Mark...the "Dragnet" Gospel

Note: All devotional posts from the Gospel of Mark that were originally found here from September 2013 through March 2014, have been updated during the Covid-19 crisis of 2020-21 and moved to a new Blog... https://thedragnetgospel.blogspot.com/

Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee

In the New Testament of the Bible, there are four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) which detail important events and teachings from the life of Jesus Christ. They each have their own style, flavor, and structure which adds to their credibility as eyewitnesses. Part of the reason for these different styles, besides being written by different people, is that each was written with a different audience in mind. Mark is believed to have been written for the Church in ancient Rome. Since the Romans were doers, they could appreciate an active Savior. I hope we can as well. 

The Gospel according to Mark is distinctly a gospel of action (the word "immediately" is used 35 times), with Jesus showing us who he is by what he does. If we are going to be honest with him, we need to come to him with a trust that is aided by having seen him at work in this world. 

I have also referred to Mark as the “Dragnet Gospel” after the tendency of the old TV detective (Sgt. Friday) to say when interviewing talkative witnesses to a crime, “Just the facts Ma’am, just the facts.” Mark’s simple and straightforward approach sticks to the facts of an eyewitness’ testimony. Who was that eyewitness? Mark is believed to be the gospel presented to the Romans by the apostle Peter before he died. These teachings were then written down by John Mark.

Today, if we want to know if we want to get to know someone better, we watch their lives from a distance, observing how they treat others, seeing if they would be a good influence on our lives. Even employers now examine their potential employees' social media feeds. When it comes to knowing and following Jesus, many people tout the Gospel of John as a starting point, but I disagree. John makes much more sense to the reader if they have already read Mark. Mark lets you watch Jesus' life by showing him doing stuff. If in reading Mark you get to see Jesus being a "good shepherd" in many different ways, then in John when Jesus tells you that he is the "Good Shepherd" it will make much more sense.

[As noted above, you can follow the journey through the Gospel of Mark a new Blog... https://thedragnetgospel.blogspot.com/]

Now What? Taking a deep breath...

Just finished reading and posting on the Book of Psalms and am wondering where to go next...

Photo by Sid Leigh on Unsplash

I will be taking a short break or at least shortening up my posts on this Psalms Blog to spend time with family and to catch up on schoolwork between now and the end of September. If you get bored you can read some of the early posts that no one really saw.

Any feedback on this blog would be helpful...

Feel free to share this blog with others.

If you haven't taken the opportunity to read the other blog I write at least weekly I would love it if you would. It asks the hard questions about the different aspects of reconciliation--spiritual, relational, racial, and economic...hopefully you will decide that it is written with creativity, hope, and passion!   http://compelled2.blogspot.com/

Psalm 150 "All Creatures, All Cultures"

Psalm for Today = 150:1-6

1 Praise the Lord!
   Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;

   Praise God in his sanctuary;

    praise him in his mighty heavens!

2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;

    praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3 Praise him with trumpet sound;

    praise him with lute and harp!

4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;

    praise him with strings and pipe!

5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;

    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

   Praise the Lord!

(Image painted by Hope G Smith
 www.hopegsmith.com)

Comments:

Hallelujah! This is the final psalm of praise (doxology) in a string of praise psalms! More than that, this final psalm is a doxology for the entire book as well. This psalm starts with a “Hallelujah “ and ends with a “Hallelujah!” Within this inclusio (of just six verses) there are eleven more exhortations to praise the Lord.

The phrase in verse 2, "praise him according to his excellent greatness" always makes me think. What kind of praise could ever live up to that? Could our worship ever actually be "according to his excellent greatness"? Maybe one day in heaven when we can see him as he really is and have eternity to express it...but probably not till then. 

However, one way that we can begin to praise more in accord with his greatness is to allow each culture to express true praise to God from within their God-given culture, and in their God-given language. "Praise in accordance with God’s greatness" cannot be contained or monopolized by one race, within one language, one culture, or one musical style! 

