Calming the Storms of Life—Mark 4:35-41
There has been a lot of storms in the last few weeks—not everyone has recovered from them. Many people went to work one morning and didn’t have a home to go to at the end of the day.
It reminded me of the theme song to Gilligan’s Island talks about a group of people taking a Three Hour Tour—a short boat ride around Hawaii, when the weather started getting rough. They ended up stranded for several seasons.
We can be sailing along with everything going great, and all of a sudden, a storm hits that can shipwreck our life, or at least throw us off course.
Have you ever experienced storms in your life? Those times where things just didn’t make sense. Times where your problems seemed so big and your faith seemed so small. Times where you felt so swamped and so afraid that you were going to be taken over by the storm.
Turn to Mark 4:35
After a long day of teaching crowds on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus asks to be taken to the other side of the lake. The disciples obey his directions, as do several other boats.
Did Jesus know the storm was coming? And He asked them to get out on the lake anyway? He must be doing it on purpose.
Along the way, He decides to rest and sleep, yes He’s physically tired, but I believe He also wants to see how they will respond.
During this time, when the Disciples have a few moments “to themselves” a storm erupts which they cannot control. It is beyond their power to do anything about it despite the fact that they are experienced boatmen. Nothing in their experience could save them from the power of the storm.
It seems as if they tried to do everything they could before going to Jesus. We’ll let Jesus sleep and try to take care of this ourselves. “Let’s not bother Him. It’s not that big of a deal. I/We can handle this.”
Too often, when the storms of life come, the last place we turn for help is Jesus. We only go to Him after we’ve tried all we can. “We’re all going to die!!” Jesus, if you just get us out of this I’ll do anything you want.
1. The Normal Life
a. The disciples weren’t really all that different from us. They had lives, families, jobs. They had friends, hardships and joys. And then the met Jesus and He began changing their life.
b. Understand, up to this point, it had been fairly easy for the disciples to follow Jesus. He called, they followed—Jesus was still growing in popularity—people liked Him.
c. They listened to what Jesus said as He spoke and taught. They had watched Jesus heal people. They had witnessed Him raising the dead. They had seen Him cast out demons, and do other mighty works in the context of that preaching and teaching.
d. But all this activity never really required anything of them until Jesus said, "Let us cross over to the other side." Those men had no idea what was coming next. Their faith had to move up to the next level. These men had to cross over in their hearts from having control over their own lives to placing their lives into the hands of Almighty God.
e. Being a disciple was going to get harder to the point that their lives were in danger. And Jesus was leading them to that point. Following God’s directions, His will for your life is not a guarantee of Safety & or Prosperity.
f. Our walk with Jesus is NOT going to be all sunshine and rainbows. And there are times for that—necessary times of green pastures and still waters—so your soul can be refreshed.
g. But so many times when our lives are going along good and easy, we rely more on ourselves than we do God. We pretend that life is going to continue on like this—we become content, comfortable and complacent.
h. The Normal Life is often a great danger to the life of Faith.
i. If you were here one Sunday night last month, we went over Psalm 23. According to that Psalm, we are not designed to stay in the green pastures and by the still waters—those moments are Pit Stops on the Paths of Righteousness that our Shepherd wants to take us on. And in many cases, those paths of righteousness lead us directly into the Valley of the Shadow of Death—where our very lives are on the line.
j. God upsets our Normal Life so we can Live the Life of Faith.
2. Storms Hit us Unexpectedly & Shake our Complacency
a. This passage talks about a “furious squall” hitting them. That was life on the Sea of Galilee, the mountains all around, the cool Mediterranean Sea, with the hot deserts caused storms to hit hard and fast. They are unexpected and even the experts can get caught in them.
b. Life throws a lot of curves. Many of which are beyond our control or ability. Despite all our skills, and experience, we are often unable to deal with the problems of life.
c. And God wants you to know that. He doesn’t want you to forget that you need Him. Wants you to look to Him—wants you to Walk by Faith & Not by Sight--
There are various types of storms in life.
