Mark 2:18-22 with Pastor Steve Mayo

Change and decay.

And all around I see.

O thou that changeth not, abide with me.

Tonight we're talking about change.

The text is about change.

How are you with change?

Do you embrace change?

Do you like things that change?

Or do you value stability and resist change?

Are you an early adopter when a new device comes available?

I am not.

I'm many generations behind.

But maybe you are an early adopter.

I've got a friend who, when the iPhones were just starting out, would go and camp by the Apple store in order to be one of the first ones to get the newest iPhone.

He was an early adopter.

He liked change.

I like stability.

But change is a reality.

It's something that cannot be avoided.

There is a bad change, like we sang about with the last song.

There is also good change.

Will we embrace the change that Jesus Christ brings, or will we resist that change?

The fact is, without change, there can be no life.

That is true physically.

Your body has to generate, change, new cells constantly for you to be alive.

But that is even more true spiritually.

For unless you be changed, or in the words of Jesus, except one be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

We depend upon you to work in our hearts that we might see you and know you and follow you.

And so we pray for your help in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Change is not only inevitable, change is indispensable.

And so here's our sermon in a sentence: receive, don't resist the change that Jesus brings.

Receive, don't resist the change that Jesus brings.

Our text following on from last week is Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

And tonight we're looking at verses 18 to 22.

Mark chapter 2, if you'll turn there, please, in your Bible.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 2, verses 18 to 22.

Mark 2:18–22

This is a description of radical change, the change that Jesus brings, out with the old and in with the new.

So listen to the readiness of those who heard Jesus to receive and not resist the change he offers.

Mark chapter 2, I'm reading from verse 18.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

The disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting.

Then they came and said to him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast in those days.

No one sows a piece of unsruck shrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece pulls away from the old and the tear is made worse.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins.

The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined.

But new wine must be put into new wineskins.

Receive, don't resist the change that Jesus brings.

From this text, we note three ways that divine change is commonly resisted.

It is resisted when tradition is confused with truth.

It is resisted when form is confused with function.

And it is resisted when old is confused with new.

Let's not be guilty of these forms of resisting.

The first is when tradition is confused with truth.

Tradition confused with truth.

We see this in verse 18.

Someone has said that the seven last words of the church are, We've never done it that way before.

A resistance to change.

Then they came and said to him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

Now, this same episode is recorded in Matthew and also in Luke.

In Matthew's gospel, we understand who they were that came to Jesus on this occasion.

It was the disciples of John.

Listen to this from Matthew 9, verse 14.

Matthew 9:14

Then the disciples of John came to him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?

You see the comparison, the contrast is being drawn.

We and the Pharisees fast often.

That is our practice.

And it is an honorable practice.

But your disciples, we've been observing, they do not fast at all.

Now, this is at best a question born out of perplexity.

How is it we are so different when we're meant to be on the same side?

Or perhaps it is a question that is accusing.

As in, why don't you conform to what we do?

After all, we were here first.

Whatever the motivation, it's clear that the standard they are using to drive this question is their own practice, their tradition.

And Jesus and his disciples are not conforming to their tradition.

They have changed.

They're doing something different.

Is their difference wrong?

Interestingly, John's disciples make reference to the practice of the Pharisees to support their concern.

The Pharisees.

The very people that their master, John the Baptist, called a brood of vipers.

In Jewish society, fasting was a well-entrenched and highly respected, and as this verse shows, a deeply expected practice.

It was a sign of piety.

It was an outward expression of devotion to God.

It was a badge of honor.

But what is the truth about fasting?

Was the practice of the Pharisees and of John's disciples rooted in Scripture, or was it driven more by their tradition?

Well, we find that fasting is indeed prescribed in the Scripture, but not at the level that their tradition demanded.

God commanded that there would be a national fast annually for Israel on the Day of Atonement.

Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 23.

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

If you turn, please, to Leviticus chapter 23.

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

This is a passage that was covered not too long ago in the morning service, but have a look at Leviticus chapter 23, and here we find the command for an annual fast.

Leviticus 23 · chapter mention

Leviticus chapter 23, verse 27.

Leviticus 23:27

Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of atonement.

It shall be a holy convocation for you.

You shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, and you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the day of atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

Afflict your souls was to deprive themselves to fast and to do no work on that same day.

So this fast was prescribed by God and was to be observed annually.

We also observe from Old Testament figures that fasting was a practice in times of distress, in times of seeking God.

Moses fasted when he met with God on Mount Sinai.

I think Moses was probably so overwhelmed by the experience that the thought of eating didn't even cross his mind.

David fasted when his infant son, born to Bathsheba, lay dying.

God was his only hope.

Daniel fasted when he received a prophetic vision that was deeply disturbing.

Even Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights prior to being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.

And so it's clear from Scripture that fasting is a spiritual discipline that God encourages, that God desires.

But is this the form of fasting that John's disciples have in mind, or that the Pharisees practiced?

Were the motives that they had?

The motives that honor God.

A Pharisee boasted in prayer to God like this in Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

He stood and he prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I possess.

I fast twice a week.

This was the practice of the Pharisees.

They had a fast every Monday and every Thursday, and they received from the people the honor that they craved.

Is this a fast that is honoring to the Lord?

The Pharisees also looked down on anyone who didn't follow their example and have the same practice.

Commanding a practice to be normative that goes beyond what God has made normative is always dangerous.

Israel, by the time that Jesus became incarnate, was observing six annual fasts, not the single one that God had commanded.

That's not necessarily wrong that they had these additional fasts, but the motive has to be examined according to the truth.

John's disciples and the Pharisees took that even further, two times a week.

Should we fast today?

Jesus did not discontinue fasting.

In Matthew chapter 6, he instructed, When you fast, thus affirming this as a legitimate sacred practice, but only when done with the right motives and for the right reasons.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

So what are legitimate reasons for fasting?

Fasting is legitimate when it is to express our sorrow, to grieve our sin and the consequences of our sin, such as David did after his sin of adultery and murder.

Fasting is legitimate when it is to seek God's direction.

Jesus went without sleep for a night so that he could pray, seeking God's direction for who he should call to be his disciples.

A fast.

It is legitimate when it is to express our dependency upon the divine.

There was a time when the disciples failed to cast out a demon.

And Jesus said, This kind only comes out through prayer and fasting.

And it is legitimate when it is to privately devote concentrated time to prayer and meditation.

These are legitimate.

But it is illegitimate when fasting is for the purpose of thinking we can gain favor with God through our fasting, that through our deprivation we make ourselves more commendable to God.

This is a form of asceticism.

It is wrong when it is for the purpose of manipulating, attempting to manipulate an action from God.

That if we deprive ourselves, God will more or less owe us what we want Him to do for us.

It is illegitimate to when it is to satisfy the expectations of a tradition or of other people.

And it certainly is illegitimate when it is to impress other people with our piety.

And that is why Jesus gave this corrective in his Sermon on the Mount.

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting.

Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting.

But to your father who is in the secret place, and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

God is honored by this form of fasting.

Private, piety, and for valid reasons.

This was not the form of fasting that the Pharisees practiced.

The motives matter.

When we place tradition ahead of the truth, when we make judgments based on, they don't do it the same way that we do it.

We're in dangerous territory.

Discernment must be guided by the word of God, not by our own practices.

Now, before we move to the next point, I want to be clear on something.

I am not saying that tradition is inherently wrong.

No, tradition is valuable, it's good, it's important.

But when we make judgments based on tradition and not on the truth, we err.

Change.

That is what alarmed John's disciples.

They saw something different from Jesus and his disciples.

They did not fast.

Receive, don't resist the change that Jesus brings.

So that's the first way that resistance can be expressed.

The second way that resistance comes in is when form is confused with function, when form is confused with function.

Jesus now finishes out this discourse with three metaphors.

The first one is of a bridegroom who comes.

Look at verses 19 and 20.

And Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

A bridegroom.

What a beautiful scene.

Weddings are joyous occasions, aren't they?

Who is the bridegroom?

In this metaphor.

This is Jesus.

And had Jesus the bridegroom come?

He is the desired one.

The issue that Jesus exposes with this metaphor is the error of elevating form above function.

Fasting, that is, prescribed national fasting, is a form.

It's not an end in itself, it's a means towards a greater end.

The greater end is the function.

What's the function?

