Jesus Stirs Up Conflict, Part 1

Mark 2:13-3:6

Today, we delve into the surprising and powerful story of Jesus and Levi, a tax collector regarded by many as the ‘scum of the earth’. This broadcast challenges us to rethink common misconceptions about who Jesus chooses to save. Join us as we explore the Book of Mark, chapter two, and discover how Jesus’ actions stir up conflict with the religious leaders of His time, and what this means for us today.

As Pastor Colin takes us through this passage, we learn about the choices Jesus made that clearly put Him at odds with the Pharisees, and how these choices reveal the grace and friendship He extends to ‘sinners’. It’s a compelling reminder that no one is beyond the hope of walking with Jesus Christ, regardless of their past or social standing.

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Folks who took these jobs were commonly regarded as the scum of the earth.

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That’s what Levi was and Jesus called him to be a disciple.

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misconceptions of who Jesus is going to choose to save.

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And today we’re going to break that down.

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Yeah, and I think that’s not surprising because the way that Christ operates is the complete

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opposite of everything that’s common in business practice.

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I mean you look at recruiting people,

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you know, who do we want on our team?

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We want the brightest and the most impressive kind

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of people that we can find and let’s gather all their resumes and sort them through, and the way that the Lord Jesus Christ,

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when he comes into the world, you see something entirely different.

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Who would ever have thought that he would have been in conflict with the brightest and best of the Pharisees,

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and that he would have embraced, as one of his followers, a tax collector,

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who I think scum of the earth really is but the only kind of language that you could use

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to describe how people felt about someone like that.

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So here’s the great good news, that there is no person on the face of the earth who can say,

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I am outside of the possibility of being a person who walks with Jesus Christ.

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He lays hold of people from every conceivable background.

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And that is good news for us today, so if you can, join us in the Book of Mark, chapter two,

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as we begin the message Jesus stirs up conflict. Here’s Colin.

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It might surprise you to know that, opposition to Jesus,

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the concept of conflict emerges this early in the story of the gospel.

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But it does very clearly and very strongly and it’s important for us to grasp,

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that right from the beginning of the gospel, you find both the immense popularity of Jesus,

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with the crowd, and an intense antagonism towards Jesus, from the Pharisees and from the scribes.

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Now, if you have your Bible open, I want us to see quickly, so we know where we are,

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the Mark brings together four stories in Chapter two that show how Jesus came into conflict

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with the religious leaders of his day.

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And in each story you will find a question that is raised about what Jesus is doing.

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The first is the story that we looked at last week, the healing of the paralytic.

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Where in verse seven, the Pharisees ask why does this fellow talk like this, he’s blaspheming.

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Who can forgive sins except God alone?

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Then we move on to the story where Jesus shares a meal at the house of a man called Levi,

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and here you find, in verse sixteen, they ask why does he eat with tax collectors and

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sinners?

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And then, when the Pharisees were fasting, some people come and ask Jesus in verse eighteen

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How is it that the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting and yours are not?

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And then, when the disciples pool some corn in the field on a sabbath, again the Pharisees

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ask a question, why are they doing, verse twenty-four, what is unlawful on the sabbath?

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By the way, questions can be a way of seeking information, but we all know that questions

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in a way that expresses resistance, and that is obviously what is happening here all the

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way throughout Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 2. The Pharisees are resisting the ministry of Jesus

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and the reason that they are resisting the ministry of Jesus is that they want to bring

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it under their control. That’s what’s going on here and there is a growing tension that

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runs all the way throughout the 2nd chapter of Mark’s Gospel.

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Now as we look at this this morning I want us to see very clearly that Jesus chosen this

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conflict, it wasn’t that he sort of mishandled his relationship with the Pharisees and got

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himself into an awkward position. That’s the sort of thing that we do, we often have the

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experience don’t we of saying, I wish I hadn’t said that or I wish I hadn’t done

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that because it got me into trouble. But you never find that with Jesus. Jesus chose this

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conflict. He came into the world to save. And if he is going to save what that means

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is he has to confront the powers that are holding people bound. And that begins right

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from the very start of the gospel, and we will see how it runs all the way through to

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the crucifixion and resurrection itself. Our title this morning is Jesus stirs up conflict.

