Lessons Mark’s journey can teach us. First, failure can be useful if we learn from it what to avoid in life. This writer has a series of biographies on bad Bible characters—with What Not To Do as the theme.
Success in discipleship consists, not of perfect decisions, but making more Right than Wrong decisions. Choosing more good than bad companions. Developing more good and controlling or cancelling more bad habits. Second, refusing to discuss differences in family and friend relationships may quiet them, but silence won’t remove them. How many times had Paul and Barnabas discussed Kingdom issues between AD 47-48. But never mentioned Mark. That refusal didn’t resolve their differences. Paul still felt Mark had deserted them; Barnabas still felt Mark had learned his lesson and deserved a second chance. Christians face this problem when befriending unbelievers. We may think our example will be enough to win them. That won’t happen often. And Christians may carefully avoid discussing Christ’s importance in order to prolong the friendship. That response denies Christ’s commission to bear witness by behavior and teaching. A better approach consists of a time:
Christian friends, husbands and wives may avoid discussing subjects sure to raise the temperature. A better approach may be:
Be sure of this: if we don’t agree to address the differences quietly, we will address them at some unguarded moment, at the least opportune time, when raised voices stifle amicable decisions. End Part III
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Since scripture doesn’t relate the particular causes of Mark’s desertion at Perga, we can only conjecture possible reasons. However, since many of us have experienced such failures, we can approximately identify some factors.
For Instance, being considered only a helper, Acts 13:5, could have injured his pride. Being proved only a helper—close to servant—as the journey continued increased his pride while failing to convince the senior partners they may have been wrong in their original view. For Instance, the Romance of missionary work would have evaporated into inconvenience the longer their journey lasted. Paul enumerated in I Corinthians 4:9-13 and II Corinthians 11:23-29 the personal cost of being an apostle. It could have been too tough for a man of 25-30 accustomed to the privileges of wealth. For Instance, they experienced unrecorded difficulties, the leaders wouldn’t diminish by miraculous powers—with Mark always having servants to lessen his privations. For Instance, Paul’s assumption of leadership by confronting and condemning Bar Jesus. This could have irritated Mark since cousin Barnabas had made decisions prior to this. In addition, Barnabas’ willingness to have Paul assume leadership would have decreased Mark’s zeal and his respect for Barnabas. For Instance, while the trio sailed away to Perga, Mark and Barnabas could have wanted to remain on Cyprus. Remember…when the leaders parted ways, Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. For Instance, this may have been Mark’s first time away from home, mamma and a life of ease. Nothing is a sickness like home-sickness. End Part II The writer knows other reasons may exist. If readers have other ideas, please send them to me. V Consider that an Upper Room in a large house in Jerusalem became a spiritual temple through which John Mark began a meaningful acquaintance with Jesus.
In those years, what had been a married couples house, Mark 14:13 goodman of the house, had become Mary’s home Acts 12:12. End Part I After WWI Germany was hailed before and held responsible by the Allied Powers. Her military and political leadership escaped personal trials. Nazi atrocities in WWII demanded that the individuals carrying out the dreaded dictates of Adolph Hitler be brought to trial.
In the 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945-1946, defense lawyers blamed Hitler for developing the genocide, not the underlings implementing the orders. The judges rejected that defense. In America today the “I’m not to blame, YOU are to blame”, has again become the mantra of lawbreakers. In New York, rioters in the wake of George Floyd’s death sued the city for what they considered police strong-arm tactics. The city paid several million to settle the lawsuit. In essence, the protectors declared their innocence in causing disturbances and law enforcement guilty for not treating their violence with “respect.” God has never been, is not now, nor ever will be impressed by sinners claiming their sin is the result of…you name it…but NOT their responsibility. C.S. Lewis correctly said that Christians now face a culture of “I’m not to blame” when accused of being a SINNER! Nevertheless, we ALL ARE to blame, and only those accepting it and repenting of it will be SAVED. All who deny their sin will be sent to Hell. True, the unsaved hate that emphasis. And far too many saved people are reluctant to declare it and STAND BY it. Businessman Roger Babson warned of a market crash in 1929. He predicted a drop of 80 points on Wall Street. A Business Journal labelled him a “scaremonger.” The New York Times attacked him for daring to discredit American prosperity. When the market crashed in October, 1929, it dropped 80 points in ONE day. By the end of that year the Stock Market had dropped 40 percent. Our Century, 1920-1930, p. 44. To warn those who don’t believe that God will hold accountable every person with unforgiven sin…believe what you want…it’s your privilege NOW. But when you die, only GOD’S WORD, not your opinion, will remain intact. Remember … though the one Jesus loved as a dearest friend had become deathly ill, he remained at John’s baptismal site two more days John 11:3, 6. And though the one Jesus loved with the deepest spiritual love for keeping God’s interpersonal commandments, he imposed the strongest possible demand on him Mark 10:21.