The function is to mourn the ravages of sin while desiring the coming of the Messiah who would save.

That's the function.

That was the purpose for fasting.

To cry out to God, to mourn over our sin and to desire the Messiah.

But do you see that the disciples of John and especially the Pharisees superseded the function with their own form?

And that blinded them to the reality that was right before them.

Jesus, the Messiah, had come.

How is it that they suspected Jesus' disciples to be lacking in devotion?

Because they did not practice the form of fasting like their own.

Jesus was especially suspect because he failed to correct them for their misbehavior.

Now think about the perversity of asking a question on that basis.

They turned the form of fasting into the essential function.

The point of fasting was to yearn for the Messiah.

Who is it they are confronting?

The Messiah.

He has come.

In other words, they were so intent on their excessive fasts that they failed to notice what Jesus was doing.

The indisputable evidence that he was the Messiah, healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sins, and preaching with authority.

In fact, they ignored even the declaration of their disciple maker, John the Baptist, who when Jesus came to be baptized, said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Do you see the absurdity?

More so.

Do you see the idolatry?

Idolatry.

That is the sin that is committed when we elevate a form.

Of ministry above the function.

When the form, the way we do it, becomes more important than the end, that form is meant to be a means toward.

There are functions that we as a church are commanded by our Lord to carry out.

We are to worship as we gather together.

We are to fellowship.

We are to pray.

We are to read the scripture in our corporate services.

We are to be witnesses to those in the world.

We are to make disciples.

We are to bring relief.

The forms that we use here at Emmanuel Baptist Church to carry out these functions are many, and they're good forms.

We have connect groups, we have Emanuel Equip.

We have Sunday School.

We have Unify, Amplify, Glorify.

I like that.

We have an orchestra, we've got a tech team, we've got a bookstore, we have Awana, we've got a men's shed, we have craft, and we could go on and on, so many forms, and that's wonderful.

It's good that we have these forms to carry out these functions.

But if a form ever becomes more important to us than the function it carries out, we become idolaters.

If it threatens my form, and I get upset about that, I need to examine my heart.

Is it because the function will no longer be carried out?

Or because it will be addressed with a different form?

The function is what matters.

Forms are meant to change.

Now we have Sunday school here at Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Some churches don't have Sunday school anymore.

Does that mean that those churches are wrong or that they are apostate because they don't have Sunday school?

Well, the truth is nobody had Sunday school before 1780.

That's when Robert Rake started the first Sunday school.

Now, Sunday school is a wonderful form as it achieves the function of educating children, making disciples.

But forms tend to become institutionalized.

They tend to become an end in themselves if we're not careful to stay focused on the function.

Now it's good that we have a Sunday school, but Sunday school is not the only way to make disciples.

And so we should not make a judgment based on whether a church has a Sunday school or not.

Look at the function.

Are they making disciples?

Are they making a way for families to grow in the Lord and for children to grow in the Lord?

I know of a person who refused to participate in congregational singing whenever the physical hymnal was not used.

If the words were projected up on the wall, this person folded his arms and protested, would not sing.

Because his form of the hymn book was not being used.

Do you see that this is idolatry?

But it's an idolatry that, like inertia, we all, if we're not on guard, will slip into.

This is how we fast, this is our practice, this is how we display our piety.

Your disciples don't have this practice.

And the conclusion they drew is they're not devoted to the Lord.

They're not using our form.

They weren't asking about the function.

More so, they were totally missing the point.

The person that they were fasting, hoping would come, was the person standing right in front of them.

He had already come.

It was a day of celebration, not a day of mourning.

Nevertheless, as our text read, Jesus foreshadowed the day when even his disciples would fast.

They would fast on that day of atonement, when he would be arrested, scourged, and crucified.

On that day when Jesus is taken away from them, they will fast.

And they did.

And Jesus was risen from the dead, and he now is ascended on high.

And when we fast, we yearn not for his first coming, but we yearn for his second coming, the consummation of his kingdom that is already inaugurated and will be completed when Jesus comes again.

Change.

Let's not resist the change that Jesus brings.

Let's receive the change.

There's a third way that our text shows change is resisted.

And that is when old is confused with new.

When old is confused with new.

Look at verses 21 and 22.

No one sows a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the new piece pulls away from the old and the tear is made worse.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins.

