Jesus Changes Suffering Mark 15:21-39

Download: 2012.04.01am.MP3

Leviticus is probably the first book you begin to skim through as you work on your annual daily bible reading plan. It’s probably not the book you go to when you are thinking about scripture memory or selecting a life verse. If you are sharing the gospel with a friend, you probably hope they don’t ask any questions about some of the weird laws God gave Israel in Leviticus.

You probably won’t find too many churches following the liturgy in Leviticus. From a distance, it reads like a manual for some cult secretly meeting in a cave out in the woods somewhere. There’s lots of blood, guts, and animal skin. And yet, we cannot read this book from a distance. It has everything to do with life in your computer cubicle this morning and your bed time prayers for your children tonight.

This week our Equipped Wednesday Community Bible Study starts back up with the book of Leviticus. I’ll be posting the audio of our study here with some thoughts and reflections from time to time.

Here are some initial thoughts about the importance of studying Leviticus.

• Leviticus is in the Bible.

Leviticus is included in God’s Word that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares is, “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ” If it’s in the Bible, at some point, we have to deal with what God is trying to teach us about Himself and our lives from Leviticus.

• Leviticus is about Holiness.

Too often, we hear the word holiness and only think about the way we dress or the movies we watch. Some of us begin to think about all the Bible studies we have completed. All of this is involved in being holy, but it’s not all that’s involved.

Holiness is much more about God than us. The message of holiness in Leviticus is all about the authority of God to set us apart to Himself. The command rings throughout the book, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” And yet, the command is mixed with promise for the believer in Christ. For the One with the authority to demand it also has the authority to make it happen.

Dr. Allen Ross says this about Holiness in Leviticus:

“Holiness is its goal. Holiness is its character: the Lord is holy; His sanctuary is holy; its vessels are holy; the garments of the priests are holy; the sacrifices are most holy to the Lord; and all who approach him whose name is “Holy” – whether the priests who minister or the people who worship must themselves be holy. It is as if throughout Israel’s holy place was the earthly echo of that seraphic song in the courts above that never ceases to proclaim “holy, holy, holy.”

• Leviticus is about Jesus.

We read the book of Hebrews or Romans and realize very quickly that the scenery in Leviticus laid the theological foundation for what Jesus’ death on the cross provided for us before God. Jesus Himself taught His disciples about Leviticus and the rest of the Old Testament that, “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44) We cannot read Leviticus without hearing His Galilean accent leading us to His cross and resurrection.

We must also realize for us to be totally set apart to God the way in which He intends there has be the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. We are only holy when we are found in Him. Ultimately, this holiness is accomplished by the authority of Jesus to set us apart to Himself by calling us away from our own kingdom to follow Him and join His eternal kingdom.

Yesterday I read this post by my friend Michael Kelly about integrating your person devotion time with the ministry of your local church.  Michael gave the following reasons for doing so in 2012

•  It is anchored by the belief that there is something vitally unique and important about the preaching of the Word in the context of God’s people. This will hopefully lift up that time of preaching in my mind and heart to the place it should be.
•  It will allow me to meditate more fully on a single text each week and ask the Holy Spirit to deeply affect me with those truths.
• It will focus my mind and my heart in a single direction for a sustained period of time.
• It will aid my Scripture memory, allowing me to choose a single key verse from the weekly passage to continue to practice each day.

For anyone attending Ashland who may want to use this plan in 2012,  I wanted to post the next sermon series that will take us through Easter. As you can see, it moves through the book of Mark. You may want to read a chapter in Mark each day or narrow it down to the specific passage that we will be preaching.

 Jesus Changes Everything Expository Sermons from the Gospel of Mark

Jesus Changes . . .

• Our Direction Mark 1:14-20          (January 8)
• Eternity Mark 2:1-12                     (January 15)
• Relationships Mark 2:13-17        (January 22)
• Religion Mark 3:1-6                     (January 29)
• Our Family Mark 3:20-35            (February 5)
• Perception Mark 4:35-41           (February 12)
• Success Mark 6:14-29                (February 19)
• Hearts Mark 6:14-29                   (February 26)
• Power Mark 8:31-38                     (March 4)
• Hope Mark 9:14-29                      (March 11)
• Greatness Mark 10:35-45             (March 18)
• Our Fears Mark 14:66-72             (March 25)
• Suffering Mark 15:21-39               (April 1)
• Death Mark 16:1-8 8                     (Easter)

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

1Timothy 1:12-17