WHAT ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT?
Mark 13:1-11
Intro:
“Who moved my cheese?” – disaster when cheese was moved
9/11 – everything changed. In one sense, the end of our world.
Cubs and Red Sox fans – you’d think the world has ended
Health failures
Relationship failures
Financial reversals
Open your Bible with me to Mark 13. Today we come to one of the most fascinating and crucial chapters in Mark’s gospel. It is fascinating because of its subject matter, and crucial because of its role in Mark’s writing. It is a transition, following the description of Jesus’ teachings, emphasized in chapter 12, and immediately preceding Mark’s emphasis on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which occupies fully ¼ if Mark’s book. In this chapter, Jesus addresses some major concerns of his followers, and of us. As we begin today, I’d like to consider this question: What are you really concerned about?
Notice how these concerns are brought up, as I read Mk. 13:1-4.
As Jesus and his disciples are walking out of the magnificent Temple, marvelously rebuilt by Herod, someone says to Jesus, “Wow! Look at this massive, magnificent building!” They are admiring the architecture, the grandeur of this building, and well they should. I’ve had the privilege of traveling and seeing some magnificent buildings, some of them really old – mosques, churches, castles, fortresses – but nothing that would compare to Herod’s temple. It was truly a wonder of the world.
So they are admiring this amazing building when Jesus makes this incredible statement: “You think this building is great? Well, it will be completely destroyed.” Before 9/11, none of us could even imaging the Twin Towers reduced to rubble. Remember that?
What is even more incredible than this statement, this prediction by Jesus, is the fact that his statement was completely fulfilled. Jesus spoke these words in about 30 AD, and in 66 AD war erupted between the Jews and the Roman Empire, which climaxed in 70 AD with Rome utterly destroying Herod’s temple. Leveled it to the ground. In fact, if you read the words of Josephus, and Jewish historian (not a Christian) who lived through the war, he actually uses the words that Jesus did in describing what happened. Frankly, we should make a bigger deal about this. It’s a tremendous validation of Jesus and the NT.
But when the disciples heard this startling prediction, they immediately wanted to know when this would happen, what “signs” or clues would there be before “these things” happened. “These things” referring of course to the destruction of the Temple.
Jesus answers them, and he answers us to. They want to know when this event would take place. Being Jews, who absolutely were nuts about their Temple, and being utterly unable to comprehend its destruction, and knowing that in the past their temples have been destroyed as major judgments by God, they view Jesus’ prediction as an “end of the world” event. For the Temple to be destroyed would be the “end of the world” for them. They knew it would set in moton “the end.” Interestingly, that’s how we often view this. Many Christians view Jesus’ words in Mark 13 as a prophecy about the end of the world, or the End Times. We will talk more about that next week. But at face value, Jesus seems to be responding to their specific question – “how will we know when the Temple will be destroyed? – an event that apparently occurred in 70 AD. Even so, what he tells them about what they were facing applies to us and whatever we are facing – personally, globally, etc.
But in answering them, Jesus answers us as well. In his answer, he tells them what they can expect. He gives them, and us, spiritual principles for facing disaster, catastrophe, the “end of the world as you know it.” His specific answers to them apply generally to us. All this will be tied together by a single statement he makes. Let’s see what he says as I read Mark 13:5-8.
Jesus says, “Don’t let anyone deceive you.” Don’t be misled. And he gives 2 categories of things not to be misled by.
First of all, don’t be misled by people. Many will come in my name, meaning many will come claiming to be Messiah. These people will deceive many – don’t you be one of them. Don’t be misled by people who tell you “the end is near.” We know from history that they encountered this – many false Messiahs. People sprang up in the time leading up to the war and destruction of the temple claiming to be the Messiah. They all gathered followers.
Interestingly, we face this too. In fact, virtually every generation has had its share of people claiming to be the Messiah, or God’s messenger. I’ve traveled in a part of the world where over 100 million people blindly follow one of these – Mohammed. Our generation has had its share, if not as influential as some: the Jim Jones’ and the David Koreshes. Don’t be misled by people, Jesus says.
The 2nd category not to be misled by is world events. We might even say current events. V. 7 – when you hear about wars, rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed. Underline that! These things will happen, he says, but it is not the end. There will be wars, and he goes on, there will be lots of earthquakes and famines. There will be world events that make you think “the end is near.” But that’s not what they mean – the end is still to come. Again, we know from history that they would live through these things – constant rumor of war, and then actual war. This situation led to devastating famines. Natural disasters were plentiful, such as earthquakes (we’re not the only one who ever experienced earthquakes, ok?). Don’t be alarmed, though, this does not mean the end!
