Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Mark chapter 13.

Last week we began what is Jesus’ largest body of teaching in the gospel of Mark.

As Jesus and the disciples leave the temple.... the disciples make a passing comment which opens the door to a much larger conversation.

Lets read our text from last week.

Jesus predicts a very real historical event that was to take place.

The city of Jerusalem and the temple itself was going to be totally destroyed.

This happened just as Jesus said in A.D. 70

Last week we discussed the historical and theological significance of this.

but the disciples don’t ask “why?”

they want to know “when?”

Much like many who are obsessed with the end times… they want to know when this prophecy was going to be fulfilled....

Jesus, however, doesn’t give them the when…, rather he gives them the what?

he gives them what they should be prepared for in the coming days....

and its to that we turn our attention to this morning.

so lets read verses 4-13 and then pause and pray for understanding.

Lets Pray

The first thing I want you to notice is that word “see” in verse 5.

Its the same Greek word that in verse 9 is translated “Be on your guard”

Jesus does not tell them when these things will be…

rather he aims to prepare them for what life will be like for a disciple of Jesus in these last days Between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming.

He intends for his disciples to take on a sort of spiritual watchfulness so that they will not be surprised by the kinds of things that they will be called to endure.

In fact this is the emphasis throughout chapter 13.

V. 5 “See”

v. 9 “Be on your guard”

V. 23 “be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

v.29 “When you see these things”

v. 33 “be on guard, keep awake.

V. 34 stay awake.

V. 35 stay awake

v. 37 stay awake.

I’d like to admonish you similarly throughout the duration of this sermon… stay awake.

Much of what Jesus prepares them for included very real historical events in Jerusalem that were going to happen in their life time.

But the events Jesus describes go beyond that.

He describes what Christians will endure in every generation including ours.

Jesus’ preparation of the disciples in this chapter, now serve as preparation for us today.

And I think it is the lack of precisely this kind of preparation that has produced such a weak version of Christianity in our context here today.

As I studied this passage this week, I was burdened by the normal cultural Christianity that I was raised in and that many of you were raised in.

Its the kind of Christianity that sets Jesus up to be an accomplice to our American dream.

Its the kind of Christianity that talks more about blessing then endurance…

more about morality and goodness, then suffering and holiness…

Its a kind of Christianity that leaves the cross at calvary and doesn’t expect any more crosses to be carried.

Its the kind of Christianity which talks about persecution in hypothetical distant terms but never in experiential and imminent terms.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it cheap grace.

In contemplation during a time and place where true Christians fled for their lives and studied the Bible in secret… Bonhoeffer wrote these words…

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has.

It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.

It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jesus does not want his disciples to be fooled by a false narrative which says following Jesus will be easy…

He wants them to be ready to endure the inevitable difficulties.

He wants them to know what to expect if they are to follow in Christ’s footsteps.

We are going to see Five Expectations for following Christ in these days Beginning with what we see in verses 5-6.

#1 Expect False Teachers (v.

5-6)

Jesus warns that there will be many who claim to be coming in the name of Jesus… and that some will even claim to be Jesus…

And Jesus warns that they will successfully deceive and lead astray MANY people.

my question to you this morning is this:

Do you expect this?

Do you recognize that not everything with Jesus’ name on it is of the Lord?

Do you recognize that not everyone who uses the word “God” is from God?

Not every person who speaks in public while holding a Bible, actually teaches the words of that Bible?

Not every missionary is on the right mission.

Not every building with a steeple is a place where the true God is worshipped.

not everyone who says they are a Christian… is actually a Christian

I have had several conversations over the years with people who have rejected Christianity all together, because of their bad experience in bad churches with bad teaching and bad leadership.

They have experienced a false version of Christianity, and have rejected Christianity all together….

I have often said in those conversations… “I also reject the Christianity you reject… but that does not mean that the real thing doesn’t exist”

the presence of false versions of Christianity in the world does not discredit that there is a true version of Christianity to be embraced.

In fact, the presence of all these false versions of Christianity only confirms the Bible’s repeated warning.

Jesus is having this conversation with Peter, James, John, and Andrew…

And I love seeing the authors of New Testament actually drawing directly from the wisdom that Jesus himself poured into them.

Listen to Peter’s later instruction to the newly planted churches exiled and persecuted by the Roman Empire.

After urging them to pay attention to the Scriptures… Peter says this.

John similarly prepares the churches he was involved with.

Don’t let the overwhelming presence of false teaching in our broken world cause you to reject the God of the Bible.

Let it drive you to your knees, to your Bibles, and to your Christian brothers and sisters so that you might know what is true.

Don’t believe every YouTube video you watch.

Don’t believe every t.v.

Preacher you see in passing.

Don’t believe every person who says they are Christian.

Be discerning.

Test the spirits.

know your bibles.

It is not wrong to love truth and to be graciously skeptical until you can confirm that something is true or a teacher is truthful.

This is simply what it means to “see” to “be on guard”

You should be the kind of person so committed to the truth of God’s Word that you do not readily give out your trust to anyone who claims to be a teacher of this word until they earn your trust by their consistent alignment with sound doctrine in both their life and teaching.

Expectation #1 Expect False Teachers

#2 Expect a Hostile World (v.7-8)

Jesus is breaking down any notion that following Jesus was going to be a utopia like experience in the coming days.

The world will continue to be a hostile place… a very corrupted place.

the evidence of sin’s effect on the world will be felt in several ways.

wars

rumors of wars

earthquakes

famines

I suppose this list was not exhaustive.

You could throw in hurricanes, recessions, crime, pandemics, and so on.

These will be a part of normal life in this age between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming.

Every time there is any war or any earthquake or any natural disaster… Christian’s everywhere start obsessing over whether it is THE end of all things…