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The initiative is with him. We are going to see that our Lord Jesus Christ wonderfully,

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and you feel you want to cheer for him I think as we move through this passage, but you see

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that he confronts the deadness and the stuffiness and the silly rules of religion in his day,

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we should thank God for the way that he does this. Now we’re going to see this morning

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that Jesus made three choices that clearly brought him into conflict with the religious

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leaders of his day. We’re going to look at these choices, and when we understand them

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we’re going to find ourselves faced with a big decision. Because if we make the same

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choices as Jesus, we will have the same result as Jesus. If we make the choices he made,

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we will find ourselves in the same conflict he found himself in, indeed that he intentionally

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placed himself in. And the question for us is going to be at the end of this morning,

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are we going to follow Jesus, or are we going to follow the Pharisees? There’s a very real

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choice here and we’re going to be called to take one side or the other.

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Now let’s look at these three choices then that run through this passage of scripture.

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The first choice is that Jesus offers friendship to sinners, and you find this in verses 13

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to 17. Jesus offers friendship to sinners. That’s what he chose to do and it initiated

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conflict.

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Once again, Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to

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teach them. Familiar pattern. As he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting

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at the tax collector’s booth.

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Follow me, Jesus told him. And Levi got up and followed him.

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This is a familiar pattern. We’ve seen this before with Simon and Andrew and James and

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John. The thing that is distinct here is that Levi was a tax collector.

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Remember that Israel was an occupied country at this time. The Romans had marched in.

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They had annexed Israel. And that meant that the Jews were paying taxes to Rome.

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The Romans of course needed people to gather the taxes, to administer the system in the

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country. But who, in their right mind, would take

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money from their own people, in order to give it to a foreign occupying power?

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So the Romans knew that they had to offer a lucrative incentive to get people to do

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this kind of work. And so what they did was they simply set the

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amount that the collectors had to gather as revenue from any particular town, and then

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turned an intentional blind eye to any additional amount that these folks gathered, which went

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into their own pockets. And they could do that with complete security,

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because of course they had the protection of the Roman army.

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So you can imagine the kind of person who would take a job like this.

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William Lane says, in his commentary on Mark, that when a Jew entered the customs service,

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he was regarded as an outcast from society. He was disqualified as a judge and excommunicated

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from the synagogue. So by definition, this man was someone who

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was not welcome at worship, a tax collector. Now, to put it in a bible phrase, folks who

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took these jobs were commonly regarded as the Scum of the Earth. That’s what Levi was

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Jesus called him to be a disciple. It’s awesome, and that choice stirred up

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conflict. You see it as Mark tells us the story. Levi’s so captivated by Jesus

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that he leaves his lucrative job in order to give himself full time to Jesus

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mission, but what’s his first thought? It is, I must share what I have found in

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Jesus Christ with my friends. Who are his friends? If you’re an outcast

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of society, the only friends you can possibly have are the others who for

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different reasons are outcasts of society. And so Verse 15, you find that

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Jesus goes to Levi’s house and he ends up in this company. Many tax collectors

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and parentheses, sinners, were eating with him and his disciples, for there

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were many who followed him. Now, this word sinners in parentheses is

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obviously being used here to describe people of ill repute, people who were

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notorious for their immorality. The Bible says that the sins of some men are

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obvious going before them and the sins of others are more hidden trailing

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behind them well the sins of these folks in whose company Jesus is were obvious

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and it is a wonderful wonderful testimony to the grace of the Lord

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Jesus Christ that he called Levi. Now think about this. A man who feels there’s

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stigma on him that he can never be free from a man who is regarded as the rex

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by the vast majority of people in the society and Jesus comes past his wretched

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little office and says Levi I want you to follow me the sheer grace and mercy

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of God and not only does this man follow Jesus he becomes an Apostle we know him

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by the name Matthew the author of the first gospel so what we’re seeing here

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in this story very clearly then is that Jesus offers friendship to sinners

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indeed you may remember that this was the name that his enemies gave to him

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he’s the friend of sinners they said and actually though they meant it as

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a slur they could not have declared his glory more clearly and look at what that

