INSIDE?

I’ve had occasion to mention this particular structure—a ruin, actually—close to Ipoh, Malaysia. Parts of the building are unroofed. Exposed to the elements, inside and out. In fact, sitting on a window, I wondered if I were actually outside or inside. Didn’t seem to be much difference between the two, as far as that building was considered.

Mark disagrees. He made a big deal about “inside” and “outside,” particularly about folks on either side. That’s in Mark 3, where he answers the age-old question: “Who’s on the Lord’s side?”

And He came in home,
and the crowd came together again,
so that they [Jesus + disciples]
were not able to eat bread.
Mark 3:20

Jesus is inside. And the crowds are inside. This latter bunch is out for freebies and largesse, handouts and healings.

… a great multitude,
hearing what he was doing,
came to Him. He healed many,
so that whoever had illnesses
pressed upon Him
in order to touch Him.
Mark 3:8, 10

So, while inside physically, they’re really “outside.”

Then come the relatives. These, surely, are inside. After all, they share genes and stuff.

And when those of His [family] heard,
they went out
to take custody of Him;
for they were saying,
“He is out of His mind.”
… and standing outside,
they sent [word] to Him
and called Him.
Mark 3:21, 31

They accuse Jesus of being—what!—“out” of His mind. OK, strike these folks out—they, too, are outside the house (while being genetically inside), and they really are “outside.”

Now, the last set.

And the scribes

who came down from Jerusalem …
Mark 3:22

They’re from the capital, from the houses of power and buildings of authority. With badges, IDs, ThMs, MDivs. Revs. and Drs. They know their Bibles. Of course, they must be “inside.” And they’re shown talking to Jesus, so they are inside the house, too. But are they really “inside”?

And [they] were saying,
“He has Beelzebul,”
and “By the ruler of the demons,
He casts out demons.”
Mark 3:22

Oh, dear! They’re so far out, they accuse Jesus of being in cahoots with Satan and casting demons … “out.” Since Jesus, they allege is working hand in hand with Satan, He belongs “outside.” Now if they think Jesus belongs “outside,” we know where they themselves belong. “Out” with them!

“Truly, I say to you …
whoever blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit
does not have forgiveness for ever,
but is guilty of an eternal sin.”
Mark 3:28–29

Jesus accuses them of having committed an unpardonable sin—completely perverting truth and repudiating the saving grace of God. For such an outright rejection of God, there can be no forgiveness. They had slapped God in the face! You will never be forgiven. You will never enter. You will forever remain … “outside.”

So there they go: inside, but “outside.”

Anyone left on the Lord’s side—“inside”?

And looking around at those
sitting around Him in a circle,
He [Jesus] said, “Behold my mother
and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God,
he is My brother
and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:33–35

That’s it. The “inside” circle. Not crowds—they’re (physically) inside, but “outside.” Not the relatives—they, too, are (genetically) inside, but “outside.” Not the clerical bigwigs—they, also, are (religiously) inside, but “outside.” The “inside” circle—the real “insiders”—are those who do the will of God, whose who are in obedience to God’s Word.

“If you love Me,
you will keep My commandments.”
John 14:15

Where are you? “Inside” or “outside”?

FORT!

This massive fire machine is called the Seri Rambai and is located in Fort Cornwallis in Penang, Malaysia, the largest intact fortress in that country, and the first administrative and military base of the British East India Company. (And that’s my friend with whom I traipsed around the country a few months ago.) The fortress was built in the 1780s with labor imported from India. Sitting on the tip of the island of Penang, the fort was protected with cannons mounted all along its perimeter.

Despite all the weaponry and hostile equipment located in the Fort, history has never recorded any battle in that place. Carefully built, in the shape of star to better protect itself from cannon-fire, with a 27-foot wide moat (later filled in during a malaria epidemic), and costing 67,000 Spanish dollars, the Fort never fought.

These days, the Seri Rambai cannon, though has its own idiosyncratic use. Locals believe the it has a magical spirit dwelling in it. Women who place flowers on the barrel are guaranteed, so they say, to improve their fertility.

But, no battles in that fort!

And there’s a chapel in the fort, too. That has found use as well … for marriages, the first recorded one being in 1799.

But, battles? Nope, not in that fort!

Great structures, grand cannons. But no battles.

Now, I, for one, am glad no battles were fought there, no lives lost, no damage wrought on man, beast, or structure. I am thankful for that. Maybe it was the deterrent effect of all the cannons. I don’t know. In any case, the irony of a fort that has never seen battle is pungent.

The Bible is replete with warnings of battles of all kinds, persecutions aplenty, drowning oppression and overwhelming tribulation, and the like.
In fact, Jesus Himself pronounced a blessing on those persecuted for His sake.