• Literal Storms – we’ve seen this recently—the power is knocked out, the house is damaged, the house and property is destroyed. Your normal life is suddenly altered.
• Situational storms. This is when circumstances seem to plot against you and everything seems to go wrong at once. Murphy’s law is in full force.
Financial Storms Health Storms
• Relational storms. These are when you have tension between people. When a relationship is strained to the breaking point - parent and child, husband and wife, friends. These are the cause of many storms in life.
• Emotional storms. These are often hidden under the surface. We have a nice smile, but inside we’re seething and boiling in distress. People pass us by without realizing that a storm is raging within. You might become Paralyzed by fear. Overcome by guilt. Raging with anger. Consumed with worry or jealousy.
One or more of these storms might describe you this morning. The Bible says three things about the storms of life that I want to discuss before we continue.
• Storms in life are inevitable. Everyone will experience them. If you’re not in a storm right now, just wait. You will be in a storm. They are a part of life. In James 1:2 it says "When you face trials..." It does not say “If you face trials.” So you can Count on it!
• Storms are unpredictable. They come suddenly. They come unexpectedly. They are unpredictable. Matthew’s account uses the word “suddenly” that, "Without warning a furious storm came up". Try as we may, we cannot predict the things that will happen to us. None of us can predict when a simple test at the doctor’s office can bring life-changing news. We experience storms that are very short and ones that last for weeks, months, even years. They are unpredictable.
• Storms are impartial. They happen to good people, they happen to bad people. They happen to believers, they happen to unbelievers. They happen to all of us. Matthew 5:45 says, "He sends the rain on the just and the unjust." Being a Christian does not exempt us from being in storms.
• In many cases, Storms are Intentional
There is a misconception that people have, that the only time they have tough times is when they’re disobeying God. Sometimes that’s true… bad choices have consequences.
But it’s not always true.
In the passage we’re looking at today, Did the disciples get into a storm because Obeyed or Disobeyed Jesus? They were in the center of His will. And they were right in the middle of a storm. When you’re going through a tough time, don’t automatically assume, “I must be out of the will of God.” You may be exactly where God wants you to be
3. Jesus challenged the Disciples in an area of strength. How many of these disciples were fishermen used to working the Sea of Galilee? Many of them were skilled boatmen.
4. Unfortunately, just like the disciples, we often try to fix everything ourselves first, we try everything we can think of to solve the problem. We rely on our own abilities. Most of the time such efforts only bring anxiety and worry.
a. The message that Jesus presents to us in this Gospel account today is borne out in a recent stress management survey. Experts say that only 2 % of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The other
98% of our "worrying time" is spent as follows:
40% is spent worrying about things that never happen
35% is spent worrying about things that can not be changed
15% is spent worrying about things that turn out better than expected
8% is spent worrying about things that are so petty that they don’t matter at all.
b. While we are trying to solve all the problems ourselves we like to carry Jesus with us without making Him an active part. We let Him sleep while we do all the work ourselves. We know Jesus is there “sleeping” waiting to be called upon but we do not until we know we can’t handle the storm.
c. As a last resort we go to God and we ask Him to help us. Sadly however, we often come with an attitude that the Disciples had… “Don’t you care if we drown?” “Aren’t you paying attention God, don’t you care what happens to me? Why haven’t you taken care of this already?” We act surprised and hurt by the fact that God hasn’t fixed everything for us already. We cry out and blame God for all that is going wrong. “Do something, ANYTHING” we complain.
This attitude is wrong. This is the Normalcy Jesus wants to Shake us from! God is waiting for the opportunity, waiting for us to do things His way and in ways that will glorify His name.
5. Step out of the Normal Life into the Life of Power
a. When we go to Jesus, we can witness Amazing things!
b. He had the authority to rebuke the storm and tell it to be quiet. Lot’s of people have tried to pit their wills against the forces of nature and we’ve considered them foolish. Not this time.
c. The storm obeyed Him. As the words came out of Jesus’ mouth, the “winds died down and it was completely calm”.
d. Storms may be short term or long lived, but they respond to the command of God. This demonstrates that…
e. All situations are under His control. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Even the created world was under His authority. He restores peace and calmness. This is the hard thing for us to understand…
f. Sometimes we cry out to God and the storms do not disappear. God, we know You can do it, so why aren’t you?