Again, we face these things too. And we often do just the opposite of what Jesus says – we worry! Many Christians delight in taking current events and getting all worked up about impending doom. In our own days we’ve seen this. When the first Gulf War broke out in 1991, there was a rash of “end of the world” stuff. Everytime there is a big natural disaster, we think, “this is it!” three years ago it was the Y2K situation. Folks, Jesus said just the opposite – don’t worry about this stuff! Don’t let it concern you, or mislead you. It isn’t the end, in fact it’s just the beginning! I have news for you: For the last 2000 years, in virtually every century, people have been convinced that the events of their day foretold the end. And every single one of them was wrong. That should make us think when we see or hear or read someone saying that stuff now. Don’t you see how Jesus specifically says “Don’t be concerned about current events, they are not the end?”
Jesus begins by saying don’t be so concerned about the “end.” Don’t let people and events worry or trouble you. This applies globally and personally – whatever “end” you think you might be facing. Notice, he didn’t say disaster, catastrophe, the end isn’t going to happen. He just said to be concerned about it. Don’t worry over it.
Why not? Because you have better things to be concerned about. There is something far more important for you to concern yourself with. Let’s see what it is as I read Mark 13:9-11.
All these things are just the beginning. You must be on your guard – you must watch out, be alert. But you aren’t to be watching for the end, you are to watch out because you will be persecuted. You will be arrested, tried, harassed, and discriminated against. It’s part of the deal. And certainly they did. The book of Acts records plenty of this stuff. Mark’s readers lived under intense persecution by the emperor Nero, who among other things enjoyed covering Christians with tar, lighting them on fire, and using them to light up his garden. I want you to be prepared for this, Jesus says.
What about us? Does this happen today? We’re tempted to think it doesn’t. But…
In 1999 I made my first trip to Turkey. My first night in Turkey I attended a covert meeting of local Christian pastors and leaders in the city of Istanbul. The topic? What action to take if your congregation is arrested. In the past year, the Turkish government has begun a crackdown on the few churches meeting in Turkey. Cameramen show up in church, soon followed by police, who arrest the congregation and harass them for some time. So far, they have all been released. But often they close down the church, and permission to reopen gets lost in the “paperwork” The church in Ismir has been closed now for a year.
Leaders of the International Protestant Church in Ankara feel blessed because they’ve “only” been spied upon and had Maltov ######### thrown into their building recently.
In Uzbekistan, another country I’ve been able to visit, the joke is that no one has told the government that the Soviet Union has dissolved. In Uzbekistan it is illegal to meet in groups of 8 or larger, for any reason. There I met (in a group larger than 8) with a man named Ibrahim, who pastors one of the very few Uzbek evangelical churches. Ibrahim, along with 4 other pastors, was imprisoned this year for being a believer. This was no country club prison. He lived in a small room with 30 others, was forbidden to talk about God, endured foul food, lice, bugs, disease, persecution from the Muslims he was housed with, and repeatedly subject to beatings and other mistreatments we shouldn’t talk about in church. Though he was recently released, his church cannot meet together. And once the presidential election is over in January, he fully expects to be jailed again. The president just doesn’t want to be seen as a religious persecutor before the election…
Also in Uzbekistan, a Korean pastor, falsely accused, sits in a similar prison. I can’t give you his name because he is still in jail. They will let him out as soon as he pays the prescribed bribe, which he refuses to do. This man no longer has a home, a car, or any savings, and is dependent of his small congregation of people, who average $200 a month in income, to care for his wife and children.
What about here? I could speak the names West Paducah, Ky., where gunmen opened fire on a Bible study and prayer group; or Columbine, were students were shot because of their faith, and Wedgewood Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, where a gunman opened fire during a church service, as well as others. Do you realize you live in a country where Christians are singled out and killed? You can expect these things, Jesus said.
I want you to see what this is connected to, the real concern. Notice v. 10. It jumps out at you. Right in the middle of all this talk about experiencing persecution, and what to do when you face it, Jesus says, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.”
Why all this persecution? Because the good news must be preached to all nations. It’s a spiritual principle. Where the gospel is preached, there will be persecution. Its corollary is this: When there is persecution, there will be proclaiming of the gospel. Persecution both accompanies the preaching of the good news, and leads to preaching the good news.
When Ibrahim became a believer 6 years ago, he read these words, and wondered why he wasn’t experiencing persecution. He prayed, “Lord, send persecution.” He knew this principle. And while he was in prison, he proclaimed the gospel everyday, despite the consequences.