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means for us whatever choices you may have made whatever regrets you may have

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whatever stigma you may bear whatever alienation you may feel Jesus Christ

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offers his friendship to you and that opens the door of hope and there isn’t

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a person alive in this world today who is beyond it if you receive his

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friendship it will change your life

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see Jesus brought tax collectors out of extortion he brought prostitutes out of

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prostitution Jesus will meet you where you are but he will never leave you

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where you are his grace will change your life what a powerful truth to think

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pause for just a moment Jesus grace will change your life

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you’re listening to open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called

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Jesus stirs up conflict

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it’s part of a larger series called The Gospel According To Jesus and if you

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never miss one of the series you can always catch up or go back and listen

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again online come to our website that’s open the Bible dot org dot UK there

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you’ll find all the previously broadcast messages

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you can also find us as a podcast if that’s a better way for you to keep up

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with Pastor Colin’s teaching and those are available on all the major podcast

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sites search for open the Bible uk or follow the link from our website back to

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the message now we’re in Mark and chapter two

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here’s Colin…. Try to picture Jesus sitting in the house of Levi surrounded

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by this crowd it is a wonderful picture Jesus at the table surrounded by unholy

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people beautiful because if they were only holy people welcomed to the table

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of Jesus you and I would not be there would we he extended his right hand to

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his brothers and extends his friendship and his grace to sinners we thank God

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for that but the Pharisees didn’t In fact they hated it Their reaction is

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pure resistance Why does he eat with tax collectors?

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temples sold and sinners

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there’s a choice here

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that’s born itself in on me as I tried to ponder the scripture throughout the

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week is simply this are we ready to follow the example of Jesus I have to

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in the life of our church today and there are many but one of the most

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encouraging things I see happening is that we are broadening the reach of our

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ministry we are serving and reaching people today that we did not reach five

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years ago and that we did not serve ten years ago that’s what Jesus did but it

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brought him into conflict with the Pharisees the Pharisees want to focus

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ministry on those who are regarded as already righteous folks like us but

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Jesus won’t do that he offers friendship to people who never went to the synagogue

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indeed folks who were quite alienated from the synagogue and if we follow the

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example of Jesus we will be trying to win people who would never think of

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coming to church so here’s the first challenge that comes home to our hearts

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I believe today following Jesus as opposed to the Pharisees will mean

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broadening our ministry because Jesus offers friendship to sinners here’s the

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second choice that he made that brought this conflict to be. Jesus confronts the

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power of false religion now again I think as we look at this we’re going to

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ourselves cheering for Jesus and then thinking seriously about the

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implications for us Jesus confronts false religion and there are two marks

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of false religion that come up very clearly in the second chapter of Mark

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first is false religion always lacks joy if your experience has been of religion

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without joy you have not yet experienced the touch of Jesus Christ there’s more

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for you to discover that’s good news false religion is marked by a lack of

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joy and false religion secondly imposes heavy burdens it always does heavy heavy

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burdens now that was how it was in the time of Jesus and what we find very

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wonderfully here is Jesus confronting false religion and of course that

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escalated the conflict notice first this theme of bringing joy- verse 18 some

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people came and asked Jesus how is it the John’s disciples and the disciples

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of the Pharisees are fasting but yours are not now this issue of fasting is

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interesting the Old Testament had just one day in the year when God called upon

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his people to fast that was the Day of Atonement fasts were called in Old

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Testament times by the leaders of the people especially in times of national

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crisis but what the Pharisees had done was they had taken fasting and they had

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it a regular part of their routine twice a week on

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Mondays and on Thursdays and you may remember Jesus teaching in the Sermon on

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the Mount he speaks about fasting and how it is to be pursued when it is

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pursued and from Jesus teaching there it seems clear

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that the custom was that they made quite a big thing of having long faces and

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making it generally known that they were engaged in this spiritual discipline

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twice a week remember the Pharisee in Luke chapter 18 who comes in and makes

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this boastful prayer to the Lord in the temple and he says I fast twice a week

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and I give a tenth of all that I get now this was a big deal for the Pharisee so

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the question is now why are the disciples of Jesus not fasting I mean if

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he was a real serious spiritual teacher surely he’d be leading them

