reached the Mount of Olives, our Lord sent two of His disciples to procure a colt for Him. The messianic significance of this should not be missed. In the first century, many rabbis thought the Mount of Olives would be the place from which the promised Messiah would finally come to Jerusalem. More importantly, the royal beast of burden for the ancient Israelite kings was the colt, that is, the donkey. They also used mules, which are the offspring of donkeys and horses. For instance, when David wanted to reveal Solomon as the next king of Israel, he had Solomon ride on his mule (1 Kings 1:28–53). Zechariah 9:9 is a prophecy that the Son of David, the Messiah, would come to Jerusalem on a “colt, the foal of a donkey.” After keeping knowledge of His messianic identity limited to only a few people for most of His ministry, Jesus was finally getting ready to reveal Himself as the Messiah to the masses. - Ligonier.org

Mark's gospel spends a lot of detail on the events between Palm Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, 6 chapters are used by Mark to describe the last days of Jesus' life. Mark, up to this point has not been focused on details, but in this description he covers a lot of very specific details.

Summary - Jesus is coming into Jerusalem, but prior to his arrival he will fulfill prophecy by Jesus entering on a donkey. First thing first is sending his disciples to procure the donkey and getting the donkey is not a problem. 

Promise: Jesus expected the donkey’s owners to know who He was and to grant the disciples’ request. What was about to happen was something Jesus had been preparing for His entire ministry.

Prayer: Lord, you remind me in this moment that you take care of the details. Jesus coming to sacrifice for our sins and being our ransom so that we will be free. You are sovereign and in control of it all. Thank you for your word and the clarity of it. 

Romans 12:10-11 - Loving Affection and Honor

Romans 12:10-11 - ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; ¹¹ not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

Message: I am to never be selfish in my love toward others, but always focused on serving the Lord with all of my heart.

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome.

What the Lord is Saying:

Here Paul gets a little more specific about the act of love. Verse 9 was more of a general statement about how are love should not be two-faced and we should abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. 

Intimate, brotherly love
The Be devoted in verse 10 was added by the translators. The original Greek manuscript stated, in the love of brethren to one another kindly affectioned. And so the phrase, "kindly affectioned" has been changed to read be devoted. It is the Greek word philostorgos where philo is friend and storgos is natural love or tender affection. Storge speaks of instinctive affection, like that which parents and children feel toward one another. Paul is making a case that the love that we have toward one another should be intimate and a sort of family love. Family love is not based upon attraction or the condition of a person or how desirable they are. It is a love in spite of how any one loves or thinks. Our love toward one another is because we are family. 

Verse 4 speaks of the fact that we are members of one Body. We have gifts that differ, but we are of the same body. Verse 3 states that we are not to think more highly of ourselves.  

Christianity brought about a radical change in relationships because now, people of all different types and backgrounds, were forged together as one in the Body of Christ. It didn't matter where the person was from, what part of the country, whether Jew or Gentile, whether circumcised or not, whether chosen by God or not, whether slave or freeman. We are not brought together because of our performance. We are brought together because of Christ grafting us in. 

This is the type of love that should make us distinctive to the world. We must be careful to always show our love to the sinner.   

Outdo one another in showing honor
Honor is from the Greek word time or tio. It means to pay honor or respect. It is to show genuine appreciation or admiration to another person. It is others focused. Each person, in Christ, is to take the lead in showing appreciation and value in putting others first. How different is this view of people. We have a tendency to be so me focused. 

Driving home last night, once again, I was thinking about the entertainment age in which we live in. Entertainment is selfish. It is self-seeking and wanting to bring excitement and retreat and rest to ourselves. It brings enjoyment. It is selfish. Sure, we can do this in a community setting where we all jointly our satisfying ourselves together. 

But, in showing honor or paying respect to others our focus is not at all on ourselves.   

Danger: We are lazy
Then in verse 11, Paul brings home the tendency of each of us. We each have a tendency to be lazy and to be self-seeking in our time. We are to practice being a servant. 

I think one reason we have such a difficult time with this is, in our lives, the marketing message, is to get us to buy something, to have something for ourselves. It is focused on us and what the message tells us we need. And this pervades our lives continually. This is a message that attacks us throughout the day. And its focus over and over is on us. I think as we read God's word, and think about how the Spirit dwells in us, and that we are so weak to doing the things of God, that we must think about how we are trained continually by the world. Jesus calls us to be in the world, but not of the world. And we need His help. We need His strength. We need His guidance. We need His constant intervention in our lives if we are going to have the power to withstand the schemes of the enemy. 

We are prone to be lazy and to be persistently lagging behind in this laziness. 

