It Is NEVER Enough - February 6 Readings: Matthew 16:1-12, Mark 8:10-26

Today’s Readings

Context

I believe that in today's reading you find one of the funniest lines in the Bible. God's word is not about comedy, but here it is unmistakable. After a confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus warns his disciples about the "leaven" of the religionists. Their legalistic, external, petty ways come in and work through our hearts and destroy the work of God. 

What is the disciples' response? In Matthew 16:7, they put their heads together and figured out what Jesus was talking about. 

Jesus is upset because we didn't bring any bread. 

Clueless! 

But this also shows what Jesus meant when he said in his Olivet Discourse (John 14-16) that it would be better for them if Jesus went away and the Holy Spirit came. How many times have you thought how great it would be if Jesus were here with us. Yet the disciples had him there and they were clueless, they never understood what he was saying. His teachings zoomed right past them. 

It was only after Jesus rose, departed, and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that the clueless understood and that they became powerful servants of God. 

Devotional - It is NEVER Enough

 Really? 

That took some nerve, didn't it? I'm talking about the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to Jesus and demanded a sign. A sign? How about all of the thousands upon thousands of miracles Jesus had done? 

Jesus was wandering through the Galilee area doing amazing miracles. Mark 8:1-10 records an astounding work where he fed 4000 people with seven loaves, having just recently fed even more people with even less food. He had healed the sick, made the lame walk, helped the blind to see, cast out demons, even raised the dead back to life. The area around Capernaum was abuzz with the amazing works of the Nazarene who claimed to be the long awaited and promised Messiah.

Jesus did amazing things!

Then, he got in a boat and went to a place called Dalmanutha. It is not clear where that is, but it is believed by many to be Magdala, on the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Capernaum. It was there that the Pharisees came to him to pick a fight, to start an argument with him. They were not there as students of the truth or seekers of God. They were jealous of Jesus' power and popularity and were there to try to find something against him, a way to bring him down.

So, they came to him and demanded a sign from him, some evidence of the power of God working through him that would prove that he was truly from God, that he was the Messiah he claimed to be.

But wait a minute. What kind of sign did they want?

• Did feeding 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish not count as a sign? 
• How about feeding 4000 with 7 loaves? 
• Did casting the legion of demons out of the man of Gerasene not demonstrate the power of God? 
• The lame walked. The blind saw. The sick were made well. Could that not count as a sign? 
• The water turned into wine, how about that? 
• And the biggest, best, greatest miracle of all - Jesus raised the dead to life. Did the Pharisees not consider that a sign from above? 

What more could Jesus do? What did they want from him? The simple fact is that there was nothing Jesus could do that could convince them to believe. Whatever he did - it would never be enough for their skeptical, hardened, unbelieving hearts. John 11 records perhaps the most spectacular miracle Jesus ever did. After 4 days in the grave, after the process of bodily decay had already begun, Lazarus was called forth from the dead and brought back to life. What did the religious leaders do at that point? They did not repent. They did not turn from their hatred of Jesus. They gathered an emergency meeting of the Council to discuss how to get rid of Jesus once and for all. Jesus just brought a man back from the dead and all they could think was how they could destroy him!

Here's the point. Our job is not to prove ourselves to everyone or win the respect of doubters and deniers. There will always be those who disrespect the church, the faith, and individuals in it. If you want to be universally liked and affirmed, don't bother serving Jesus. Many people hated him and some won't love you either.

Jesus didn't waste his time trying to curry favor with those who disdained the work of God. His focus was on God's glory and his desire was to serve him. We ought to be kind and respectful to all people, but we ought to live to please God and to seek his approval alone.

Jesus refused to perform tricks in a futile attempt to gain the favor of the Pharisees. "No sign will be given," he said. And he got up and left. There is a great work to be done and our job is to proclaim Christ and not to make people like us.

Later, we will see one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. In John 11, Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead in front of a skeptical crowd after he had been in the grave 4 days and the process of decay had begun. What was the response of the religious leaders to this miracle? They gathered to plot how they could kill Jesus. Witnessing a great miracle, they tried to figure out how to kill Christ!

Friends, there are always enemies of the gospel, even in the church, who are not interested in the work of Christ but in maintaining their power and control. There is nothing you and I can do to win them, convince them or change them. They accused JESUS of being demon-possessed! But what we can do is simply love them in Christ and continue to serve God. We can continue to do the work of God regardless of what anyone says about us or does to us.

No retreat. No surrender.

Living to please people and earn their favor is a trap; it is a pernicious form of slavery. No matter what you do, for some people it will never be enough. In Christ, you are accepted and loved...and empowered to live for the glory of God. Do so!

Father, may your glory be my goal. Help me not to live for the approval or by the opinions of others, but simply for your approval, by your power and for your kingdom.  

Think and Pray

How much importance do you place, in your life, on people liking and accepting you? 

Think and pray about the balance between treating people well and not being derailed by the negative opinions of others. 

This is a crucial balance in the Christian life. We must love our enemies, but we must not let them intimidate us, control us, discourage us, or turn us aside from the work of God.