But let me tell you with absolute truth….
g. Whether or not the storms disappear, He is still in control. He is more than enough of what you need.
h. In all these things that He does and allows—the intent of all of it is to draw you closer to Him and grow your Trust & Reliance on Him.
i. Perseverance means nothing if it has never been put through a trial. People endure and persevere through hardship—when someone says, “I persevered when I was captured in Vietnam and made it through my time as a Prisoner of War”—we know that means something.
When they say, “I persevered my trip to Disneyland”—we know that—for the most part—that’s a joke.
The normal life is not always the Friend of the Life of Faith.
j. It’s the unexpected, the disruptions, the storms that reveal our faith and our character.
k. Why does it take a crisis to get us to keep our faith in the forefront?
l. Why do we repeatedly exhaust ourselves, thinking we have the power to Control our Lives? To overcome the Storms of Life? That if we can just work harder, we can do it ourselves?
m. He Promises to be Faithful in our hardships—gives peace to each of us in spite of our troubles. Do not let your hearts be troubled… cast all your cares upon Him… take my yoke upon you…
n. The peace of God can transcend all understanding, all circumstances, all storms. The winds may be blowing around you, the rain may be falling, the floodwaters rising. You may feel that you are in the deepest, darkest valley away from God. But in reality, that is when He is closest—it may not always feel that way, but it is true.
But you cannot escape Him. LYRICS—Valleys Fill First
This is the valley that i'm walking through
And if fells like forever since
I've been close to you
My friends up above me don't
understand why i struggle like i do
My shadow's my only,only companion
and at night he leaves too
Down in the valley, dying of thirst
Down in the valley, it seems that i'm at my worst
My consolation is that you baptize this earth
When I'm down in the valley, valleys fill first
6. Questioning the Disciples
a. When Jesus comes and brings peace, He usually has some questions for us. As I said earlier, the disciples needed to be taken to the other side, they needed to move their understanding of Christ to the next level—to get their life out of the Normal and into the Supernatural. Changing how they know Jesus and Who they think He is
b. Their understanding of Jesus had to get bigger than the storm. Our understanding needs to Grow!
We need to change From seeing Him as a powerful teacher and healer, to one who is truly God Incarnate, One into whose hands we can trust our everyday, normal life and our Storms.
c. Jesus asks you and me the same questions that He asks them. Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Do you not really trust me? Do you not really know who I AM?
d. After all that you have seen in me, all that we have been through, do you still not believe that I AM the one in control?
e. When we go through storms, do you know what He so often asks us?
What took you so long to come to me? Why am I your last resort?
f. Come to me first, and let me give you rest, then, though the storm is raging, the winds will be calm and still in your heart and mind.
g. Peace in the Storm , Strength to endure it…is just as big a miracle as Calming the Storm.
h. In each case… we are often surprised. We respond with awe to who Jesus really is—Terrified—Who is this? We always seem to be amazed when God does something. Each time, we come back and say, “I don’t believe what just happened”. The “Mountains often look so big, but [our] faith just seems so small”. If you truly have faith in an awesome God, we can rejoice at His miracles without being surprised by them.
7. He wants us to come to Him, He wants to calm the storms in our lives. He may do it on the outside—changing the situation, He may only do it on the inside—calming your heart while the wind continues blowing.
• Both are miracles.
8. Jesus wants to move you out of Normal—it causes you to seek Him, to rely on Him and makes opportunities to See & Experience His Mighty Hand.
9. Are you ready to go Sailing in the Storm with Him?
Psalm 107:28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
107:29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
107:30 They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.
