BSFL Sunday School Commentary for the week of October 11, 2009

The Hero Doing Battle          Mark 12

I love the movie "Wyatt Earp" starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, and Gene Hackman. Of course, I just love westerns, but this is one of my all-time favorites. Costner plays Wyatt Earp, who is portrayed as a man standing for the law, and protecting his family. He does battle with numerous villains and stays true to a concept introduced to him by his father early in the movie: "No one counts as much as family; the rest are just strangers".  

As believers, we fight a battle between right and wrong every day. When we are serious about living out our faith, we will often find ourselves in a face-off with the world. As believers, we do not need to be torn between two allegiances. While we are to respect our government (vote, pay taxes, support the political process), we are to give ultimate allegiance only to God in order to live a victorious Christian life. Our main priorities are to be loving and serving Jesus; everything else is secondary. Only then will we present a genuine model of grace and truth to the world that will accurately point them to Christ.

Allegiances to lesser things and prioritizing according to the fickle whims of the culture will lead us away from God best for us. Christians struggle daily with issues like honesty in our financial dealings (taxes), modesty in how we dress our bodies, giving to the church, how we use our 'free time', who to vote for, to drink alcohol or not to drink alcohol, and how often we should attend church, just to name a few.

Is has been wisely noted that in order to determine what is most important in our lives, one only need look in two places: our date book and our checkbook. How we use our time and our treasure spills the beans as to where our allegiance and priorities lie.

Through some passages in Mark 12 Jesus answers questions regarding allegiances and priorities that were posed by His harshest critics. They sought to trap Him in words, to get Him into trouble. But Jesus answers them wisely, and in His answers are the most fundamental guidelines for putting God first in our lives.

Read the questions and Jesus' responses in Mark 12:13-17; 28-31; 38-40. This commentary is short, because Jesus' words really need no explanation. After reading the passages above, answer the following questions:

• What things are competing for my allegiance?
• What is the result of divided allegiance?
• How is choosing anything but obedience to God settling for second-best?
• What do my date book and my checkbook reveal about my priorities?
• What needs to be changed?
• How do you battle hypocrisy in your own life?

BSFL Sunday School Commentary for the week of October 4, 2009

The Warrior Hero      Mark 11

The shoes you pack say alot about the trip you're taking. How you ever thought about how many of the metaphors for discipleship involve your feet? We "follow" Christ. We describe our Christian "walk". The new unit of study for October is entitled "Discipleship: The Epic Adventure". What shoes did you pack for the journey? When it comes to discipleship there are mountains to climb, battles to fight, and enemies to face. When it comes to following Jesus you will need more than flip-flops and bunny slippers!

This week's lesson from Mark 11 is called "The Warrior Hero". Believers need to understand that an active life of faith leads to victorious Christian living that pleases God, is pleasing to us, and is useful to Christ's Kingdom. We battle daily with temptation, doubt, crises, relational differences, and a host of other things that can turn our focus away from Kingdom living. In Mark 11:12-14, 20-21 Jesus enacted a parable to drive home the importance of a fruitful Christian life. The parable is interrupted as Mark records the account of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Mark often wraps one story around another. The outer story helps the reader to understand the importance of the central story. Just as the fig tree in 11:12-14 was bearing no fruit, so the worship of the Jews also bore no fruit (11:15-19).

What would it take to produce more fruit in your life? Fruit is symbolic of evidence. Apples on an apple tree are evidence that the tree you are observing is an apple tree. "A good tree doesn’t produce bad fruit; on the other hand, a bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs aren’t gathered from thorn bushes, or grapes picked from a bramble bush. A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart." Luke 6:43-45 (HCSB)

So how is the level of evidence in your walk with Jesus? As we walk with Him and He transforms us into His likeness, we will exhibit evidence (fruit) of His character. Galatians 5:22-23 lists what is called the 'Fruit of the Spirit'; evidence of the Holy Spirit's transformational work in our lives. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 (HCSB) Are you fighting fruitlessness and striving to bear fruit? How can we do that?

• Pruning - giving up something that stands in your way of a real, personal relationship with Christ.
• Watering - spending time in the Word to receive Living Water.
• Transplanting - moving out of a bad situation or relationship that is hindering you from placing your faith in God.
• Fertilizing - growing through personal disciplines such as stewardship, service, study, fellowship, prayer, and worship.

In the middle story of Mark 11:15-19, inattention to the worship of God drew Jesus' righteous wrath. From Mark's description of the Temple complex, it must have looked more like a flea market than a sacred place of prayer and worship! No wonder the Jews' worship and sacrifices to God were unacceptable. They allowed other things to crowd in and distract them from the true purpose of knowing and worshipping God. Temple worship had become big business. If you wanted to get to the Temple to worship, you had to fight your way through all the merchants that were set up in the courtyard out front, as well as everyone who was using the courtyard as a shortcut to get where they were going. To many, the hassle may not have been worth the effort.

What's distracting you from your walk with Christ? Escape from the day's busy routine? The pursuit of pleasure? Climbing the corporate ladder? A troublesome relationship? Too busy at church? Busyness is not fruitfulness. We must ruthlessly combat anything that pulls our focus from Jesus and His mission. In Mark 11:22-25 Jesus taught His disciples about the power of prayer to combat distractions and accomplish fruitfulness. A settled trust in God and His ability to solve our troubles and aid us in our struggle is essential to achieving spiritual victories. Many try to analyze away the power of Jesus' promise here. Although He used hyperbole in His statement concerning mountains to represent life's problems, we should never spiritualize away the power of God to answer our prayers and the effect of praying in faith.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) said, "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer." I would venture to add that spiritual heroes stay at the task day after day after day. Through faith and by the power of God that is available to us we battle against unfruitfulness and worldly distractions to grow in our relationship with Christ and our usefulness to His Kingdom. Do you consider His best for you something worth fighting for?