Sunday's Message - Surviving in a Cold Cruel World

As disciples of Jesus, we've been called to follow him by claiming his example and learning from his teachings. From June to October, we're going to focus on the Gospel of Mark so that we might better understand how we might follow our Savior and live as his community. 

During the following twenty Sundays, the message will apply following passages:

June 6, 2021 - Mark 3:20-35

June 13, 2021 - Mark 4:26-34

June 20, 2021 - Mark 4:35-41

June 27, 2021 - Mark 5:21-43

July 4, 2021 - Mark 6:1-13

July 11, 2021 - Mark 6:14-29

July 18, 2021 - Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

July 25, 2021 - Mark 7:14-23

August 1, 2021 - Mark 7:24-37

August 8, 2021 - Mark 8:27-38

August 15, 2021 - Mark 9:30-37

August 22, 2021 - Mark 9:38-50

August 29, 2021 - Mark 10:2-16

September 5, 2021 - Mark 10:17-31

September 12, 2021 - Mark 10:35-45

September 19, 2021 - Mark 10:46-52

September 26, 2021 - Mark 12:28-34

October 3, 2021 - Mark 12:38-44

October 10, 2021 - Mark 13:1-8

October 17, 2021 - Mark 13:24-26, 32-36

On Sunday, July 11, 2021, we looked at Mark 6:14-29. The passage, the message and the podcast is below:

Mark 6:14-29 [Contemporary English Version]

Jesus became so well-known that Herod the ruler heard about him. Some people thought he was John the Baptist, who had come back to life with the power to work miracles. Others thought he was Elijah or some other prophet who had lived long ago. But when Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “This must be John! I had his head cut off, and now he has come back to life.”

Herod had earlier married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. But John had told him, “It isn’t right for you to take your brother’s wife!” So, in order to please Herodias, Herod arrested John and put him in prison.

Herodias had a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she could not do it because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew that John was a good and holy man. Even though Herod was confused by what John said, he was glad to listen to him. And he often did.

Finally, Herodias got her chance when Herod gave a great birthday celebration for himself and invited his officials, his army officers, and the leaders of Galilee. The daughter of Herodias came in and danced for Herod and his guests. She pleased them so much that Herod said, “Ask for anything, and it’s yours! I swear that I will give you as much as half of my kingdom, if you want it.”

The girl left and asked her mother, “What do you think I should ask for?”

Her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist!”

The girl hurried back and told Herod, “Right now on a platter I want the head of John the Baptist!”

The king was very sorry for what he had said. But he did not want to break the promise he had made in front of his guests. At once he ordered a guard to cut off John’s head there in prison. The guard put the head on a platter and took it to the girl. Then she gave it to her mother.

When John’s followers learned that he had been killed, they took his body and put it in a tomb.

Surviving in a Cold Cruel World

Now I’ve got to admit, I’d never heard this song before this last Thursday. And the only thing I know about Chuck Carter, the guy who performed it, was that he played during a praise and worship service at Surrey BC’s Biker Church about ten months ago. But be-that-as-it-may, I think what he sang, well, I sort of identify with his feelings. I mean, often it seems as though this world is kind of cold and sometimes downright cruel. Or at least, that’s the way I feel from time to time. It’s like I heard someone say years ago: if life is a rat’s race, I think the rats are winning. Let’s face it, living in this fast lane isn’t always a cake walk.

And I’ll tell you, when you’re struggling just to make it, well, I don’t think it matters whether bad things are done to you or whether you kind of did them to yourself. From what I’ve seen, the loneliness and the fear and the disappointment are pretty much the same. Let me give you a couple of examples. This last week I ran across this article on the CNN website entitled “A Missouri couple says they dragged their feet on getting the Covid-19 vaccine. Then they got sick.” And this was how the story started:

Louie Michael and his wife, Pattie Bunch, were both hospitalized last month with Covid-19 in Springfield, Missouri.

An ambulance first had rushed her, with respiratory failure, to an emergency room one day; he was admitted the next night.