107:31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
The Pursuit Life
Showing posts with label Mark. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
12 Years of Bleeding, 12 Years of Living-- Mark :24-34
The previous sermon from Mark 5:24-34 where the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years was a blessing to study. God showed me some things I had not noticed before, applying them in ways I had not seen.
There was one thing that I was not willing to put in the sermon. It’s because it’s highly speculative and one of those, “I wouldn’t be surprised to find out in heaven that….” kind of moments. I was struck by Mark’s emphasis of numbers in the passage. The woman had been bleeding for 12 years, the daughter was alive for 12 years. That could easily be to emphasize to Jairus, Jesus’ power.
Again, what I’ll be saying is highly speculative and is likely to be wrong (i.e. don’t build a theology on it), but we serve a God who surprises us sometimes with His connections.
In 5:40, Jesus kicked out the mourners and took the father (Jairus) and the girl’s mother into the room where her body was. I addressed the story of Jairus and his daughter on Father’s Day. I had always assumed and read the account as if the girl’s mother was just waiting at home for Jairus to return with Jesus. Of course, she wouldn’t want to leave the girl’s side. That is the likely explanation—sometimes, simpler is better.
However, I was struck by the fact that the woman had been suffering her bleeding for 12 years and the little girl was 12 years old. What if, the bleeding woman was the girl’s mother and Jairus’ wife, who had complications from delivery that never fully healed?
Mark does not call her as such and most of the descriptions of her describe her as if she is cut off and depending on her own resources; without the protection of a husband. But I had thought that if she had been married before the bleeding started, that the husband may have put her out. Someone in Jairus’ position may have felt even more pressure to do so as a leader in the synagogue. How could he be such a leader if everything his wife touched was unclean, rendering him unclean?
So her coming to Jesus and experiencing healing, even going in peace and wholeness would have restored her to the community. Where could she go to? What if it also restored her to her husband and just follow him home to their daughter? What if in these healings, Jesus was restoring the life of the whole family? Raising not only a daughter back from the dead, but a marriage?
It was a touching thought, totally speculative, but one of those things that I want to ask about when I get there.
What would this add to our understanding of the passage? I can't say for sure. Why would it be hidden and concealed if true? I don't know that either. Like I said, just a thought that came to me that made me say, "hmmmm".
There’s a couple of others, like the location of the ram caught in the thicket, but if you want to know about that one, you’ll have to ask!
Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life
There was one thing that I was not willing to put in the sermon. It’s because it’s highly speculative and one of those, “I wouldn’t be surprised to find out in heaven that….” kind of moments. I was struck by Mark’s emphasis of numbers in the passage. The woman had been bleeding for 12 years, the daughter was alive for 12 years. That could easily be to emphasize to Jairus, Jesus’ power.
Again, what I’ll be saying is highly speculative and is likely to be wrong (i.e. don’t build a theology on it), but we serve a God who surprises us sometimes with His connections.
In 5:40, Jesus kicked out the mourners and took the father (Jairus) and the girl’s mother into the room where her body was. I addressed the story of Jairus and his daughter on Father’s Day. I had always assumed and read the account as if the girl’s mother was just waiting at home for Jairus to return with Jesus. Of course, she wouldn’t want to leave the girl’s side. That is the likely explanation—sometimes, simpler is better.
However, I was struck by the fact that the woman had been suffering her bleeding for 12 years and the little girl was 12 years old. What if, the bleeding woman was the girl’s mother and Jairus’ wife, who had complications from delivery that never fully healed?
Mark does not call her as such and most of the descriptions of her describe her as if she is cut off and depending on her own resources; without the protection of a husband. But I had thought that if she had been married before the bleeding started, that the husband may have put her out. Someone in Jairus’ position may have felt even more pressure to do so as a leader in the synagogue. How could he be such a leader if everything his wife touched was unclean, rendering him unclean?
So her coming to Jesus and experiencing healing, even going in peace and wholeness would have restored her to the community. Where could she go to? What if it also restored her to her husband and just follow him home to their daughter? What if in these healings, Jesus was restoring the life of the whole family? Raising not only a daughter back from the dead, but a marriage?
