March 2, 2025 Mark 16:15-18 “The Master Painter!”

27 Feb March 2, 2025 Mark 16:15-18 “The Master Painter!”

March 2, 2025   Mark 16:15-18      “The Master Painter!”

Now, we have had a couple weeks to digest wisdom a little and I hope that it is becoming part of your life.  As I sat down to write this, a couple thoughts came to mind and the most troublesome for me was how am I going to wrap this up when there are so many facets to the topic of wisdom?  This series should be at least 8 weeks long.  The second thought which might even be scarier than the first is ‘how can I talk about wisdom when I have been anything but wise in my life?’  I guess my unwise decisions have given me some wisdom in spite of myself.  We are probably all like this.  This then led to the next thought which is a tidbit of wisdom that comes from my brain.  I don’t necessarily think that we get so much wiser as we get older, we just can’t move as fast as young people so we have more time to think about things.  You can take that or leave as it is just one of my ramblings.  Today, we are going to take a look at the book of Mark for our final piece of wisdom.  After spending two weeks in Proverbs and Psalms, it is time to bring it on home in the Gospel of Mark.  Let’s see if we can understand this final piece and put it into action.

Here’s a trick for you if you are ever hunting the wild lion in North Dakota.  William Hinson tells us why animal trainers usually carry a stool when they go into a cage of lions.  Many of us have seen this at the circus.  The trainer walks into the cage of lions with whips and pistols and whatever other props they use.  But the most important tool they carry is the stool.  He/she will hold the stool out in front of him with the legs pointing at the lions.  All other props are for show and noise.  It is the legs of the stool that make the lions do what the trainer wants them to do.  You see, the lions have trouble focusing on the stool because it has 4 legs.  They don’t know which one to look at as they try to look at all four so they go into a temporary state of indecision.  This makes the king of the jungle tame, weak and disabled because its attention is fragmented.  I think we are a lot like the lions in the cage.  We have our attention on the legs of our stools and they really aren’t that important.  We look for wisdom in all the wrong places.

We have talked a lot about wisdom in the last few weeks.  Wisdom is a gift from God, therefore to have wisdom; you have to ask for wisdom.  All the experiences in the world will not give you Godly wisdom.  Only Jesus can do that.  This is something to keep in mind when we are dealing with the secular world or the world that doesn’t believe in Jesus.  There will be no wisdom there, none, absolutely zip!  With this in mind we learned that just because something isn’t wrong, doesn’t make it wise.  It is not against the law to drink alcohol in excess, but is it wise?  Probably not!  There are many examples of this in the world.

One of the things I would like to talk about today is answering this question.  Why is it so easy to see someone else’s mistakes when it is almost impossible to see our own?  How many times in your life have you been rolling along and you see how someone else has made a terrible mistake?  They are being unwise.  It happens all the time.  Everyone in the community knows when someone is messing around with infidelity.  However, the people involved may think that no can see this.  Everyone knows if you are spending too much time up at the bar but you don’t even notice it.

Let’s say that you are having some sort of trouble at home.  You can just fill in the blank, whatever it may be.  We all have had some trouble at home because we spend so much time there.  Anyway, other people can see that something is wrong no matter how hard you try to hide it.  The reason you can’t hide these things is because there are emotions involved.  Any time you have emotions involved in a decision, there will be a good chance that you will make a faulty choice.  It might not be a wise decision.

Say for instance, that one of your children has made some bad choices and you are at wits end as to how to handle the situation.  Your neighbor, Joe Schmoe, comes along and tells you the exact solution to the problem.  You get even more upset because an outsider is trying to tell you how to raise your children.  Therefore, you get angry and tell Joe to mind his own business.  After you sleep on it, you discover that Joe was right on.  He was very correct and wise.

The reason for this is that Joe could see the situation from a neutral position.  He was not emotionally involved.  The parents are usually too emotionally involved in this situation to act wisely.  Then the question becomes how can we be not so emotional or how can we be a little wiser.  The answer lies in God.  God has all the answers but we won’t call on Him because we think we can do so much better than God by ourselves.  Isn’t that about right?  Afterall, we are all smarter than God!  I think that generally speaking we try to roll along without God and just give Him a little token on Sunday and maybe once in a while during the week.  But we definitely don’t want to submit to Him.  And when we don’t submit to Him, we don’t get access to His wisdom.

You can have trouble in your home, you can have trouble in your life and everyone else doesn’t have to be the first person with a solution.  If you are constantly in touch with the very maker of the universe, He will help you to calm down.  He will help you to rid yourself of emotions so you can make a decision, a wise decision.  He may have to sit you down for a good scolding but He will help.  I have never known a more calming influence in my life than our Lord, Jesus Christ.

So, you can have wisdom from God as He will freely give it.  Now you may wonder why I chose this passage from Mark for this today’s reading.  First of all, I want us to think a little about what we would do in a similar situation.  Jesus is talking to his disciples as He is leaving.  Jesus is leaving and He is not coming back.  I know that He has promised to return but He isn’t going to return to these disciples who are gathered.  They will all see Him again when they get to heaven but for now this is the final farewell in this world.