This week Dave Smith, pastor of Family Worship Center here in town, spoke at our monthly pastor’s lunch. That’s the meeting where all of us pastors meet at the Golden Corral, practice the sin of gluttony, and talk about what’s going in. Dave told us about his recent trip to China, where he met with leaders of the underground house church movement there. This is a church that experiences tremendous persecution, and must stay undercover. It’s routine for pastors and leaders to be hauled off to jail, beaten, etc. In fact Dave told us about their worship. He said they sing these songs that he found rather depressing. Not uplifting, like we like our music. They sing songs with words like, “Be strong. Your brother may get killed. Be faithful. You will suffer. Don’t give up” But, he said, these people are passionately in love with God. And the church has mushroomed under this persecution. That’s how it works.
The Korean pastor I told you about has said this persecution has been good for his church. It has sharpened their focus. Persecution does that. I told you about the leadership meeting I went to in Turkey where the subject was “what to do if we’re arrested.” It really struck me then that this week I had a leadership meeting where the topic was “why can’t we get anyone to help with the nursery and pre-school ministry?” I love you all, but that stinks.
The gospel must be preached. The good news - that men and women, who were created by God in his image, but have been separated from him by our sin, can be reconciled to God, forgiven of our sin, and live forever because God’s own Son Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay our penalty and rose from the dead to prove his defeat of death – this gospel must be preached to the nations.
Never before has this been more clear to me than now. The Gospel must be preached. Where?
To the nations:
I’m most familiar with the Turkic world, so that’s what I’ll talk about today. But it merely represents many other places in our world.
In the Turkic World – a region that includes Turkey, Uzbekistan, Khazakstan and some others. This area consists of over 100 million people, of which only 3% are believers in Jesus Christ. There is no place on earth this large and this unreached.
• There are more believers here today than there are among the Uzbeks, who number over 20 million.
• There are more Christian workers in Pueblo than there are in the city of Istanbul, a city of over 10 million.
• There are twice as many evangelical churches in Pueblo than there are in all of Turkey, a nation of 65 million.
In Metro Manilla, Phillipines.
But even with this situation as I have described it, one thing is clear. God is preparing for Harvest there. I met and spoke with so many people there – EFCM missionaries, local and national church and ministry leaders, missionaries from a variety of places and agencies. And every one of them, in one way or another said the same thing: God is about to cause a huge harvest there. Consider:
In Uzbekistan there are 230,000 Koreans who live there. They were deported by Stalin in the 1930’s, and no longer speak or act Korean. They have names like “Alexandar.” In 1991, there was only 1 couple among those 230,000 who went to church. By 1996, there were 6000 believers. Now there are 60 churches among these Koreans.
Turkey has been dominated by Islam for centuries, with virtually no gospel witness during that time. Suddenly, in recent years, things are happening. There are now 20 evangelical churches in Turkey, and some 2000 believers. Doesn’t sound like much, but to the people there, its very significant. Over and over again, I heard “we see what God is doing here,” “in the next 10-15 years the church is going to swell,” etc.
Turkey had no Bible in their own alphabet until the 1920’s. Even then, it was a translation that dated to the 1600’s. A modern language NT appeared in 1986, but without an accompanying OT. Today, finally, a complete Turkish Bible, OT and NT, in modern, readable language, is complete and ready for publishing. All they need is money. We’re going to need this to reach Turkey.
Some of you need to go and be a part of it. I’ve already picked some of you out and begun praying for you. I’ll be calling you. So don’t answer the phone…
The gospel must be preached to the nations. It must be preached here at home. This is why we worked with other churches to gather some 600 students last night in a wild event known as the Pumpkin Chase, and the gospel message was given to all of them. This is why we have people who meet every Saturday morning to reach out to the children and families of the Sangro de Cristo apartment complex. This is also why we are motivating and equipping every one of our small group leaders to include unchurched people in their groups.
The gospel must also be preached to your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors. This isn’t an option, folks. The gospel must be preached to the nations!
So that’s why Jesus said don’t be so concerned about the end. Don’t focus on the disaster, catastrophe, “end of your world” experience you see coming. Instead, be concerned about preaching the gospel. Instead of being concerned about the end, the future, be concerned about now, and the need for people to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you have been or are concerned about an “end of the world event:”
Your pastor left
Todd is leaving
The music changed
The pews might turn into chairs
Your good friend, mentor moves away
Maybe it’s thrown you into a tailspin. Hear the words of Jesus today. Don’t worry about the end of your world. Be concerned about spreading the Good News.