It was a touching thought, totally speculative, but one of those things that I want to ask about when I get there.
What would this add to our understanding of the passage? I can't say for sure. Why would it be hidden and concealed if true? I don't know that either. Like I said, just a thought that came to me that made me say, "hmmmm".
There’s a couple of others, like the location of the ram caught in the thicket, but if you want to know about that one, you’ll have to ask!
Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sermon--Mark 5:24-34--No Touch & Go Faith
Mark 5:24-34
There are some days that have too much to do and not enough time. I get frustrated at the rushed feeling when everything seems to take longer than it should, everyone seems to be moving slower than normal—it’s the old “a watched pot never boils” syndrome.
In the same way, when I’m in a hurry to do something, to be somewhere, to meet someone, that seems to be the greatest opportunity for the phone call, that is the greatest opportunity for flat tire, some kind of interruption to stop you from going on to something, somewhere else.
And I’ve learned over the years, that while annoying, at least when it’s the telemarketer, but those moments of interruption are many times a moment of great ministry. What is your interruption, is often God’s Redirection & Opportunity.
Jesus had one of those moments in Mark, as He was on His way with Jairus to see the man’s daughter who needed healing. They were in a hurry, time was short. To make matters worse, there was a crowd that slowed them down.
READ vs. 21-24
The way & streets were narrow so that the crowd was tightly bunched in. A celebrity was coming through, everyone had their camera, everyone wanted an autograph. Jesus’ entourage of body guards were trying to get Him through the crowd, hopefully gently pushing everyone aside because Jesus had something important to do. In a few verses, well get a sense of the exasperation of the disciples as they are trying to make their way through this crowd.
But in the midst of this slowdown, when nerves are getting frayed, another interruption occurred.
READ 25-28
The nerve of this lady—couldn’t she see that Jesus was busy, that He was in a hurry, that He shouldn’t be bothered? Yes, in many ways, she can see all of that. That’s one reason why she doesn’t want to make a big deal about it—she just wants to touch Jesus’ robe and be on her way. She believed, perhaps a bit superstitiously, that Jesus’ Power is great enough, that it would be transferred into His clothes—she doesn’t need a big miracle, she just needs a small dose of that power—she was after all desperate.
Look at the words used to describe her.
Suffering—for 12 years she had been bleeding—probably gynecological, enough to make her weak, uncertain of her future, but also unclean. She was embarrassed about her problem, she was shunned and looked down upon for her problem. If she didn’t think God was punishing her, then I’d expect many other people did think that.
Common attitudes would be: There must be some serious sin in her life for this to be happening to her. OR: She must not have very much faith to not experience healing for 12 years. To have a sickness, to have a disease that not only hurts, not only embarrasses, but cuts you off from the faith and from people and keeps them from getting close to you. Nothing has worked, nothing has cured--
Endured Much—even the kind of treatments that were given to her over the years did not produce healing, instead they produced more suffering. Rather than helping, they intensified the problem, increased the pain
Spent Everything—here was a woman, cut off in many ways, trying to support herself—spent everything she had, every penny she made assuming she could find any work, because everything she touched was considered unclean. But the money she spent was probably her own probably even her dowry for marriage. Because if she was married before this started, her husband probably got rid of her. She had laid aside any hope of her future, in order to try and get better. She spent it all—on doctors, sacrifices, on faith healers,—planting seeds in their ministry—with the promise of return. Rather than better, she was…
Worse, physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually,—nothing has improved for this woman. Her pain and suffering are real. She was essentially stuck—her life was on hold until she could be restored. She was captive to her disease—she couldn’t work, she couldn’t get married, she was a burden to her family. She is in desperate need of a Redeemer. Someone who would purchase her freedom. That is a hope that carries through the Old Testament.
JOB 19:25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
ISA 54:5 For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
ISA 35:8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.
ISA 35:9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
She Would be disqualified in her current state.