A spiritual principle existed on both occasions, one related to God’s personal will for Jesus, the other to Christ’s personal ownership of discipleship. Christ’s strong friendship love for Lazarus had to be secondary to God’s will for Jesus. And his spiritual love for the Rich Young Ruler demanded the surrender of his deepest attachment in life. Whether responding to beloved friends, or with God’s ownership involved, Jesus always added SOMETHING MORE. Consider when Simon Peter feared following Jesus, he needed to stop fishing for a living and serve Jesus by searching for lost people. See this as a possible meaning of John 21:2-3, 15. When Zacchaeus repented, he instinctively realized he had to shatter his love of money on a greater devotion to his conversion Luke 19:8-10. When Saul the persecutor of Jesus became Saul the disciple of Jesus, he understood he lost all he had valued as a Jew to inherit all he possessed as a Christian Philippians 3:3-11. When the teacher of the law understood the greatest commandment, Jesus declared him “not far from the kingdom of God” Mark 12:34. NOT far, but NOT IN. The principle remains intact. To get into God’s Kingdom, we must go beyond Law and beyond tradition, and beyond all our human opinions TO Christ and his Greater Expectations. What do we each lack to be that kind of disciple? Jesus could be thankful for the CUP because he knew:
Further, he offered thanks for the LOAF because his sacrifice:
Further still, his sacrifice would reveal:
Each time we partake of the Lord’s Supper, appreciate that Jesus could thank God:.
Note: I have published two volumes of communion and offering devotionals. The use of this devotional, presented yesterday, August 6, will be the exception as a blog.
A separate study reveals how often Jesus prayed and returned thanks to God. Luke 6:12, 9:16, 10:21 will get you started. This blog considers the Master’s thanks when instituting the Lord’s Supper from the Passover Meal. See Matthew 26:26, 27 for his thanks to God for both loaf and cup. Though he knew the CUP forecast his:
The last point overlooks what Paul Harvey would call, “The Rest of the Story”, symbolized by the LOAF. While the disciples had acquaintance with blood in the Passover:
However, that knowledge didn’t help the disciples to relate that blood to Christ’s own. His previous references to dying filled them with such dread they refused to consider it or ask for explanation. Luke 9:43-45, Matthew 20:17-19 as examples. Next…consider three reasons why Jesus thanked God for the CUP he would drink. End Part I It can’t be overstated: Agriculture constituted the world’s first, thus oldest, profession, practiced by Adam and Eve. “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” Genesis 2:15. Vegetarians before the Fall, the first human family became multi-agricultural after the Fall, with the birth of their two boys Genesis 4:1-2. Animal husbandry supplemented, if not dominated, their diet: what produced the necessary protein for body building-blocks; and fruits and veggies in all their forms to prolong health.
It can’t be overstated: the first, and therefore the continuing, model for all human generations, A MAN and a WOMAN constituted the nuclear family. That definition has never changed, and won’t, in history. Only two genders exist. No more. Anyone demanding an alteration in God’s plan becomes God’s enemy, with all the terrors associated with rebellion against him. It can’t be overstated: the first generation of humanity had been endowed with intellectual powers they bequeathed to succeeding generations to build cities. The second generation—children of the first—had the technological skills to build a CITY. And, within five generations after Cain, had begun the turn from an agricultural society of small settlements, Genesis 4:17-24,
All of this a bequest of Adam and Eve to their first generations. Then, within 150-200 years after Noah’s Flood, the advance in technology eventuated in Genesis 11:1-9. Leading to the confusion of tongues that God didn’t eliminate until Pentecost—when the listeners heard the single language spoken by the apostles in their own tongues Acts 2:5- (other tongues of verse 4 explained in verses 5-6). All of this but a beginning, deserving far more study. Fini The Holy Bible, GOD’S OWN WORD, ranks as the most important, by being the first and highest level of knowledge:
Other collections, called libraries, include:
(Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, 1573) End Part I |
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