This psalm subtly makes this clear through the lists of instruments that sound like those of different cultures and generations, from the fanfare of royalty and priest (3a) to the quiet and contemplative of tones of lute and harp (3b), from the rollicking Hebraic tambourine and dance (4a) to the Celtic or Bluegrass sounding strings and pipes (4b); or even the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) head-flipping rock opera or a college marching band sound of sounding cymbals and crashing cymbals (4b). Music is universal…just not the same music. So is praise. 

When we gather in heaven, we may not all be singing Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, or Hillsong, like I do, but we will join together nonetheless in that great hymn-dance of praise perfectly fitted to the greatness of our Savior. 

Could the new song that we raise be the choral tapestry of all languages, cultures, and styles singing their praise to our Triune God, blended together into one great multi-layered anthem by the love and wisdom of God? Very likely, for such is consistent with biblical teaching about the nature of the church!

I contend that these six verses also show us that, praise "according to his excellent greatness" would need to be praise that is offered everywhere, for all he is and does, on every instrument, with every living voice, from every culture and nation, with all that is in all of us! May it begin to be increasingly so in the church today and in the days to come!

This inter-racial and multi-cultural theme is echoed in the final book of the Bible, which in many ways serves as a doxology for the entire Bible and plan of God in time and history. 

I will quote four passages from the Book of Revelation that contain the praises of the church, that great multitude of redeemed humanity, to conclude this journey through the psalms. Amazing how familiar the language is and yet how unfamiliar the experience is for many!

Revelation 7:9-12  "Hosanna!”

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”  [emphasis mine]

Revelation 14:1-3 “A New Song” 

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

Revelation 15:2-4 “Song of Moses”

 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and amazing are your deeds,

    O Lord God the Almighty!

Just and true are your ways,

    O King of the nations!

Who will not fear, O Lord,

    and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

    All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed

    and worship you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.” [emphasis mine]

Revelation 19:1-2, 6-8 “Hallelujah!”

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

    for his judgments are true and just;

for he has judged the great prostitute

    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,

and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

...Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

    the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult

    and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

    and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Hallelujah! Amen.

I hope these blog posts have been helpful to you. If so I would love to hear from you. 

Psalm 149 "The Song of the Sword"

Psalm for Tomorrow = 149:5-9
Yesterday I posted on Facebook, “In posting on this psalm six times since 2009, I have included verse 4 in all six. I wonder if I can avoid it this time? Tune in tomorrow when I decide!”

Well I decided to take a decidedly difficult section, which to borrow a phrase from John Phillips, I call, “The Song of the Sword.” [Warning: this is a longer post than normal]

⁵ Let the godly exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their beds.
⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their throats
    and two-edged swords in their hands,

⁷ to execute vengeance on the nations
         and punishments on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with chains
     and their nobles with fetters of iron,
⁹ to execute on them the judgment written!

    This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord!

Comments:

We all understand the singing of praises in the psalms…the turning of our beds from a place of mourning and crying out to God in our distress into a place of praise to God for our deliverance. This has been a major theme in the psalms.

But what about the two-edged sword and vengeance and all that?

How can a Christian pray this psalm in light of the ethic of the New Covenant where we are told to “love your enemies”, encouraged that “the meek shall inherit the earth”, and warned that, “vengeance is mine says the Lord”? In an attempt to treat this passage fairly and bring contemporary clarity, this post will use a few more commentary quotes than normal. Hopefully it will be helpful.

There is great wisdom in Keil & Delitzsch (the classic 10 volume Old Testament Commentary, circa 1880) as they admit the sordid history of this passage and the need for proper interpretation.

The New Testament spiritual church cannot pray as the Old Testament national church here prays. Under the illusion that it might be used as a prayer without any spiritual transmutation, Psalm 149:1-9 has become the watchword of the most horrible errors. It was by means of this psalm that Caspar Scloppius in his Classicum Belli Sacri, which, as Bakius says, is written not with ink, but with blood, inflamed the Roman Catholic princes to the Thirty Years' religious War. And in the Protestant Church’s Thomas Münzer stirred up the War of the Peasants by means of this Psalm [which Luther motivated the German princes to crush]. We see that the Christian cannot make such a psalm directly his own without disavowing the apostolic warning, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal” (2 Corinthians 10:4). The praying Christian must there transpose the letter of this psalm into the spirit of the New Covenant; the Christian expositor, however, has to ascertain the literal meaning of this portion of the Scriptures of the Old Testament in its relation to contemporary history.