ISA 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
To need Redemption means that you are trapped, held captive and enslaved—trapped as a prisoner of war, trapped in debt, trapped as a slave, and you are held against your will, a captive—and you are unable to Free yourself, unable to change your own condition—you don’t have enough, you have no hope—and you are being auctioned off to the highest bidder. To be Redeemed means that you have been bought off the auctioning block and you have been set free. That’s what Jesus promised to do in His first teaching at a synagogue.
LUKE 4:18-21—quoting Isaiah 61
He comes as our Redeemer—redeeming us from Sin & Death, Redeeming us from the Kingdom of Darkness—where we are captives and dead in our sin—He Redeems us to Life, Light & Holiness
Jesus is on His way to Redeem a young girl from the clutches of death—and He is passing another one in need of redemption.
Here she was, her life on hold and she hears about Jesus being nearby. She believes, has faith that Jesus can heal her.
But she’s not supposed to go near Him. She’s not supposed to mingle with the tight crowds—because of her bleeding—but if she can just get one touch—that will be enough—that One Touch won’t bother Him, won’t interrupt Him, won’t embarrass Him, He’ll never know. I’ll just touch and go—He’ll be on His way, and I’ll be restored.
If I just get to Jesus all my problems will be solved.
Vs. 28
He’ll Never Notice—I’ll come and go, zip in & zip out, Touch & GO--disappear with my healing, disappear with what God has done for me. No one ever has to know. Maybe I’ll send Him a thank you card.
READ vs. 29, 31
Even the Disciples were of the same attitude—there’s a big crowd—we’re pressed in here like sardines—You’re in a hurry to save this other little girl. I’ve got too many people touching me already and you’re worried about someone you don’t even know. there are more important things to be worrying about Jesus.
But Jesus disregards all of that in search of the one who drew Redeeming power from Him. READ 30, 32
Even though the disciples had asked Jesus to move on—and they had many good reasons, there are a lot of people, there are more pressing things—Jesus does not follow their words and insistence—instead, He stops, turns around and asks—“Who touched my robes?”
1. One principle I see in this is that No matter what is going on in the World—Jesus will never ignore you, dismiss you or be too busy for you.
This woman waited for 12 years, so it’s not like if you do something, pray something, confess something, plant some seed, God is then Obligated to jump at your command and do your bidding—heal you on the spot, give you that great new job, that money, or whatever else—despite what Joel Osteen says.
God is under no obligation to do anything—but don’t confuse a “Not Yet” or even a “No” with “I’m not paying attention” or “I don’t care”. People…
the world may be on the brink of falling apart, international leaders might be struggling with a decision, Billy Graham may be on the hotline—but every single one of the hairs on your head are still numbered and not one of them falls to the ground without His notice.
Jesus stops the world essentially to address this woman.
“Who touched my clothes?”
He asks not because He didn’t know, but b/c He wanted the woman to come forward on her own and take another step of faith.
READ vs. 33
It was a great step of faith for her to reach out and touch Jesus—Jesus calls her to even more—One Step was not enough—He didn’t want her to remain in anonymity, but to publically show herself and the answer to her desperation.
It would have been so easy for her to disappear, to blend back into the crowd—to look around and pretend to scan the crowd for the real perpetrator—but she did not—she knew she had been touched, knew she had been healed, knew she had been made whole, knew she had been Redeemed.
She came forward, even though she was afraid—afraid of what? A harsh word? Condemnation? A withdrawal of the miracle and a return to her suffering? Whatever was going through her mind, she took another step of faith and came forward, fell at His feet and spoke the Truth--And the truth set her free.
This is a second principle to take from this passage. When God works in your life, He does not want us to be ashamed of it, to conceal it, to Hide it—to fade into the background, to disappear or to downplay what He has done for us--we shouldn’t hide out on the back row when God has done something wonderful that needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
God doesn’t want just a Touch & GO faith—He wants a lifetime of touches and steps—the same kind of faith that gave her the courage to reach out and touch Jesus in the first place is the kind of faith that gave her courage to acknowledge it was her, to fall at his feet, to speak the truth.