“You may not make it through the night,” she recalls a physician telling her.

Michael remembers the doctor asking him about possible intubation: “Do you want us to fight for you? Do you want us to do anything we can to save your life?”

Bunch, now recovery at home, says she felt helpless. “You have no control.”

Now I think both Louie and Pattie recognize that they at least contributed to their problem. But I think we all know that’s not always the case. 

Now do y’all remember how strong the winds were a couple of days ago? Well, when I was walking home from the church, I saw some of my neighbors sort of bunched up in their front yard. You see, about a third of their tree that had broken off, taking down the phone line and nearly falling on a house. Of course, I joined the little group. And as we just stood there looking, all my neighbor could say was, “I guess it could have been worse.” And you know, although he was right, the situation could also have been a lot better. And I’ll tell something, I think both these situations show that regardless of the role we may or may not play in our little personal dramas, bad things can certainly happen to good people, even good Christian people. Why? Well, it sure seems as though we live in a cold cruel world.

Of course, if you need anymore convincing, I’m not sure there’s a better place to look than in the passage we just read this morning, you know, the one about John the Baptist and how he lost his head to Herodias. And you know, when you think about what happened, well that was kind of unexpected, wasn’t it? I mean, at the beginning, Herod had a positive impression of John. Remember, according to the Evangelist Mark, “[Herod] knew that John was a good and holy man. Even though [he] was confused by what John said, he was glad to listen to him. And he often did.” [Mark 6:20b, CEV] Now that’s the kind thing every preacher wants to hear. In fact, again according to Mark, Herod actually protected the Baptist from his wife, Herodias, who was also his half-sister and former sister-in-law. It was like a soap opera. But then, because of a lot of stuff over which John had no control, you know like a scheming wife and an impetuous king and a dancing daughter, who may or may not have sold pepperoni rolls, because of all this mess, John’s head was literally brought in on a platter. And you know, “When John’s followers learned that he had been killed [and when] they took his body and put it in a tomb,” [Mark 6:29, CEV] I believe they were well aware that they were living in cold cruel world. 

And I’ll tell you, because I think most of us can understand what they were feeling, this is what we’re going to talk about today. But just in case you’re worried, we’re not going to wallow around in how bad and unfair things often seem to be. Instead we’re going to consider how we might survive in the world we’ve got, not necessarily the world we want. And in particular, we’re going focus on three things we might want to remember when we get sick or have a tree fall on our house or face the prospect of a person trying to get a head in life, by using our head. And I’ll tell you, all three have to do with God and his relationship with us.

You see, when this cold cruel world seems to be pulling us down, I think we can survive by remembering that God has power, that he has authority, that he’s free from all those things that limit us. Now that’s the first thing we might want to remember. And given what we’ve been talking about this last month or so, I think that’s actually pretty easy to do. I mean, according to what Mark had already written, Jesus showed divine power by both his words and his work. For example, a little earlier in the gospel, Mark told this story:

Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the Jewish meeting place and started teaching. Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses. Suddenly a man with an evil spirit in him entered the meeting place and yelled, “Jesus from Nazareth, what do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One.”

Jesus told the evil spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The spirit shook him. Then it gave a loud shout and left.

Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” [Mark 6:21-28, CEV]

Now that’s what happened. But of course, that’s just one example of the kind of power Jesus had. Remember, we’re talking about a guy who could still the storm and heal the sick and even raise the dead. You see, over and over again, Jesus demonstrated his freedom and his authority and his power.

And you know, when we’re shaken by what’s happening around us, this is something we should remember, and I’ll tell you why. I believe that trusting that God has and will always have power, that faith can move us pass whatever fear we might be feeling. In fact, I think this may have happened to Joshua when, right before he led the Hebrew people in the Promised Land,  God said this: “I’ve commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged! I am the Lord your God, and I will be there to help you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:9, CEV] I mean, how can you be afraid after hearing that? And you know, as we move past the fear, I think we’ll begin to feel genuine confidence. As a matter fact, it’ll be the same kind of confidence Paul felt when we wrote this to the Philippians: I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything. [Philippians 4:12-13, CEV] You see, to survive in this cold cruel world we need to remember that God has power. And that’s one.