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into this and Jesus answers in verse 19 how can the guests of the bridegroom

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fast while he is with them now that is a wonderful picture I mean can you

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imagine fasting at a wedding think about it we’ve all been to the service and now

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we’ve all arrived at the banqueting hall as everyone settles around the tables

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the father of the bride stands up and to everyone’s surprise he really looks

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quite miserable I’m glad you’re here today he says for this very important

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occasion my daughter’s wedding I expect that some of you have been looking

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forward to a meal but I have to tell you we’re going to have any food today we’re

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fasting and there isn’t going to be any music there’s going to be silence and

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there isn’t going to be any dancing I want you all to sit still you see he

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continues marriage is a serious business and so today at my daughter’s wedding I

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want us all to take it seriously and so my wife and I are inviting you to

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participate in a time of self examination and reflection and

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meditation because we all fail in many ways and above all else I want you to

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remember my daughter’s wedding is a day of fasting now you laugh because it’s

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ridiculous the whole point of a wedding is that it

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is a joyful celebration and that is the point that Jesus is making Jesus brings

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his friends into joy that is the very heart of the gospel and he’s not

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objecting to the pharisees fasting fast if you want to fast when you want to but

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don’t imagine that the heart of the gospel is about imposing a load of laws

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and disciplines and burdens upon people’s lives don’t imagine that it’s

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something that brings us into restriction because Jesus is saying my

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coming brings my followers into joy if you have tasted joyless religion you’ve

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touched the world of the Pharisees you have not yet experienced Jesus

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what a place we have to pause our message there you’re listening to open

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the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message is called Jesus stirs up

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and it’s part of the series called The Gospel according to Jesus and if you

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ever miss one of the series you can always catch up or go back and listen

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again online come to our website open the bible.org.uk there you’ll find

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all the previously broadcast messages you’ll also find them as podcasts if

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that’s a better way for you to keep up with Pastor Colin’s teaching and those

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are on all the major podcast sites just search for open the Bible UK and

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subscribe to receive regular updates. Well open the Bible is a listener

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supported program and that means exactly what it sounds like it’s your

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generosity that keeps Pastor Colin’s teaching on this station and online if

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supporting open the Bible in that way is something you’d like to begin doing

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and you’re able to set up a monthly direct debit of five pounds per month or

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more or a one-off gift of fifty pounds or more we’d love to say thank you by

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sending you five copies of pastor Colin’s new booklet What Jesus says to

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skeptics? That’s one copy for you to read and four to give away to your friends

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and family Colin how would you describe a skeptic? well I think a skeptic is

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someone who would not at this point say that they’ve made a commitment of faith

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but on the other hand they’ve not rejected the Lord Jesus Christ either

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there’s somewhere in between there are some real questions and the good news is

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that Jesus cares deeply about skeptics and we find this in John’s Gospel where

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he engages with people who have honest questions and he does it in such a way

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as to give them stepping stones to faith and that’s the aim of this little

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booklet to show what Jesus says to skeptics and if you’ve got honest

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questions or if you know someone who has honest questions about the Christian

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faith then I open pray that this booklet will be useful to you .

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This booklet is called What Jesus says to skeptics and it’s our gift to you for

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beginning to support Open the Bible this month, if you set up a new direct debit

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of £5 per month or more or a one-off gift of 50 pounds or more you

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can give online and find full terms and conditions at our website that’s

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openthebible.org.uk. For Pastor Colin Smith and Open the Bible I am David

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Pick and I hope you’ll join us again next time

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Have you experienced dead religion with its silly rules and stuffy traditions?

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Discover why these are the very things that Jesus is against that’s next time

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on Open the Bible

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Get 3 free copies of ‘Green Pastures, Still Waters’ by Colin Smith, as well as an Open the Bible UK bookmark and pen, when you set up a monthly gift of at least £5, or a one-off gift of at least £50.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

Linked resources

Sermons on Mark’s Gospel This series takes you on a journey through The Gospel of Mark, where you will encounter Jesus Christ the Son of God. Discovering who Jesus is, and what He has accomplished, you will find yourself drawn to follow Him along with His first disciples. See also: • The Gospel According to

Colin Smith

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