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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