WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.639 We are in a series right now titled He Is Good. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.679 As a church, we're going through the Gospel of Mark. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:12.080 And the reason we call it He is Good is because Mark titles his gospel. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.080 Not this is the Gospel of Mark. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:15.199 It's not that he titles it. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.359 This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:22.079 And so he spends his writing trying to testify to the fact that Jesus is good. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:32.159 And so we've been walking through this particular chapter of in chapter two, looking at how is Jesus good in all of these different spaces? 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.039 And it looks different in the uh in every different situation. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:44.960 But uh this chapter specifically, chapter two, could really fall under the heading of like Jesus saying, I get to do whatever I want to do, leave me alone. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:53.600 That's basically like all of chapter two is him basically saying, like, I can forgive sins if I want to, uh, I can hang out and eat with whoever I want to. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.520 Uh, this section that we're in right now, like I can fast or not if I want to. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:04.079 And then the next one is like, I can practice the Sabbath however I want to, I can do whatever I want to on the Sabbath, for I'm Lord of the Sabbath. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.400 And uh, and so that's basically what he's doing. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:18.480 And for everybody else who's watching this unfold, the religious leaders and the church people of the time are looking at Jesus and their their confusion is growing consistently. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:22.239 And so this next slide here kind of shows their confusion. 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:27.760 So at the beginning of chapter two, they're just asking questions in their hearts about what Jesus is doing. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:31.200 And then the next section, they're asking questions, not to Jesus, it's close. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:36.159 They're asking questions out loud, but they're asking them to the disciples of Jesus what he's doing. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:45.120 And then in this section, they're implicitly accusing Jesus with a judgmental question, but they are actually talking to him, but they're talking to him in a question form. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:49.920 And then in the next section, they just explicitly accuse Jesus and his disciples for breaking the Sabbath. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.920 They're like, why are they doing this? 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:53.359 Why are they doing what's prohibited? 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.480 Why are they breaking the law? 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.719 And then in chapter three, they shift from questions to like, how do we kill this man? 00:01:58.879 --> 00:01:59.920 That's basically how it goes. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.879 So the confusion leads to animosity and then it ultimately leads to hatred, and they're trying to figure out how to kill him. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:08.000 And so, just so you know, that's what's going on in the midst of this. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:12.800 We're in verses 18 through 22, that middle portion right there. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.639 Um, and so that's the teaching text for today, is what Mark writes. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:18.719 Mark 2, 18 through 22. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.240 Now, John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:29.120 Some people came and asked Jesus, How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not? 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.520 And Jesus answered, How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:37.280 They cannot so long as they have him with them. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:43.039 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:49.680 No one sows a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, otherwise the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:56.879 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:02:57.360 No. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.240 They pour new wine into new wineskins, and let's say this together. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:03.840 This is the word of the Lord. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:05.599 Thanks be to God. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:13.599 Roger Schwartz and his organization came up with something called um the idiot test. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.719 Maybe you've heard of it, uh, which is not an insult, like if you have heard of it, it's not because you're an idiot. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:31.680 Um, but it's this way of checking to see if questions are posed from a space of curiosity, or they're really just implied judgment on you. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:39.280 And so for instance, this question here, um it's like you don't really think that's gonna work, do you? 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:49.520 And they would say, if you can apply you idiot at the end of that question, then you're probably not actually asking a question as much as you're saying you're an idiot, that's never gonna work. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.000 And so, next slide, so it flows pretty well. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.479 You don't really think that's gonna work, do you, you idiot? 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:00.800 Um, and so they use it in their in their firm and in their organization, and then to help other people ask better questions. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:06.879 Um, but what he's what it's getting at is like this is not really a question, it's really just telling you what I think. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:12.639 I'm just trying to do it, I'm trying to mask my judgment subtly in the form of a question. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:14.719 So I think this happens a lot in marriage. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.920 Um, you idiot? 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.600 Um, you idiot? 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.240 Are you gonna let me finish, you idiot? 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.000 I mean, you should, you know, you keep going. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.199 Um yeah, it could happen between like what you're wearing, like, you really gonna wear that, you idiot. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.439 Um and then, you know, like when you're growing up and you're like, Were you born in a barn? 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:36.160 You idiot. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:37.360 You know, it's just that that thing. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.639 So the reason I bring all that up is because that's effectively what's happening here. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.560 These people aren't asking a question of Jesus. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.040 They're not actually trying to get like, we're just curious, we're just genuinely wondering. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:49.040 They're not genuinely wondering. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:55.439 They are masking their judgment, and they're asking a very implied judgmental question about what Jesus is actually doing. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:18.480 And so, what I want to do today is I want to look at what they're really asking Jesus, and then how Jesus addresses them, which he does it really kindly and compassionately, because he knows what they're doing, but how he addresses them, and then from that, what that means for us, his response, and even how they treat him, what those things mean for us in the life of the church and as followers of Jesus now. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.839 So the question they ask, how he responds, and then what all of that means for us. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:26.240 So, the first, what they're really asking, so this is what they say in verse 18. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:30.160 How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not? 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:36.800 Now, uh Trimper Longman in his commentary says that the law required fasting only on the day of atonement. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.879 That's the so biblically, according to the Old Testament, you've got to fast one day. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:47.519 But after the exile, the Jews observed four other annual fasts, and then another one was added uh during the festival of Purim. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:55.439 And then in the New Testament, uh, the stricter Pharisees they decided we're gonna fast twice a week, which everybody they told everybody, which you're not supposed to do that. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:59.279 They told everybody because they weren't fasting for God, they were fasting to look really good. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.279 So they fasted every Monday and Thursday. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:13.519 And so that's the context that everybody is kind of seeing this take place, and they're watching Jesus' disciples, and Jesus is constantly like another dinner party, and then another dinner party, and then more wine, and more food, and more wine. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.879 It's like, when do your people practice faith the way that we practice faith? 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:17.920 And that's basically what they're saying. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:23.279 What they're really asking is, why don't you guys fast the way that we fast? 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:25.839 Why aren't you practicing your faith? 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.319 Why aren't you practicing your religion the way that we're practicing our because we're clearly right. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.120 Like the way that we do it, we're holy, we're pious, and you guys are doing it wrong. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:36.879 Why are you doing it that way? 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.079 And why aren't you doing the things the way that we're supposed to be doing them? 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:43.680 Because there's a right way of doing them our way, and the wrong way of doing them, which is what you're doing. 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:44.800 So that's really what they're doing. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:46.959 They're trying to actually make a statement to Jesus. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.439 What you're doing, holy man, is wrong. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:56.959 And so uh Temper Longman again goes on in his commentary, and he says, the question that they're asking is an implicit claim to higher spirituality. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.120 We are more spiritual than you are, Jesus. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:08.480 And though the question is posed to Jesus about his disciples, it's clearly challenging the example that Jesus is setting, not just for other disciples and his disciples, but for all the people. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:10.480 It's challenging what Jesus is doing. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:17.600 And if he is so spiritual, why does he not encourage his disciples to live up to the high religious standards set by others? 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.519 And so that's the real question. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.720 They're not curious, they're implying judgment on him. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:30.399 And so then Jesus answers this surface level question, and in doing so, he gives the purpose for what fasting was actually meant to. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.560 So he could actually just stop and go, like, you guys are morons, you have no idea what you're talking about. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:36.000 I actually do what I'm talking about. 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.439 I wrote the very laws that you're claiming you follow, like it's totally fine. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:40.399 He doesn't do any of that. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:41.439 He actually answers their questions. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:42.560 So this is what he says. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.680 How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:47.920 They cannot so long as they have him with them. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:52.160 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:08:16.000 And so what he's answering them and what he's saying to them, it's in their culture, it was commonly known that if you made a promise to God that, like, I'm going to fast and pray for this number of days, but then a wedding feast came up that you were invited to, they all knew that if you were invited to a wedding, that that commitment you made, that promise you made to God, like, hey, you don't have to do that right now. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.560 If anything gets in the way of joy during a wedding feast, just push that aside. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.160 Other than sin, and even and even some rabbis were like, even sin. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.319 Uh, but if it gets in the way of joy, just push that aside and just enjoy yourself. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:37.600 And so what Jesus is saying to them is in the same way that it wouldn't make sense for people to fast during a wedding feast and miss out on the joy. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:47.679 He's saying, it wouldn't make sense for my disciples to practice a spiritual discipline that leads you to grow closer to God when he's like, God, I am close. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:48.480 I am here. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:50.240 There's no reason for them to do this. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:53.519 It wouldn't make any sense for them to do something to try and get closer to me. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:54.960 I have come to be close with them. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:56.080 They're with me now. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.240 And so there's no reason to practice this thing. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:00.159 There will be a time, but it's not right now. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:04.720 And so for them, this is what uh fasting, go to the next slide here. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:19.919 The purpose of fasting was in the Old Testament consistently, like, seek God's presence, to be with God more closely, to grow in dependence on God, asking for Him to intervene and to for His favor, to like, Lord, would you give us favor in this particular war? 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.480 Would you give us favor in this particular question that we're asking, or with this enemy, would you give us favor? 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.080 Or asking for his deliverance. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.000 And Jesus says, like, there will be a time when they'll have to do that again. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.679 But he's like, but the purpose of fasting doesn't make sense right now. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:34.879 Next slide here. 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.240 Because in Jesus, you don't need to seek God's presence. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:40.080 He's like, God's presence is here. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:44.720 You don't have to draw more closely with God because I have come, I'm Emmanuel, I'm God with us. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.600 Dependence on God for intervention, favor, and deliverance. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:48.879 And he's like, I am intervening. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.360 John 3.16, I am God's intervention. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.240 God has sent me into the world to intervene on behalf of the world. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:55.200 I am God's favor. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.840 I have come to announce the year of the Lord's favor. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.360 I am the favored, the favor that you've been asking that God to give you. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:02.320 I am that thing. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:07.200 And then Jesus is saying, I am the deliverer, I am the rescuer, I'm the deliverance. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.840 And so what he's answering for them is like, you guys don't actually even understand what fasting is for. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:16.080 Y'all are doing this, and the Pharisees are doing this just to look pious and holy in front of people. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:17.759 You're not even doing this the right way. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:23.679 And so he's answering the question, but really in that space, he's like, if you're going to fast, this is what it's meant for. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:28.799 And at this particular time, all the reasons that you would choose to fast are fulfilled in me. 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:29.679 I'm actually here. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.519 There's no reason to do that right now. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.720 I believe it's uh David Goodzik says this. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:42.240 He says, It wasn't right in Jesus' mind for his disciples to imitate the Pharisees in their hypocritical shows of righteousness. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:51.600 And he says, Nor was it right for them to imitate John's disciples in the ministry of humble preparation for the Messiah, because the disciples lived in the fulfillment of what those people were seeking. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:57.039 They're like, we're not preparing anymore that the Messiah shows up, like he has come, he's here now. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:03.679 And so, to answer their question, he gives an explanation and the purpose of what fasting was actually meant. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:10.960 And then he moves on to I'm gonna answer your surface level judgmental question, and I'm gonna move to the heart of the issue, and that's what he gets to. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:14.879 He gets to the root of the problem in this next section by giving them two parables. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:19.200 And he says, No one sows a patch of unshrunk cloth on old garment. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.000 Otherwise, a new piece will pull away and the tear will be worse. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:27.759 No one pours new wine into old wineskins, otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.159 No, you pour new wine into new wineskins. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:42.799 And what Jesus is seeking to do in this particular space is to show them the root of your problem isn't we're doing it differently than the other religious people in your day, and we're practicing our faith in a different way. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:45.759 The root of your problem is you have no idea who I am. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.000 You have no idea why I've come. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:57.679 And you, even the new things that I'm actively doing in front of you that are good things, because you don't know who I am or why I'm here, even the good things that you see, you don't even see them as good anymore. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.039 The root of your problem is you don't actually know who I am. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.200 Trimper Longman, again, I spent a lot of time with Trimper, which is a great name. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:06.559 Name your kid Trimper. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:10.240 Uh he says the the two parables make the same point. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:16.399 He says, a patch of unshrunk cloth sewn on a garment will shrink when washed and thus tear the garment. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.879 The new is incompatible with the old. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.000 And he says, so also the new wine and old wineskins. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:24.639 In the ancient times, wine was kept in animal skins. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:31.039 New skins were soft and pliable and would stretch when the wine that had not yet completed fermentation was put into them. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.679 Old wineskins that were already stretched would become brittle and unable to stretch any further. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:41.679 And so the gas from the new wine fermenting in them would burst them, thus destroying both the wine and the wineskin. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:47.039 And Jesus' point is that he represents a new work that God is doing among them. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:52.480 Jesus is not merely promoting a reform movement within Judaism, patching the old. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:54.799 Rather, he is coming. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.440 His coming is the turning point of human history. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.759 His coming marks the transition from the age that had been promised to the age of fulfillment. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.519 Everything has changed. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:13.679 And for them, it was important for them to hear and to see, like I'm not trying to fix the old thing, I'm obliterating the old thing, and I'm gonna do something completely different. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:27.039 And you don't need to understand that I'm doing something completely new because if you don't see, if you think that I'm like the Pharisees and just trying to be holy and to show you how holy I am, if you think that I'm like John's disciples preparing for another Messiah, then you'll miss the Messiah that I am. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:35.600 If you don't understand that I'm not trying to do something old that looks similar, but to completely obliterate that and do something new, you'll miss me completely. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.399 And then, I mean, in many ways, many of them ultimately did. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:41.120 But just look at all the different things that Jesus changed. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:44.080 And this is not all of them, but he changed a lot of them. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:48.480 Jesus changed the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, which was how they interacted with God. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:58.000 Everything that they did, he changed that completely when his death became the sacrifice for the uh Jesus changed the dietary restrictions of the Old Testament, was like it announced foods clean. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:13:59.919 Jesus changed the Old Testament priesthood. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.240 Now we, the believers, are the are the royal priesthood, the priesthood of God. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.399 Uh Jesus changed how we draw near to God. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.639 Jesus changed where we worship because it used to be in one space and now we can worship anywhere. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:17.679 Jesus changed how to worship and pray, changed who's in and who's out, changed how to use the use of the Sabbath. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.120 Jesus changed how a person becomes righteous. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:24.240 Jesus changed how we get our sins forgiven. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:27.039 Jesus was constantly changing things consistently. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:36.399 And so for him, it's like if you just see me as someone that's just, I love the old thing and we're gonna do the old thing, and he obviously came to fulfill the law, not do away with the law, but to fulfill it. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:37.519 But even that was new. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:43.519 It used to be you fulfill the law, and then God will love you and you'll be righteous and experience his blessings. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:49.600 But he's like, I'm doing a new thing, I'm gonna fulfill the law so that God can love you because you can't fulfill the law yourself. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.360 And he was constantly doing all of these new things, and that's what he's trying to get at. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:59.120 The heart of our problem and the heart of their problem is we like the old thing more. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.279 That religious old thing makes more sense to us. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:05.200 I do bad, I get punished. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:06.960 I do good, God blesses me. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.840 We love that because it's very cut and dry, it's very black and white. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.000 And that for them was very much the same as well. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:16.320 Christian karma, or in their in their way, like karma works more because it makes more sense. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:18.320 Do bad, get bad, do good, get good. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.279 And Jesus is like, you're gonna miss everything because I'm not doing the old thing. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:25.759 I'm actually gonna switch and do something completely different. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:27.759 And that's what he's getting at for them. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.320 So, what is happening here in this text? 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.159 And I'm gonna get to the implications here in a second. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:44.559 What is happening here is they think that Jesus and his disciples should practice their faith and should do the exact same things that they're doing, exactly the way that they do it, because they are right and Jesus and his disciples are wrong. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:48.720 It is arrogance and um pride. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.080 We do it right, them over there, they do it wrong. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:59.360 Jesus points them to the true purpose of fasting, not to be seen as pious and not to be seen as holy, but to actually be more with God. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:04.399 And then through the parable, he is inviting them to see you're not left out of this. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:10.559 I'm doing something new, and you're invited into that, but you have to understand that I'm not doing the old thing, I'm doing something brand new. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.360 And if you miss that and you partner the old with the new, you're gonna miss out on the new. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:17.440 You can't have these two things together. 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:20.799 They they're incongruent, they're mutually exclusive. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:24.559 The old thing is one way, the new thing is another way, and the new thing is so much better. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:26.000 And so that's what he's getting at. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:28.320 So that's what's happening in the text. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.279 Here's what it means for us three different things. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:37.279 The first, we need to fight the Pharisee mindset in our lives. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.919 We need to fight the Pharisee mindset in our lives. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.879 This idea that I'm right and they're wrong. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:48.159 So if you think that you're crushing it, one, so much respect, because I think I'm crushing it too. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:59.759 Um, but if you think that you're like, I'm the best follower of Jesus and everybody just needs to look at me and do it my way, and you and you would always say, like, I mean, I'm clearly a sinner, nobody's perfect, but like I'm doing it right. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:08.240 Like, if you if you look at everybody else and go, y'all need to practice your faith exactly the way that I do it because I'm right and they're wrong. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:17.599 Or if you look at other people who do practice their faith differently than you, and you go, well, they're an idiot, they didn't pass the idiot test, they're stupid, they're sinful. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:21.440 I don't even think they're a Christian because they don't practice their faith the way that I do. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:25.119 Um, you're not in good company if you feel that way. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:32.480 Like the company that you're in are in line with the Pharisees who ultimately reject Jesus because Jesus didn't do it the way the Pharisees did, and they got it wrong. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:40.960 And so for us, the I that's the the idea that's presented in the scriptures is that there are things that we should hold closed-handed. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:44.079 Like this is this is what we believe, and we're not shifting from this. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:45.279 This is what we believe. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:55.759 But the freedom to express and to live inside of that one, that belief that we believe in Jesus, there's freedom in the church to practice our faith in certain ways that are very, very different. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.519 And we need to understand that, otherwise, the church will become like very uniform. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:05.680 We all dress the same way, act the same way, do this, do that, and all of a sudden there's no diversity in the life of the church. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:10.640 And so the idea that's presented in the early church is that this was true for them. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:15.200 In the early church, some people ate meat sacrificed to idols, and some people didn't. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:16.880 And they got in a huge argument over it. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.759 And Paul had to be like, hey, look, we shouldn't argue about this. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:24.240 Like, here's how you should think about it there's diversity, there's there's different ways of following Jesus. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.559 You're still, there's one Messiah, there's one spirit, there's one church, there's one this. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:29.839 But like, so what? 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.440 You're doing that and they're doing this. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:32.480 Don't worry about that. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:33.599 They did that. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:37.440 Some people kept kosher according to the Jewish laws, and some people didn't. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:39.680 Some people kept holy days, and some people didn't. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:47.839 Some people loved Apollos, the apostles, like we love Apollos, and some people love Paul, and Paul was like, who cares if you love one preacher over another preacher? 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:48.400 It doesn't matter. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:50.160 Like, don't get into arguments over it. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:54.319 Uh, some churches had women speaking them and prophesy in them, and then some churches didn't. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:58.480 The church in Ephesus had no women speaking because of what was going on in their culture. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:06.079 They had different opinions, they had different political views and backgrounds, different worship styles, different preferences, different convictions in the church. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.240 The church was uniquely different. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.000 And it wasn't like we only worship this way, we only do these things. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:16.960 This is all we we have one thing that we point at, and that's Jesus, but everything else is an expression outside of that. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:20.640 And if yours is different than mine, that's okay, because there's freedom in that. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:28.960 There's a space in Acts 13 where the church in in Antioch is uh, they they talk about the leaders there, and the leaders are super diverse. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.279 They're like diverse socially, racially, everything. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:56.240 There's a they they list five prophets and teachers, and it's Barnabas, who was a Jew, Simeon, who was a non-Jewish African, from a completely different um space in time, uh, Lucius, also a non-Jewish African, uh, Manion, uh, if I don't even know if I'm saying that correctly, uh, but that guy was from a member of Herod the Tetrarch's court, like he was an intimate friend of Herod, who had just killed one of the apostles. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:20:01.440 And so that dude is in the church as a teacher or a prophet or something like that. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.480 Then you have Saul, who becomes Paul, which is a Hebrew Pharisee. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:14.559 And so you have this very unique dynamic of people within this one church, and they're getting along, and what they're doing is they're praying and they're fasting together, and the Spirit speaks and sends Paul and Barnabas out. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:15.920 This is really beautiful thing. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:24.640 But if they would have looked at one another and been like, oh, sorry, uh, you're from an African heritage, and honestly, like we don't really do music the same way that you guys do, and that's completely different. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:26.880 And honestly, you have oh, you're friends with Herod. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.880 Wow, that's like being friends with Biden. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:34.079 Um I'm joking, sorry, that was not in my notes. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:35.920 I should probably just stick with my notes. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.000 Or the other way. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:39.039 You're friends with Trump. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:40.079 Yeah, whatever. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:53.440 Um, but the idea is that like if they would have chosen arguments over these small, minuscule issues and been like, sorry, you're you can't, I'm not friends with people who are friends with him. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.960 I'm not, I'm not gonna be close with people who worship that way. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:04.559 Saul's a Pharisee, this guy doesn't keep kosher, like, oh, you don't have the same, you don't eat the same way I do, oh, you drink a little bit more than I think is right. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.240 Like, well, then we can't be partners together. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.759 Then the church in Antioch basically splits in half and goes into five different directions. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:10.960 But they didn't do that. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:19.440 They worked together, they sought together, and they what what kept them and unified them was more important than the differences about secondary issues. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:38.000 And so if someone talks about their church and they say, like, oh yeah, at our church we all look the same, think the same, dress the same, vote the same, worship the same, we have the same socioeconomic class, we all give to the same charities, we believe exactly the same way on secondary issues like drinking, age of the earth, end times, theology, women in ministry, et cetera. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:46.559 If they say we believe all the same things on all of that stuff and do all the same things, that is a problem to solve, that is not an accolade to endorse. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.240 It should not be that way. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:55.440 The idea is the church is supposed to be so diverse that some of the relationships that you have with people in the church rub you the wrong way. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.839 And it's supposed to be that way so that you are sanctified into the image of Jesus who loves you. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.839 You the way that you are too. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.279 And it's and you're not like, you know, roses, like you're not perfect. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.160 And he loves you. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.119 And he chooses to love you, and he's committed and covenanted to you. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:14.000 And so the idea in the church is like, oh no, we all vote the same way and don't have any differing opinions or anything like that. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:16.000 It's like, that's a real problem, man. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:17.599 That's not supposed to be that way. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:23.519 The idea is their faith is supposed to inform you about who Jesus is from their perspective and all those different things. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:31.039 And we can't get outside of the Bible and theology, but there are so many different ways of expressing that unified truth that we believe. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:40.880 And if it all of a sudden becomes like, well, we only do it this way because at our church we only have these set group of people, then we've started the decline in death as a church. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.400 And it cannot be that way. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:47.359 It's always supposed to be unique because there's so much of Jesus to learn about and to know about. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:55.200 And there's no way that everybody who dresses the same, thinks the same, acts the same, votes the same is going to help us experience all that Jesus is if we all have the exact same opinions. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.880 And honestly, that'd be kind of boring. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:59.440 So that's not the way it's supposed to be. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.519 That's a problem to solve, not an accolade to endorse. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:03.200 And this is not an indictment on this church. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:08.160 I'm just literally just saying this is what the teaching text is this week, so I'm just giving that to you. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.000 Actually, as I was preparing this, I told Randy, I was like, I have no idea if they need to hear this at all. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:15.039 It's just the next section in Mark, so I'm gonna preach it. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:24.160 But there's supposed to be differences among us so that we grow into the understanding of who Jesus is, and we learn from people who are different from us. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:26.240 And if we're humble, then that happens. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.480 But if we're like, sorry, I don't learn from people who believe that women can be pastors, it's like, well, you're gonna miss out on a lot. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:38.640 Because there's incredible women pastors, and there's incredible women leaders, there's incredible women teachers and prophets and all the rest of it. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.279 And Paul says the exact same thing. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:56.559 So we have to learn to interact with people who are different than us, and if we ever get to the point like the Pharisees, and we go like, oh, but the only people I interact with, the only ones I interact with think like me, act like me, dress like me, vote like me. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:02.960 We all complain about the same people and all those different things, like that is what the Pharisees were like. 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:10.960 And it didn't con the Pharisees no longer exist as a group, they exist uh in our hearts, but they never exist. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:17.759 Like the Christian church exists, and it it is it is birthing new life, but that thing, it's a dead thing, and so we don't need to be like that. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:36.160 Uh Gary Bershears uh wrote a a number of books, but one, he gives this idea of how in the church, if you're ever looking at like how do we navigate cultural topics and differing opinions in the life of the church, and he talks about them like this that um there are truths. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:37.519 Let's go to the next slide here. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:40.559 There are truths, um, and he gives four categories. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:44.720 There are truths that you would die for, divide for, debate for, and decide for. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:25:02.960 And so what he's what he's talking about is like, hey, just trying to give the church a way of looking at and learning how do we, at what point do I go like, oh, I'm so sorry I can't be in like fellowship with you anymore because of what the scriptures say, versus um, this is we just disagree and we can still be friends and I can pray for you and we can, it should just be fine. 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:05.680 And so he sets these things up, which I think are super helpful. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:08.400 But the first would be the die for ones. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:16.640 These are the essential gospel truths that if you were to abandon these, you'd be outside the historic Christian faith, and if necessary, we would give up our lives for these. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:19.839 This is what you're martyred for, basically, in other areas. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:30.640 They include the inspiration and authority of Scripture, the Trinity, the incarnation in the second person of the Trinity as a God man, that's Jesus, including the virgin birth, the sinless life, the substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, on and on and on. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:42.559 And so he talks about these things, and he's like, these are things that if you don't believe these, you're actually outside the historic Christian tradition, the historic Christian faith, you're actually stepping outside of the Bible, and that's not healthy. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:54.720 And so these are ones that these are the closed-handed issues that we hold just universally as a body of believers, not just here, but if you call yourself a historic Orthodox Christian church, you would hold to these things and not shift on those. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:03.680 And if somebody got up and was like, oh, I'm gonna preach against the virgin birth, we would call that person a false teacher, a false prophet, and so on and so forth, because they're stepping outside of the inspired word of God. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:05.759 And so those are the things that you're close-handed about. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:08.880 And he at his point is like, these are really the things that you should hold. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:16.160 And then if if anybody wants to talk about something else and you disagree on that, it's like, they're still believers, like just you're supposed to treat them as brothers or sisters. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:18.160 The next one would be uh the divide for. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:20.079 This is where you get denominations and things like that. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:26.480 This is where you get as many churches that we have as we have all around the world, but these are also close-handed issues for each church. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:36.880 These are things that like we worship this way, we believe this thing, the way that we understand doctrine and the scriptures, like we're gonna we we do close-handed on that, and our community aligns with these things. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:39.920 But there are other communities that would say, like, oh, you do baptism that way? 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:41.599 Yeah, we don't do it that way, we do it like this. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:54.880 So it might be better for the people who agree with us about how we do baptism to like start something over here because that might not intersect well in the life of a community where we're together worshiping collectively. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:59.680 And he goes on to talk about these truths that we divide for, not in a hateful way. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.400 Like you don't blog about or go online and hate these people. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:05.839 You love them, you pray for them, and you're still brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:08.960 These these things don't make you non-Christians, and that's his whole point. 00:27:09.119 --> 00:27:12.960 But so many churches go, oh, you baptize infants, well, you're going to hell. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:16.160 Like it's like, wow, like no, that none of that's real. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:21.359 Like uh, so uh, and he just talks about some of those things, and so he references that. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:30.240 But these are truths that you would divide for, but you do not break fellowship in terms of friendship and understanding that we're still called to love one another and that kind of thing. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:40.079 Um, churches have split over, uh, are divided over uh women in ministry and non-women in ministry, reformed theology, Arminian theology, uh, and so on and so forth. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:45.200 And so those things can shift and change how people preach and the life of the church, and so that's why they do that. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.440 Uh, truths that you would debate for. 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:52.880 These are issues that you might engage in healthy debate or perhaps even emotional debate. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:57.440 But in the end, you do it while maintaining regular fellowship, joining together in worship and proclamation. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.680 And he talks about these and he's like, normally these get elevated to the other spaces. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:05.200 You don't want to debate because, oh, we disagree, then we hate each other. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:08.559 And he's like, How do we get that's not the way it's supposed to go? 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:14.000 Because if you look at the scriptures, they debated over should we allow the Gentiles to be in line in the line with the church? 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:15.759 Should we preach the gospel to them as well? 00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:17.839 They're not eating the correct way, should we deal with that? 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:24.400 And they debated health in a healthy way and found resolution, and then the gospel and the word of God move forward in a really good way. 00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:31.440 And so his point is like, there are definitely things you should debate over in a healthy way that leads to continued fellowship. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:40.720 And then the other things that you just simply decide for, which are open-handed issues that really don't matter in the end and aren't even worth spending time debating about. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:45.920 These are the kind of issues addressed in Romans 14 to 15 where there's really no law over these things. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:51.279 And so I don't even know realistically what these would be, but like old earth theology. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.039 Some people have been like, How old is the earth? 00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:57.119 And we're like, is it really six days or seven days of creation, or is it seven links of time? 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:06.319 And then churches, they're like, Well, you're clearly not a Christian because you don't read the and I'm like, look, this is like a decide-for issue, it doesn't matter, and we don't need to elevate it to that point. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:23.680 And so his whole point is to give these things to go like churches need to operate this way, be close-handed about the things that matter, and that would that would align people as a group of people in the faith, and that those that would be like, Oh, you don't believe this, and it's like you're probably outside the faith, and then everything else be gracious towards one another about. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:26.480 That was long, but I do think this is a healthy way of dealing with it. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.160 So fight the Pharisee mindset. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:34.559 It can get in there, and we can think that everything's a huge issue, everything's a close-handed issue. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:38.480 You don't believe like me, you don't vote like me, you don't whatever. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:46.319 We have to stay open-handed about the things that are actually open-handed issues, and then we can actually unify on the things that actually really matter. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:47.440 So that's the first. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:50.480 The second, we should practice fasting. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:51.599 Bless you. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:54.079 The second thing that we should do is that we should practice fasting. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:30:01.839 Jesus talks about the purpose of fasting, and in this particular context, he's saying there's no reason for them to do it now, but there will be a time, and we are in that time. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:03.200 We should practice fasting. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:05.359 And we'll teach on this more in the coming months. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:09.279 I'm like, I believe as a church, we should practice the way of Jesus. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:15.599 We should, he says this, to put his word into practice so that we experience the life that Jesus actually has for us. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:25.759 The vision of our church that we'll talk about in August is to be a practitioner of Jesus' way, to follow him and to be covered in his dust because we walk so closely behind him and experience the life that he has for us. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:28.400 And one of the ways that we do that is through the practices. 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:32.079 And so fasting is one of those things that he's like, this is actually a great thing. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:34.160 It's not necessary right now. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:39.440 Um, in this particular story, he's like, but this will definitely be necessary for you to seek the presence of God. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:41.279 And I think that's what fasting actually is. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.319 Fasting is a way of drawing near, deepening dependence. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:50.559 If you fast regularly, uh, you will hear him more clearly because you'll actually be drawing nearer to him. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:59.599 It will be a space where you grow in dependence on him because in your hunger or whatever you're lacking in that thing, in that space, it will lead you to go, I'm dependent. 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.920 I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lean on the crutch of food or drink or music or television. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:06.640 I'm not gonna lean on the crutch of social media when I'm bored. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:08.400 I'm actually just gonna lean on the Lord. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:20.000 And so you'll experience more of his power in your life, not because he's like, oh, you earned it, I'm giving it to you, but because you're actively choosing to depend on him more, and those who depend on him experience that he is dependable. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:23.359 And so in that way, I think we should practice fasting. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:25.519 And he says, Jesus says this about fasting. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:36.480 He's like, there are certain darknesses, there are certain things that we deal with, certain sins, certain demonic activities, certain things that we deal with that cannot be driven out except by prayer and fasting. 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.440 That's what's a weapon for us to drive out things that we're like. 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:42.960