“Blessed are you
when people insult you
and persecute you,
and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of Me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward in heaven is great
for in the same way
they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.”
Matthew 5:11–12

And in the Gospel of Mark, to those disciples who have given all to follow Him, Jesus promised:

“Truly I say to you,
there is no one who has left
house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or farms,
for My sake and for the gospel's sake
but that he will receive
a hundred times as much now
in the present age,
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and farms,
along with persecutions;
and in the age to come, eternal life.”
Mark 10:29–30

Yup, that’s promised to disciples as well—“persecutions.”

Paul wasn’t at all silent about this stuff either.

Indeed, all who desire
to live godly in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
2 Timothy 3:12

One starts to wonder, in this fairly peaceful nation we dwell in, if we are forts that have never fought battles. Of course, I am thankful for peace and for the Lord’s allowing us to dwell in relative safety without undue tumults and trials and turmoils afflicting us. But one does begin to wonder ….

Maybe it is on its way.

Let us remain alert.

With all prayer and petition
pray at all times in the Spirit,
and with this in view,
be on the alert
with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:18

It can’t be too far away, can it? God does keep His word!

REST!

Somebody asked me the other day if my summer had been productive so far.

As you can tell, it sure has!

(That’s yours faithfully, lollygagging [is it possible to engage in that activity in water?] in the ocean off Cayman Islands. Now I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination, one for water activities, preferring to conserve my heartbeats for other enterprises. Not to mention exposing myself to the deleterious effects of ye olde ultraviolet. It wouldn’t do—oh, no!—for a dermatologist to get a skin cancer. But this was terrific: golden sands, clear water, comfortably warm, snorkeling for fascinating tropical fish, and not a soul on the beach. I also went jet-skiing there with my nephew—enough adrenaline was pumped up in that endeavor to last me the rest of the year. [On second thought, make that “the rest of the decade.”])

Anyhow, all this to say my summer has been productive.

A couple of writing projects, my thrice weekly clinical schedule, preaching here and there (including a current and ongoing four-week series at my home church, Northwest Bible Church, a week preaching at a Christian camp in Mt. Hermon, CA (nestled in the redwoods), aforementioned Caribbean jaunt (part of a celebratory cruise), a visit to see an old classmate and his family in NC, and an upcoming preaching/teaching trip to Australia. Yup, it’s been busy, but in a tremendously fun sort of way!

I wonder what heaven will be like. Busy?

Genesis to Revelation is an organized layout of time, outlining a trajectory of human history that begins in a verdant garden with a river and containing the tree of life …

The LORD God planted a garden
toward the east, in Eden;
and there He placed
the man whom He had formed.
… the tree of life also
in the midst of the garden ….
Now a river flowed
out of Eden to water the garden.

Genesis 2:8–10

… and time ends in a glorious city with a river, also containing a tree of life.

Then he [an angel]
showed me [John, the writer]
a river of the water of life,
clear as crystal, coming from the
throne of God and of the Lamb ….
On either side of the river
was the tree of life ….

Revelation 22:1–2

So what did the good Lord want man to be doing in these depictions of a heavenly utopia?

Then the LORD God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden
to cultivate it and keep it.

Genesis 2:15

That Hebrew word, translated “cultivate,” can also mean “work, till, serve,” etc. Later in the Scriptures it acquired strong liturgical connotations and came to be used regularly for the service of worship.

“You shall fear the LORD your God;
and you shall worship [serve] Him.”

Deuteronomy 6:13

It is no coincidence, then, that the bond-servants of the Lamb, in the restored garden that is the heavenly city, will also be “serving.”

There will no longer be any curse;
and the throne of God and
of the Lamb will be in it,
and His bond-servants
will serve Him.
Revelation 22:3

That Greek word, too, translated “serve,” is frequently used of worship.

… they are before the throne of God;
and they serve Him
day and night in His temple.

Revelation 7:15

Which means, folks, heaven is going to be one busy place. So get some rest here while you can, will you?

Go to the Caribbean. Lollygag in the ocean. Conserve those heartbeats.

Do I hear an “Amen!"?

FURNACE!

It had been a bit temperamental the last few days. Breaker tripping often. Suddenly losing cooling. It finally just quit Friday evening. Dead—my A/C at home.
Now I can take a lot of appliances quitting in my place without turning a a hair. Fridge? Sure! (As long as there aren’t any cheesecakes stashed away within.) Microwave? Begone! Range? Who cares! But lose my A/C? In Dallas. Not in the summer. Not with the mercury climbing into three figures Fahrenheit.

But it did quit. And the guys who heal these contraptions couldn’t show up until the next day. So there I was sweltering and suffering.

A few degrees of snow would have been nice, I thought. (Thankfully, I immediately returned to sanity!)