Let me interpret this quote—People have used this passage to incite bloodshed for their pet causes, we should not do so; the New Testament does not sanction such actions; and further we must understand what it meant to the original reader before trying to apply it to our own situation.

So what did this mean to the original hearer? Did it look forward to the soon coming Maccabean victories over the Greek oppressors? Possibly. Did they understand it in terms of the Day of the Lord, that eschatological day when the Lord would set everything right? This is most likely their understanding, in which case it is the Lord himself who will bring it to pass not some sort of eschatological hurry-up offense on the part of God’s people. Leslie Allen writes,

The religious community meeting in Zion’s temple are bidden to look forward to the time when he will intervene in a new, dynamic way in their experience and so give cause for a new song of praise (cf. Isa 42:10). It is the destiny to which the covenant points, a covenant marked by the loyal love of Yahweh for his people. To him they owe their existence and so their allegiance; thus they await an event that will spell the culmination of their role in the world, the manifestation of his kingship and their royal service. [1]

Because God is so closely tied to his covenant people, his victory becomes their victory.

Because the God who thus vindicates Himself is Israel's God, this subjugation of the world is… splendor and glory to all who are in love devoted to Him. The glorifying of Yahweh is also the glorifying of Israel. (Keil & Delitzsch)

However, his people should not presume that God has put them here to judge the world in advance of his coming. Instead he has put us here as witnesses to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. So, to what or whom do our lives point? 

Do we look forward to the Lord’s return with such strong expectation that we sing his praises for what he is going to do in the future…or is our faith limited to what he has done in the past? Do we get up in the morning thinking this may be the day of his glorious return? Do we fall asleep at night singing praise for what God is doing or do we lie awake filled with anxiety in anticipation of tomorrow's tasks?

Back to the sword idea for a moment. How do we combat the works of the devil? Do we fight against men using worldly weapons, or do we take up the sword of the Spirit to do battle in the spiritual realm? I like John Phillips’ comments in this regard, especially in light of current events and the significance of the date [originally published on the anniversary of 9/11]. 

"This, then, is the song of the sword. The world places its confidence in the secular sword, the sword of the conqueror, the empire builder. The world settles its disputes with the sword. The sword will become more and more prominent in world affairs as the end of the age of grace draws near and the judgment age begins.

The people of God place their confidence in the spiritual sword, the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. The world may despise that weapon but the world will learn to fear it, as Satan does, with a terror that defies description." [2]

This talk of the “sword of the Spirit” is from Ephesians 6:17 (part of a larger section 6:10-20 talking about this spiritual warfare) where it is defined as “the Word of God”. Also in Hebrews 4:12 the Word of God is described as a two-edged sword that surprisingly is used to deal with the deception in one’s own heart.

Could it be that we can live lives of watchful, expectant, overcoming praise because we cling tightly to the Word of God, letting the Spirit apply it to the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and those of others? I think so, don't you?

P.S. I didn't talk about verse 4, though it is an awesome truth!

---

[1] Leslie C. Allen, Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 21: Psalms 101-150, Word, 1983. 321.

[2] John Phillips, Exploring Psalms, Volume 2 (John Phillips Commentary Series) (The John Phillips Commentary Series), 696.

Psalm 148 “Whale Songs & Windstorms”

Psalm for Today = 148:1, 7-10
¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens… 

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you great sea creatures and all deeps,
⁸ fire and hail, snow and mist,
    stormy wind fulfilling his word!

⁹ Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!            
¹⁰ Beasts and all livestock,
    creeping things and flying birds!

Comments:

“I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…”

Does anyone remember that song that was used so well by Coca-Cola in commercials during the Christmas season decades ago? Well, this psalm really is saying the same thing (without the product placement)…with an even larger target audience.  The psalmist calls not only on the whole world (people) to learn to sing in perfect harmony but calls for all creation to sing praises to Yahweh—the covenant-keeping God—both from heaven and from earth! In fact, the psalmist calls for praise 12 times in 13 verses. Can you hear them singing? I know I need to regularly pause and listen to the greatness and glory of God reverberating through his creation…as Psalm 19:1 says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

We are almost at the end of the Psalms. In fact we are in the final five psalms, which are traditionally called "The Great Hallel" because they focus on praising God. The Hebrew word for “praise” is Hallel; and so “Praise Yahweh" is Hallelujah. In this psalm all the angelic hosts and the masses of humanity alike are exhorted to praise—high and low, great and small, flesh and spirit, organic and inorganic—no matter who or what we are, somewhere in there it speaks to us!

