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"Our Pre-Occupation" - Doing ACTS (Wednesday 11/29/06)

Posted by ru4jc @ Fri 01 Dec, 06, 08:12AM under Doing ACTS
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"Our Pre-Occupation" - Doing ACTS (Wednesday 11/29/06)
Scripture Reading
Mark 8:16-21
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “ It is because we have no bread.”
17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?”
They said to Him, “Twelve.”
20 “Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?”
And they said, “Seven.”
21 So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
1.                   The disciples thought Jesus was talking about bread (v. 16) when He mentions about the yeast about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. They thought they were being scolded for their lack of foresight (not packing bread for the journey), but Jesus was much more concerned about their lack of faith. Looking at this whole scenario, we can see that Jesus was rebuking them for their lack of faith. However, I view it as a continual lesson for the disciples – through examples seen by the eye. Jesus was demonstrating that the miracle working wonders of God can also be exercised, given in thanks and praise from Whom all blessings flow. Just like little children pick things up quickly through observation, this was the time the disciples, being little in their faith, was looking at the Master at work.
2.                   In a series of eight questions, He rebukes them for their lack of spiritual perception and failure to learn from either of His feeding miracles.
a.       What are the eight questions of Jesus to His disciples (Mark 8:17-21)
1.       Why do you reason because you have no bread?
2.       Do you not yet perceive nor understand?
3.       Is your heart still hardened?
4.       Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?
5.       And do you not remember?
6.       When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?
7.       Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?
8.      How is it you do not understand?
b.      Why do you think the disciples still cannot see what Jesus was doing when He fed the 4000 and the 5000? The disciples still were very much depending on their own wisdom and strength, which resulted in failure to see what can only be done in faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 records that we are to ‘walk by faith, and not by sight’. With that in mind, we can either be walking in sight, or by faith.
c.       What was Jesus’ words to them when they failed to understand the feeding of the 5000? Read Mark 6:52. What about when they failed to understand the feeding of the 4000, what was Jesus’ rebuke to them? Read Mark 8:17. So we can safely conclude that their problem was hardened heart! For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened. (Mark 6:52) Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? (Mark 8:17) The disciples still could not see beyond the human limitation, and lacked faith.
d.      What does Hebrews say if we have hardened hearts? Read Hebrews 4:3; 3:7-11; 3:12-19. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “ So I swore in My wrath, ‘ They shall not enter My rest,’’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3)
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “ Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘ They shall not enter My rest.’ (Hebrews 3:7-11)
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “ Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12-19)
Scriptures are self-explanatory.
e.       According to William Lane, “Repeated exposure to Jesus’ teaching and mighty works had not led to reflection on their significance but to a basic insensitivity and dullness” (Lane 281). They continue to be pre-occupied with temporal concerns such as bread, distance and money instead of trusting the great Provider who was right there with them in the boat!

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