That night, I shifted into my living room, below my bedroom, for a half-degree more of comfort, fans blasting away. I took to the couch. Whew! How am I going to sleep, I wondered. I decided to usher in those Zs by re-reading Harry Potter VI (and to get me ready for the movie release this Wednesday—Yup! Tickets already bought!). Wrong idea. Reading HP doesn’t exactly cool one off; that’s not what one would call a soporific tome. Somnolence it certainly doth not induce.

Finally I drowsed off.

Suddenly it’s 3:00 am and my neighbor decides to have a go on his bass guitar. Not a good night at all!

It wasn’t that loud or anything, but in my rather broiled and sensitive state of mind, I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I decided to turn on my music on to drown out aforementioned instrument of torture.

But Bach sounded horrible with my neighbor’s cacophonic accompaniment. I abandoned Bach and went to ear plugs.

Nope, not a good night at all.

But I had a lot of time to think about things—mostly in a fit of ire while drowning in a sea of sweat.

Gosh, how we take things for granted! Only when you’ve lost something do you realize how important that was.

Cold air. Peace. Quiet. Harry Potter. Cheesecake. Health. Livelihood. Loved ones. There really is no guarantee that we will have continual access to any or all of these, is there? God might choose to take them away at any time.

I realized that I needed to be more thankful for all that I have. After all, we deserve nothing!

What do you have
that you did not receive?
And if you did receive it,
why do you boast as if
you had not received it?
1 Corinthians 4:7

It’s all the grace of God, isn’t it? What we are, where we are, what we have, where we go, what we do, …. All God’s grace and God’s grace alone.

But by the grace of God I am what I am,
1 Corinthians 15:10

And so we must be thankful. Ever grateful.

In everything give thanks;
for this is God's will for you
in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

In everything. For everything.

Whatever you do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks through Him
to God the Father.
Colossians 3:17

Hold everything/everybody lightly. And give thanks!

Of course, the greatest blessing we have, which can never be taken away from us is the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. And for that, too, we must be thankful. That, too—and especially that—is a gift to us who were undeserving.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:15

Don’t sweat it. Give thanks!

TRIP!

I am currently involved in multiple projects dealing with the Gospel of Mark—a writing enterprise on the book, a preaching series through the book, a teaching stint of the book. Fun! Immersing oneself so totally in any one book is fascinating, especially one so energetic and so vigorous as this second Gospel.

One of the more curious things about the book is its outline. One journey. One trip. Galilee to Jerusalem. Begins in Galilee, ends in Jerusalem. The whole entourage, Jesus and his followers, proceeds from point A to point B.

Now undoubtedly Jesus did travel to Jerusalem more than once (John says three times). But in Mark, he arrives there only in the last week of his life. For, you see, Mark has an agenda. He wants to portray this journey with Jesus as the essence of what it means to be a disciple. The trip of discipleship!

(As a matter of fact, one is better off interpreting each of the Gospel writers as having individual and discrete agendas, at least for preaching and application purposes.)

Act I of Mark is set in Galilee; Act III, in Jerusalem; and Act II, on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. The trip of discipleship!

Mark’s momentum is brought out by his use of the phrase, “on the way,” often found, not surprisingly, in the middle section of the Gospel, Act II.

Now this idea of discipleship as a trip is not entirely original with Mark. Christian life as a pilgrimage following Jesus and consummating in a glorious finish is a widespread conception.

After all, Jesus called Himself the “Way.”

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life;
no one comes to the Father
but through Me.”
John 14:6

Even Jesus’ opponents kinda guessed this was what was going on with Jesus.

They came and said to Him,
“Teacher, we know that
You are truthful and …
teach the way of God in truth.”
Mark 12:14

In fact, the early church was referred to as “The Way.” Saul the persecutor of the church in its infancy confesses …

"I persecuted this Way to the death,
binding and putting
both men and women into prisons ….”
Acts 22:4

And later he—now the apostle Paul—confesses to following the Way, himself:

“… according to the Way
which they call a sect
I do serve the God of our fathers,
believing everything that is
in accordance with the Law
and that is written in the Prophets.”
Acts 24:14

Of course, in the Greek, the word “to walk” also means “to live.”

Therefore we have been
buried with Him
through baptism into death,
so that as Christ was raised
from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4

At times, the “walking” becomes “running.”

… holding fast the word of life,
so that in the day of Christ
I will have reason to glory
because I did not run in vain ….
Philippians 2:16

And sometimes the sedate walk (who said the Christian life was sedate) becomes a race!

Therefore, since we have so great
a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us also lay aside every encumbrance
and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:1

In any case, walking or running, we are to …

… walk in a manner
worthy of the God
who calls you
into His own kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:12

The trip of discipleship!