Did you notice the sub-theme in this psalm regarding heaven and earth? Those whom God has made are to praise God from heaven (v. 1) and from earth (v. 6) because “his majesty is above earth and heaven” (v. 13c). No one and nothing is in God’s league!

Last year I said that if I wrote an article on this verse I would call it "Whale Songs & Windstorms" (v.7-8), but I could just as easily call it “Apple Trees & Honeybees” (v. 9-10) and it would line up perfectly with the song! I love the call to all of nature to praise the Lord, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer! But I am convicted as well.

 

Nature glorifies God by being what God created it to be and doing what it is supposed to do. Only man deviated from the plan. I wrote a poem year ago that contained the lines,

Vanity Fair races the trees

And loses,

For trees play by the rules.

Is our song as wholehearted as the whale or the apple tree? Do we fulfill his Word as well as the weather? Or are we even more "fickle?" I think we are (more fickle that is). It is all the more reason to praise Yahweh the Unchanging One who is our shield and fortress!

Psalm 147 "King of the Hill?"

Psalm for Today = 147:6, 10-11
⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground…

¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
¹¹ but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Comments:

Verse 6 is a repeated theme throughout the Bible and throughout human history. And when he does it, everyone cheers! The multitudes love it when the arrogant are thrown to the ground. Everyone likes it when a bully is thrown down. But what about the person who takes the bully’s place? He may have been the Lord’s instrument in throwing down the bully but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be judged for his own pride and the way that he treats God’s people…

God threw Egypt down for oppressing Israel,

Canaanites were thrown down in judgment by Israel,

Israel was thrown down by Assyria

Assyria and Judah were thrown down by Babylon,

Babylon was thrown down by the Medo-Persians,

Persian was thrown down by the Greeks,

Greece was thrown down by the Romans

Rome was thrown down by the Barbarians, and on and on it goes.

In a spiritual sense, the exclusivity of Israel was thrown down by the death of Christ as salvation—relationship with God—was offered to the Gentiles. Yet this should not be a point of pride for the gentiles against the Jews (though it has been) as Paul makes clear in Romans11:19-21.

^“Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.”

The same warning had been given to Israel when they first entered the land of Promise. In the New Testament, in both the Epistle of James (4:6) and 1 Peter (5:5) the warning is repeated to followers of Jesus Christ, the church, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” So why do we think that we are any different today? If we are proud then God will use some means to throw us to the ground…for our own good and for the good of others around us.

Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash

Yahweh (the Lord) sends the clouds, he prepares the rain, he makes the grass grow (v.7-9). All that we depend on is actually in his care. As a result, God is not in awe of our attempts at self-sufficiency. He is not impressed with how strong our plow horse, our warhorse, or our beer-wagon horse is, neither is he intimidated with the legs of a man how far he can run, how fast he can pedal, or how high or long he can jump. We just need to get over it. But more than that, having read the psalm, we should give praise where praise is due—the Lord God Almighty!

I would much rather hope in the steadfast love of God than in any façade my pride could throw up. I can force God to get up in my grill and throw me to the ground. He loves me enough to do it, but he much prefers to "have my back" when I trust him to do so.

Photo by John Torcasio on Unsplash

Ironically, when we give glory away to God we end up receiving glory through the grace of God, even being exalted in the process (at the right time). When we humble ourselves, God no longer has to play linebacker for the other team, driving our bluster into the mud, but instead, he faithfully heals our broken hearts, gently meets our needs and lifts us up in his love! I want to play on his team this season!

Psalm 146 "Which Crown?"

Psalm for Today = 146:1-2, 5
^“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being… 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God…”

Comments:

Napoleon's Crown

Who will wear the crown in our lives? Who will we serve? Who will we trust? Who will we praise?