Fervent in Spirit
Fervent is the Greek word Zeo and it means to bubble or boil. It can be viewed positively and negatively. One to have passion, one to have rage. It is to be enthusiastic (Petra "On Fire") or excited. It is a person that is so passionate about their tasks that they can hardly contain their excitement. 

Rather than being lazy, I am to boil over in my zeal and desire in my spirit. 

Serving the Lord
This is the reason I do what I do. This is the reason that I am to be devoted to one another in brotherly loves and to outdo one another in showing honor and lifting other people up, other than myself. The reason I do all of these things is because I am serving the Lord. The reason I do all things is my focus on the Lord and giving the Lord glory. It is not for my own selfish ambition or personal gain. I don't do it to make myself look better in other people's eyes or even in God's eyes. My goal in doing this is serving the Lord. My good works are not a condition for my salvation, they are a response to the great thing God has done in saving me. This is why I give God all the glory for all the deeds of my life. 

A servant is a slave and a slave always does what the master wants him to do. Be a slave. 

Promise: God's Holy Spirit does not work apart from the Word He inspired, and zeal that transgresses His revelation is not godly zeal. -- September 15, 2014 Tabletalk

Romans 7:4-6 - Dying to the Law Through Christ

Romans 7:4-6 - 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Message: Dying to the Law and Walking in Newness of Life

Time:Another source cites this book as being written around 56-58 BC. Because Paul himself was a Roman citizen, he had a unique passion for those in the assembly of believers in Rome. Since he had not, to this point, visited the church in Rome, this letter also served as his introduction to them.

What the Lord is Saying:

Justification and Sanctification
Sanctification follows justification. After being declared righteous by faith and being credited righteousness and eternal life, how is a person to live. Chapter 6 asked the question about whether or not a person continues to sin. And now chapter 7 wonders if we continue to keep the law. Sanctification, thus, is the process in which the Holy Spirit conforms us to Christ in holiness. At faith we were declared righteous, following faith, we are to live as righteous people, growing in likeness of Christ.

I think a big confusion with people and religions is the idea that sanctification sounds like justification at times in scripture. In some ways, one must go back to how clear justification is talked about, starting in Romans 3:21 and even how the defense for it began starting in Chapter 1. People have a tendency to think that over time, in sanctification, a person lives there life in such a way to yield salvation or yield eternal life.

All who are justified will walk in sanctification till glorification. Its our sanctifying life, like James mentions in James 2 that shows others that we are in Christ. Obviously, the reason the sanctified life is in question regarding leading to salvation is how people live. Appearances can deceive people.

I think this is where Romans becomes difficult to comprehend. These are tough passages. Only because we are constantly reading the verse and then watching how it is lived out amongst us and the two often create a conflict. By being justified, I am free from sin. Sin is no longer master. Sin has been crucified. And I am not accountable to the Law. Adherence to the law does not define my future life with God. I am not under the Law, but under grace. Not following the law or lawlessness is sin and I am free from this in Christ. However, my life in Christ will fulfill the Law. Not perfectly because I can never be perfect. But, my life will be lived to make the Law be fulfilled, but not through me, but grace through faith.

I can clearly see through scripture that if my salvation is dependent on my adherence to a law or even that my life must always be lived in such a way to mirror my freedom from sin and that I can never go back and live sin in my life, then my salvation is not a condition of grace and Christ's work, but is conditioned on my living in adherence to the God's commands, the Law.

As I learned in Romans 7:1-3, they law exhibits no hold on me. Yes, it is there to be fulfilled in life while I live on earth, but it has not lasting hold on me. I may feel that my union to it is the ultimate desire or fruition to my life, such as I also think of marriage, but my union is with Christ and he will completely fulfill me. In Adam, it has a hold. In Christ, there is no hold.

Bearing fruit now because of death to the Law
Today, I am walking through verse 4-6, on the heals of stating it has no jurisdiction over us, Paul states in verse 4 therefore, the Law is dead to us/me. I especially like the word made. I was made to die to the Law. The Body of Christ removing sin in my life, thus removed the Law. Sin was brought into the world through Adam. The Law came later. Sin was the first thing removed, then the Law.

Formerly, we bore fruit for death
Verse 5 further explains what life was like in Adam. The death and resurrection of Christ yields a joining together of God and man (verse 4). And now I can bear fruit for God. But, does a person bear fruit in Adam? Yes, it happens, but that fruit bearing is for Adam, for self. Thus, for death as it states in verse 5.

In the flesh, sin was active. And sin was aroused by the Law. The Law said "don't", we "did." It aroused sin. Sin living produces death.

