THEE WORD FOR THE WEEK

Classic Rejection Mark 11:27-12:12 (Focal Passage: Mark 12:1-12) July 18-22, 2011

Monday Read Mark 11:27-28: Jesus Authority After Jesus symbolically pronounced judgment on Israel by His actions in the temple, the religious leaders want to know by what authority [He is] doing these things. They are upset that Jesus stepped into their world and made a big mess. Does Jesus ever seem to do that in your world? Have you ever wanted to ask Jesus by what authority are you doing these things in my life? The religious leaders ask, Who gave you authority to do this? While they dont know the answer, we, the reader, do. God has given Jesus His full authority. If Jesus has Gods full authority, what does that mean Jesus is allowed to do with your life? Does the fact that Jesus has authority to do whatever He wills with your life scare you? If so, ask yourself, Based on my experience and understanding of the Bible, does Jesus work things for the good or for the bad? (Rom 8.28) Jesus has authority to do whatever He wants in your life AND He is always fixing broken things and making them new again, even when we dont understand. Tuesday Read Mark 11:29-30: You Cant Control Jesus When the religious leaders asked Jesus this question, they wanted to trap Him and keep Him under control. Jesus surprised them by asking them a question, getting Him out of their trap. Do we ever try to control Jesus, just like the religious leaders did? Do we ever have any better luck controlling Jesus than the religious leaders did? Does it scare you that you cant control Jesus or force His hand? If so, think about all of Jesus action up to this point, what has He been doing? (A: healing, restoring, teaching truth, feeding hungry people, etc) Can we trust a Jesus we cant control? Wednesday Read Mark 11:31-33: Courage or Cowardice? Think of the irony of this section, both Jesus and the religious leaders are in the temple that day because they have a cause that they believe. Jesus is willing to fearlessly lay His life down, while the religious leaders wont even answer Jesus question because they feared the people (Mark 11.32). What would you say is the opposite of faith? Mark shows us over and over again that the opposite of faith is fear. Do you think that this is true in your life? In what ways is fear the opposite of faith? What is scary about walking the way of faith in your daily life? How does looking at Jesus make you more faithful and less fearful? How will you apply this today? Thursday Read Mark 12:1-12: The Rejectors Today, lets put ourselves in the place of the rejectors. What was their motive for killing and beating the servants? (see Mark 12.3, empty-handed.) Do we ever act out of the same motive? What was their motive for killing the son? (see Mark 12.7, And the inheritance will be ours.) Do we ever act out of the same motive? Just like the tenants, greed and a desire to self-serve often put us on the wrong path and in opposition to Jesus. How can we become less greedy, less self-seeking? How does the Owner/God react to people who reject his Son/Jesus? (see Mark 12.9) When we turn our back on Jesus, we are destroying ourselves. When we accept Jesus, we receive Gods blessing and joy to the fullest. Friday Read Mark 12:1-12: The Rejected Today, lets put ourselves in the place of the rejected. How do you think the owner felt when he heard that the tenants kept beating and sending his servants away? How do you think we make God feel when we greedily reject His message? How do you think the son felt when the owner asked him to go the tenants? Do you think the son expected a positive or negative outcome? Did he go anyway? Jesus chose to give His life for us even when we were wicked rebels (Rom 5.8). How must this fact change the way you live today?