And second, we might also want to remember that God loves us. And I’ll tell you why that’s so important. I mean, think about it, if God had power but no love, man, we’d all be in all kinds of trouble. In fact, we’d be looking at the kind of gods we find in Greek mythology. But praise the Lord, that’s not our God. You see, our God loves us. As a matter of fact, according to Jesus himself, that’s exactly why he came. I mean, just listen to what he said to Nicodemus: 

And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert. Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! [John 3:14-17, CEV]

You see, love was reason Jesus came. And I’ll tell you, whether it involved saving faithless disciples from a storm or healing a woman who’d been bleeding for twelve years or restoring life to a man’s little girl, I think love has been the driving force behind Jesus’s mission in Mark. And what was true then is true today.

And I think this is something we need to remember, especially when we feel isolated and alone. I’m telling you, we are loved by God. And I believe the Prophet Isaiah knew this and for reason, he could write this to his people when they, as a nation, were are at really low point. He wrote:

Israel, don’t be afraid.

    I have rescued you.

I have called you by name;

    now you belong to me.

When you cross deep rivers,

I will be with you,

    and you won’t drown.

When you walk through fire,

you won’t be burned

    or scorched by the flames.

Or, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: If God is on our side, can anyone be against us? God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? [Romans 8:31b-32, CEV] I’ll tell you, if knowing that God is always on our side, that he’s watching our back, man, if that doesn’t give you some comfort, I don’t know what will. You see, when the world seems too much for us to handle, we need to remember that God loves us, and that’s two.

And third, I believe that we can survive in this cold cruel world by remembering that God holds our ultimate future in his hands. A little bit later in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus will describe what’s going to happen, and I’ve got to tell you, it ain’t pretty. In fact, Jesus will describe it in this way: This will be the worst time of suffering since God created the world, and nothing this terrible will ever happen again. If the Lord doesn’t make the time shorter, no one will be left alive. [Mark 13:19-20a, CEV] You see what I mean by “not pretty”? Pretty bleak, right? But that’s not where Jesus stopped. You see, he also said to his disciples and through them to us, 

In those days, right after that time of suffering,

“The sun will become dark,

and the moon

    will no longer shine.

The stars will fall,

and the powers in the sky 

    will be shaken.”

Then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth. [Mark 13:24-27, CEV]

You see, even when things are horrible and the world seems headed to Hell in a hand basket, we are never outside his care.

And I’ll tell you, that’s important to know, especially when we’re discouraged and are sure the immediate future will only get worse. You see, even though God never promised to take us out of the real world so he could drop us into some kind of utopia, I think he wants us to know that our ultimate future is secure. And that’s why the Apostle Paul could write this to the Thessalonians: 

My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died. Then you won’t grieve over them and be like people who don’t have any hope. We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life. We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died. Our Lord Jesus told us that when he comes, we won’t go up to meet him ahead of his followers who have already died.

With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life. Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. Encourage each other with these words. [1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, CEV]

Brothers and sisters, these are words of not just encouragement; these are words of hope. God holds our ultimate future in his hands, and that’s the third thing we can remember.

Now, do you recall the song we played at the beginning of the message, you know, the one entitled “Cold Cruel World”? Well, about mid-way through, this is what Chuck Carter sang:

You see, as he faced his cold cruel world, Chuck seemed to find encouragement in Jesus Christ. 

And I’m telling you, I think the same thing can apply to us. You see, right now, we can remember that God has power, moving us from fear to confidence. And we can remember that God loves us, turning our loneliness to comfort. And we can remember that God holds our ultimate future in his hands, enabling us see beyond disappointment to hope. You see, that’s who God is. And in my opinion, that’s how we can survive and even flourish in our cool cruel world.