Now let’s put ourselves into this situation.  Some of us have had to do this.  We have had to say goodbye to someone who we probably will never see again.  Now if this person is someone you love, like a daughter or son or parent, then you would want the last thing you say to them to be full of wisdom.   Chances are pretty good that you are not going to say something light and frivolous.

It is the same way with Jesus to us.  Jesus is leaving and I might argue that this could be the wisest thing He ever told us.  Everything else He taught us is just a preliminary to this final or great commission.  Does that make sense to you?  So Jesus is telling us in His last words to go out and preach the Good News to all creation.  If you believe, you are saved; if not, then you are condemned.  There is not a gray area here.  It is all or nothing.  Then He goes on to list the signs of those who preach in His name and are saved.  All this is absolute wisdom.

We have this wisdom right now.  If you have confessed and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have this.  If you have never done this, then I encourage you to do this today.  Give your life to Jesus.  As we have talked before, when you do this, you are looking out for your own best interests.  Jesus Christ in your life is having the best interest for yourself that you can ever have.

Ok, so you have this wisdom.  My question is ‘what are you doing with it?’  Please notice that He isn’t asking us to accept Him at this point.  We have already accepted Him.  He is telling us to go out and spread the Word.  We are to talk about Jesus where ever we go.  Yes, we live in a world that doesn’t want to hear about it but so what!  Just because they don’t want to listen doesn’t mean that you should not be talking.

Wisdom will tell us to go out and show others what it is like to be in love with Jesus.  Remember that we all have different gifts.  This means that if I try show Jesus by all my administrative skills, I will be a failure because I don’t have any of these skills.  If you aren’t gifted in preaching, then don’t preach.  Find your gift and use it to spread the word and love of Jesus.  This is what we are to be doing at all times and in all places.  If everything you do is geared toward Jesus Christ, then you are being wise.  It really doesn’t get any easier than that.

And it doesn’t matter who you are.  Anyone can come to Jesus.  There are no barriers to stop you.  What stops most of us is ourselves.  We are our biggest barrier to wisdom and a wonderful walk with Jesus.  We get in our own way.  We have talked about this before.  We talked about it a couple of weeks ago or so when I asked you why you keep putting things between you and Jesus.  You do not have your best interests in mind when you put anything between you and Jesus.  Hopefully, you want what is best for you.  Then take whatever is blocking your way and throw it aside.  You only get to live this life once.  You get one chance so let’s not blow it.

All this reminds me of a story told by Andy Stanley about his children.  It was a time when they were quite young, 7 and 9 years old maybe.  Anyway, Mrs. Stanley had just about had it with them.  It was just one of those days when they seemed to be into everything and nothing could deter them.  In her desperation, she decided to send them down the basement of their parsonage.  It was unfinished and she figured that they really could do no harm.  She went with them and set up a couple of easels and gave them a bunch of paints.  She told them to think of a lovely place and paint a picture of it.  Then she went back upstairs.

After a while she began to be concerned because they were so quiet.  She decided that she should go down there and check on them.  She started down the steps and they called out to her not to come down yet because they weren’t finished.  This sounded ok so she went back upstairs.  When Andy got home, they both started to go down to the children but again they stopped them and told them they weren’t done yet.  This went on for 2 days.  Boy, I wish I had thought of this when our children were small.

Anyway, Andy showed 2 paintings to his congregation as he finished telling this story.  He uncovered 2 of the most beautiful paintings that you would ever want to see.  He told them that is was unbelievable that these two children could paint like this without any training.  They just went down the basement and did it.  Finally, Andy had to confess that this wasn’t what really happened.  The children had painted the pictures but it was only after they had enrolled them in an art class where a very famous master painter was teaching.

You are the same way with Jesus.  You can do nothing by yourself.  About the only thing you can do is get ourselves into trouble.  You need the master of life, Jesus, to train you up in the ways of wisdom.  Jesus is your way of life.  While we are on the topic of art, suppose that your life is an oil painting.  Every time you do something, you add a little bit to the painting.  The only difference is that you cannot correct the mistakes you make in your life painting.  You have had no training like the children in the basement so you make lots of mistakes.  As a matter of fact, you are getting into your 20’s or 30’s or 40’s or whatever and you find that your life portrait is no better than what a 3 year old child could do.  You are disheartened because every unwise decision you have ever made is out there for everyone to see.  You cannot change your painting.

But we just happened to know the greatest master painter ever who can help us.  Jesus Christ will cleanse that terribly soiled canvas of yours and make it white as snow.  All you have to do is ask.  Jesus Christ will take away all the bad stuff and you can start over if you just confess your sins and give them to Jesus who died on the cross to take them away, forever.  People, this is the wise message that is coming from Mark today.  It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do.  It doesn’t matter if you are a big sinner or a little sinner if there is even such a thing.  It doesn’t matter what color you are.  Jesus is for you and it is your job to take this message to the world, period.  There are no excuses.  There are no valid reasons why you don’t do this.  Jesus wants everyone to be with Him in heaven.

We are going to (Do this the next time you) go into a time of Holy Communion.  During this time, ask Jesus for wisdom.  Ask Him for help and guidance in your life.  He will help you.  He loves you or He would have never let himself be hung on that dirty old cross.  He not only loves you but He will never stop loving you.  That is a promise.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.