 

Here in verses 1-2 the psalmist recognizes that his time is limited ("while I have my being") and chooses to spend his time praising the God whose reign will never end, rather than going all-in with any temporary human government (v. 3-4).

Human leaders, even good ones don’t last forever. The weight of bureaucracy and the inertia of the status quo (strengthened by off-setting special interests) will dampen the effectiveness of any human leader. Add in term limits and an administration is gone from the scene very rapidly. Even in a monarchy, the lifespan of a king or even the length of any dynasty is brief in the narrative of human history.

Ultimate trust and hope should not be in government, no matter how benevolent. In this country today we are in danger of giving the government a degree of trust for our well-being that it doesn’t deserve…only God does. He keeps all his campaign promises—forever (v. 6)!

Crown of Thorns

Finally, in v. 7-10 we read the justice resume of the King of kings and Lord of lords! There are at least ten clear reasons listed to be thankful every day...because this is the kind of Lord we serve! Poetry aside, here is a representative list of the qualities of the Lord our great and loving King.

• He keeps faith forever
• He executes justice for the oppressed
• He gives food to the hungry
• He sets the prisoners free
• He opens the eyes of the blind
• He lifts up those who are bowed down
• He loves the righteous
• He watches over the sojourners
• He upholds the widow and the fatherless
• He brings to ruin the way of the wicked
• He reigns forever!

Go and see if this is not the kind of God the world needs today. Would we choose the Lord Jesus or are we too comfortable with the petty political Napoleons that we already have? While I know that all too often I have trusted the world's way, and by my sin caused Jesus to wear the crown of thorns, I know that Jesus chose to do so because he loved me as one of those described in (v. 7-9). I will praise him for his love in action! I for one want to live into his abundant blessing!

Question:

Will the luster of worldly power and glory capture our hearts more than the crown of thorns?

 

If the Lord is like this (v. 6-10), in what ways is he directing us to participate in his mission today?

 

Psalm 145 "Kind in all his works"

Psalm for Today = 145:14-17

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who are falling
    and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open your hand;
    you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.

Comments:

I have commented on this psalm at least five times on Facebook but usually from verses 2-5 or 8-9. I am always surprised when I go back and see that the same verses minister to me over and over. Having said that, I am now deliberately choosing different verses to share today.

I love these verses because they show the simple trust of the psalmist, David, who had grown up as a shepherd living on the land and seeing God’s care for his creatures season by season. He had eyes to see God at work…not just in nature but in people.

David had experienced a number of times when he was “falling” or “bowed down” and had known God’s deliverance of the faithful and was committed to passing on his testimony of God’s goodness to the next generation. We need to do the same thing! Tell the God stories. Repeat our spiritual heritage for them to hear. Let our past help to build their faith! But remember that God, not us, is always the hero of the story.

I can say a hearty “Amen!” to David’s poetic testimony. I too have seen God’s care, provision, and healing in my life and can testify of his faithfulness. No matter how God is portrayed in the media and schools today the truth is found on the lips of the shepherd king, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.” (v.17)

So, the more I trust God as a faithful provider, the more I respond to his love, the more he will rub off on me. It should become easy to see in the righteous my ways, and the kindness of my works. If not, I am probably depending on myself too much.

Psalm 144 "Training my hands"

Photo by ABEL MARQUEZ on Unsplash

Psalm for Today = 144:1-2

Blessed be the Lord, my rock,

    who trains my hands for war,

    and my fingers for battle;

he is my steadfast love and my fortress,

    my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield and he in whom I take refuge,

    who subdues peoples under me.

Comments:

What is the spiritual battle God is training us for today? He will train our hands to do what He asks us to do. He does not call us to frustration.

While he no longer works through nations to gain geographical territory for the Kingdom of God, he desires to work through us to gain souls and reform the systems that affect the way people live.

We need to remember that people are not our enemy and that our weapons are not worldly.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ…” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

If we are going to fight His fight we must use His weapons and tactics...not our own! And it seems that most often the battlefield is within our own hearts and minds.

He is our fortress and deliverer, our shield and refuge! Our hope is in Christ!