Mark - Lesson 17...Continued from page 5
Thomas Klock
DAY SIX: Following Christ
1. While these religious leaders thought they were testing Jesus, actually they were the ones tested, and all but one (the scribe) failed miserably. They were the wicked tenants Jesus condemned in His parable of the vineyard; they were the ones who in their hypocrisy Jesus warned about: “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they love to parade in flowing robes and to have everyone bow to them as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. But they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property, and then, to cover up the kind of people they really are, they make long prayers in public. Because of this, their punishment will be the greater” (v. 38–40, nlt, emphasis mine). Rather than pointing at these guys and thinking too highly of yourself, ask whether you at times find hypocritical attitudes or actions in yourself. How can you better handle the following dangerous attitudes?
Seeking to be noticed and lifted up by others around you:
Taking advantage of others to try to get ahead or look good:
Trying to cover up your own failures by acting like you are more important or spiritual:
2. It has been said that the two certainties of life are death and taxes. Jean Baptiste Colbert well said, “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.”[xvi] How appropriate when our own tax day is right around the corner! What did the Lord spoke to you about as you read Jesus’ statement to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” (Mark 12:17, nkjv)? We should handle our taxes in a way that glorifies God, just as our giving should be with the right heart attitude and sacrificially, like the widow Jesus observed. How are these things going to impact the way you take care of the finances God has given to you? Please share your thoughts with your group so it will encourage others.
3. The heart of all of that we looked at this week was summed up in verse 30: “’And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment”(nkjv). As we do so, we will have His ability to love our neighbors as ourselves and to live in a way that pleases Him. Think about this passage, and record some ways that you will seek to better to love and seek after God:
With all your heart (the center of your being and your emotions):
With all your soul (your own distinct abilities and nature):
With all your mind (your thoughts, understanding, and choices you make):
With all your strength (your maximum ability stretched out in seeking to please Him):
There is no subject more intimately interesting to modern people than man?’s relationship to man; but men get impatient when they are told that the first requirement is that they should love God first and foremost...In every crisis in our lives, is God first in our love? In every perplexity of conflicting duties, is He first in our leading? . . . Remember the standard,?“? as I have loved you.?”? I wonder where the best of us are according to that standard? How many of us have turned away over and over again in disgust at men, and when we get alone with the Lord Jesus He speaks no word, but the memory of Him is quite sufficient to bring the rebuke??“?as I have loved you.?”? It takes severe training to think habitually along the lines Jesus Christ has laid down, although we act on them impulsively at times.?Oswald Chambers[xvii]
Scripture Memory: Hopefully you now can write out this week’s passage completely by memory. Do so now, and keep on reviewing it so you will be ready to share it with others in your group time.
Mark 12:29–31a:
[i] Unless elsewhere noted, all Greek word/phrase translations are based on the following: A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1932, 1933, 1997); James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Electronic Edition (Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship; in Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996); M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2002); Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Studies in the New Testament: For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Co; in Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1984, 1997); and Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, Electronic Edition (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, in Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1992, 1993, 2000).
[ii] This information is based on James A. Brooks, Mark. In David S. Dockery ed., The New American Commentary, Vol. 23 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991), p.190; John D. Grassmick, Mark. In John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament (Wheaton: Victor Books/SP Publications, 1983), p. 160; and Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Vol. 1 (Wheaton: Victor Books/SP Publications Inc., 1989), p. 152.
[iii] A. du Troit, The New Testament Milieu (Orion: Half House; in Logos Research Systems Inc., Bellingham 1998); Richard L. Niswonger, New Testament History (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1988), p. 163, 164.
[iv] James A. Brooks, Mark. In David S. Dockery ed., The New American Commentary, Vol. 23, p. 193; John D. Grassmick, Mark. In John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament, p. 162.
[v] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2004), p. 255.
[vi] Richard L. Niswonger, New Testament History, p. 63, 64; Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Vol. 1, p. 153.
[vii] Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 153.
[viii] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Mark, p. 259.
[ix] Homer A. Kent, Jr. The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Winona Lakes: BMH Books, 2005), p. 181.
[x] John D. Grassmick, Mark. In John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck eds., The Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament, p. 163.
[xi] James A. Brooks, Mark, p. 198.
[xii] This information is based on James A. Brooks, p. 201; John D. Grassmick, p. 164, 165; and Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983, 1989), p. 169.
[xiii] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Mark, p. 264.
[xiv] Wiersbe, p. 154.
[xv] J.M. Freeman and H.J. Chadwick, The New Manners and Customs of the Bible, Electronic Edition (in Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1998); Grassmick, p. 166; M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (in Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2002).
[xvi] From R. Daniel Watkins, An Encyclopedia of Compelling Quotations (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2001), p. 697.
[xvii] Oswald Chambers, Biblical Ethics (Hants, UK: Marshall, Morgan & Scott; in Bellingham: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1947, 1996).
© 2006 by Harvest Christian Fellowship. All rights reserved. Written by Thomas Klock for Men’s Bible Fellowship, 2005-2006.
www.harvestriverside.org