The wine is spilled and the wineskins are ruined.

But new wine must be put into new wineskins.

Jesus introduces two more metaphors.

They're quite self-explanatory, aren't they?

We can picture this.

You take some unshrunk fabric and you patch an old garment, especially if it's denim or something like that, that shrinks easily, it's just going to pull apart.

It's going to make the tear worse.

It's not going to fix anything.

Or if you take a wine skin, which back in those days would be a goat skin, and they would put the new wine in, that supple new skin, so that as the wine fermented and expanded, the skin could expand with it.

But there's a limit to how far that skin can expand.

And when it becomes old, it's not expanding anymore.

It's becoming brittle.

So if you were to put new in, it can't expand anymore.

It's going to burst.

So everyone who those who here heard Jesus give these metaphors, they could immediately picture what he was talking about.

You cannot have the old and the new coexisting.

What's the new that was coming?

What is the new that Jesus is bringing?

The new is what he declared to his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed, and he observed with them his last supper.

And he revealed as he took those elements of the Passover feast that this bread is my body broken for you, and this cup is my blood shed for you.

This is the new covenant, the new testament in my blood.

Something revolutionary was happening.

Something radical.

So different, it could not be conceived as a reformation, it is a regeneration.

Jesus brought in the New Testament, the New Covenant, and all things had to be changed.

Consider for a moment what it would have looked like if attempts were made to hang on to the old while embracing the new.

Can these two coexist?

When a sacrifice of Jesus has paid for all sin once for all, they cannot coexist.

There can be no more sacrifice for sin.

It was the mercy of God that in AD 70 the Jerusalem temple was destroyed.

So that for nearly two thousand years it's been impossible for there to be sacrifices for sin.

They're not needed.

The new has come the sacrifice made, the wrath of God propitiated.

Or picture.

If we still had the Aaronic priesthood ministering at the temple, how would that coexist with the new covenant and the priesthood of all believers?

Or take the temple itself.

How would that coexist having a physical temple in a singular place, Jerusalem?

When now in the new covenant, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You cannot mingle the old with the new.

What Jesus brought in was revolutionary.

Or what about the people of God?

In the Old Testament, yes, the way to God was open.

Because God prescribed that Israel would have an open immigration policy.

If people like Rahab or Ruth were convinced that Israel's God was a true God, and they would profess, your God will be my God, they could come into the community and be naturalized and be part of the people of God.

But they had to come to Israel.

But now, in a new covenant, he has made those from every tribe, tongue, and nation who have put their trust in Jesus Christ to be people of God.

It's revolutionary.

All is new.

The New Testament epistles are in large part written to address the error of attempting to combine the old and the new.

But the impulse to hang on to tradition and hang on to previous forms was still strong.

And so the epistles follow on, condemning this attempt to merge the two.

Jesus brought a new covenant.

Receive, don't resist the change Jesus brings.

The change that Jesus brings is total, and often it will be surprising.

But when it comes from Jesus, it is the change we need.

Will you receive and not resist it?

Now I want to finish tonight with a personal point of application.

Our text is on the broader level.

It's about the change that Jesus was bringing with the new covenant.

And that's the 40,000-foot level.

But it's also true on the personal level that God brings change.

2 Corinthians 5.17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is what?

A new creation.

A new creation.

Then make sure that we get the point.

It goes on.

Old things have what?

Passed away.

Behold, how many things?

All things have become what?

New.

All things have become new.

What has become new?

What changes are brought when you are converted?

You have life, don't you?

But you also are sanctified.

You are justified.

God removes the sin.

God removes the bondage to continue sinning.

God makes us his child.

The new has come.

How perverse if we continue to pursue, to attempt, to blend the old with the new, to hang on to the vestiges of our old man when God says, I have made you new.

How perverse that we might tolerate sin in our life, that we might tolerate compromise in our life.

How perverse that we might do that when God says, I have made you new.

Since He has made us new, let us be new indeed.

Now the pressure point comes when something that we enjoy, something that we like, something that we've treasured from our tradition, from our favored forms comes under threat.

When God wants to change something in me, let's not resist.

Let's receive.

Help us to embrace the new life, the totality of that new life that is in Christ.

We pray in his name.

Amen.