Law releasing
But now, in verse 6, a change has taken place. "But now" - meaning something changed. What changed? I have been released from the Law. The Law no longer has a hold on me. I no longer am accountable to it. That is the the problem with the person in Adam, there are accountable to the Law and we know clearly this is a losing battle because we are sinners and we break the Law. Thus, we have "died to that by which we were bound." The Law had a hold on us, but Jesus broke that hold. Jesus and His resurrection and the death of sin means that lives can be lived once again to bear fruit for God. This is the core of my existence. My life is to glorify God.

I can now walk in newness of life. And, in fact, I am walking in newness of the Spirit. The Spirit is conforming me to the holiness of God.  I am not walking in oldness of the letter (of the Law), but in newness and the Spirit is at work in my life. The Spirit is at work in my life. That is not wishful thinking or a hope that it will happen. The Spirit is at work in my life. And the Spirit's role is to work in my life. The Spirit is moving me towards holiness. I am a living testimony of God working out holiness in a person. Don't ever take credit for it for it isn't my work. it is the work of the Spirit.

A prayer
Lord, may I continue to uncover your truths and may I better understand and comprehend you. But, don't make me think that comprehension must precede application. The Spirit is at work in my life but I continue to live and testify of you. I don't always get it right but You are the one who is at work. 

Promise: I am a new creature in Christ. The old life of living according to the Law is gone, the newness of living in the work of the Spirit has come. God be glorified because he has made me new and is making me true.

Romans 1:26-27 - Giving Up What is Natural

Romans 1:26-27 - 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

Message: Giving up what is natural

Time:  Written sometime in AD 57-58, probably from Corinth, at the end of Paul's third missionary journey.

What the Lord is Saying: 

These verse are on the heels of verse 24 where it states that God gave the people over to their sins. Basically that is the thought. People had been given an awareness of God in their life, but exchanged it for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the creator. Verse 24 mentions that "their bodies might be dishonored among them." John MacArthur states, "The more he (man) exalts himself, the more he declines. The more he magnifies himself the more he diminishes. The more he honors himself, the more he becomes dishonored." And so this verse that speaks of bodies being dishonored among them partly seems to speak of sexual sin. Preceptaustin.org states on this verse, "Remember that Paul was writing Romans from the city of Corinth, where every sort of sexual immorality and ritualistic prostitution was practiced promiscuously. In fact things were so vile in Corinth that the expression “to live like a Corinthian” came to mean “to live a life of moral degradation”! Corinth’s idol temple had more than one thousand so called priestesses dedicated to gratification of lust."

Thus, we come to verse 26 and 27, two verses that I have always spoke of homosexuality or practicing the gay lifestyle. The homosexual would say that these verses instead speak more of idolatry that has been referenced in the verses previously stated in Romans 1:19-23. My thinking, however, is the words that are being used, specifically the words found in the New American Standard translation. In 24, it is "lust of their hearts to impurity" and "bodies dishonored." And even in 25, it gives the idea that the relationship with a person supersedes the relationship with God.

And verse 26 refers to passions.The Greek word for passions is pathos and has 2 other references in the new testament in Colossians 3:5 and I Thessalonians 4:5 and both instances refer to sexual passions. Again, Paul is writing from Corinth which was a mecca of sexual sin and in Greece homosexuality was rampant and even because a lifestyle that people that was cool. I believe now we are seeing the same thing to do. It has become almost cool to be gay.

I don't know how this passage could be anything but about homosexuality but I am sure many will try to make it out to be something different. Homosexuality is against nature. It is a choice people make. Over time, men and women may have a predisposition to that choice, but it is still a choice. One thing I notice about my life is the more time I spend in the Word, the more time I spend reading the things of God and praying and engaging in communication with others, the more I become aware of the sin in my life and the wrongdoing. The closer I get to God, the more I see how awful of a person I am. So, for people to not see this in themselves must mean that they are not reading the Bible or not reading it to conform to God and His ways, but instead just read it like a school book. God's word must be read with an eye toward change and conforming to the will of God. As we do, God changes us. This entire chapter of Romans is a progression from being near God to being away from God and it is a chapter that describes what happens to a man that over time exchanges the truth of God for a lie. But, that lie ends up becoming that person's truth. We can't be surprised at sin in the world and the way people embrace it. They are spending their days without God so they are naturally moving in that direction. The challenge of the disciple is to continually help people see that their is a God and Gospel and God does care about us and our entire life and how it is lived. It is so easy to get comfortable in life and feel like all you are doing is okay and decent. But, God is just not on the throne so clearly. And more and more we need Him and He needs to be in the center of our life. O wretched man that I am. Lord, bring people to their knees. Yes, we need a revival, but that revival needs to start within the Body of Christ. Yes, the masses of Society need to change, but God, change me. Change us.

Promise:  God has an order and a way for male and females. Don't adjust it or change it. Accept it and God will bless us.