There was a miracle of faith in her healing, but there was also a miracle of faith in her Testimony.
READ vs. 34
Jesus knew who it was--He wants courage and boldness, not just to reach out to Jesus for healing and forgiveness, but to acknowledge His work.
Daughter—the only time in the Gospels that Jesus calls a woman by this title—your faith has healed you—other translations say “saved”—the word is often interchangeable for Physical & Spiritual Healing. Your Faith has Freed You! This woman was Redeemed—the power went out from Jesus, but it was in response to her faith. Did she have that kind of faith all along? I don’t know, but the Faith to believe, combined with the Right Divine Moment to produce a powerful Testimony to the Healing, Redeeming Power of Christ.
It was exactly the kind of testimony—messy as it was—that Jesus was looking for. You and I have been touched by the Master—we have a Testimony, we have a story to tell—you may look at your s and think that yours is not as dramatic, not as powerful, not as wonderful as hers was—but the spiritual transaction that brought her out of the Kingdom of Darkness is the same one that Saved You.
It takes Faith to open our mouths—it takes faith to tell someone about the Power of Christ at work in our life. Faith to Believe and the Right Divine Moment—we will miss it if we hang back in the crowd.
Now, who do you think benefitted from this woman’s Healing & Testimony?
Jesus called her His daughter--
Jesus is moving from one daughter to another daughter— Jairus benefitted.
The text does not say, but I would not be surprised to find out in Eternity that Jairus knew this woman. That she had come to the synagogue for years seeking prayer and cleansing. That as a leader in town, he knew of her affliction, had recommended doctors, recommended treatment, prayed for her.
The testimony of the woman, acknowledging this healing that had plagued her for 12 years--as long as Jairus’ daughter had been alive—strengthened his resolve as well.
“Wow—if Jesus can heal her—and she’s been sick for 12 years, I know He can heal my daughter.” He would have said.
So as he was escorting Jesus back to his home and the people came up saying, “It’s too late, your daughter is dead! Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
“Don’t be Afraid—Just Believe”
Hey if Jesus can heal her and she’s been bleeding for 12 years—I know He can heal, save, Redeem my daughter!”
Don’t you understand—so many people are out there hurting and in pain and they think their hurt, their sickness, their sin is so bad that not even Jesus can help them—they don’t believe it’s possible.
They need to hear from you the healing power—they need your courage of faith to not disappear into the crowd—not hole up on the back row—but hear of your Healing, Hear of your Restoration, Hear of Your Redeemer—they don’t believe because they’ve never seen it—they’ve not heard it from the Church—
we’re too afraid of our own sin, too embarrassed of our own past, too unwilling to step out of the crowd and say “Yes! I touched Him and He touched Me”
There is no sin that He cannot forgive—I doubt you will find many people in and on the streets of Macomb that has a sin in their life that is not somehow shared with people already here in this church. Sexual sin—hey come on in—we’re already here. Drug abuse—yeah, we tried that too—Jesus is helping us overcome that too. Financial failure—we’re here
Hey, God loves you and He can make you whole just like He did me. I Know My Redeemer Lives
There are some days that have too much to do and not enough time. I get frustrated at the rushed feeling when everything seems to take longer than it should, everyone seems to be moving slower than normal—it’s the old “a watched pot never boils” syndrome.
In the same way, when I’m in a hurry to do something, to be somewhere, to meet someone, that seems to be the greatest opportunity for the phone call, that is the greatest opportunity for flat tire, some kind of interruption to stop you from going on to something, somewhere else.
And I’ve learned over the years, that while annoying, at least when it’s the telemarketer, but those moments of interruption are many times a moment of great ministry. What is your interruption, is often God’s Redirection & Opportunity.
Jesus had one of those moments in Mark, as He was on His way with Jairus to see the man’s daughter who needed healing. They were in a hurry, time was short. To make matters worse, there was a crowd that slowed them down.
READ vs. 21-24
The way & streets were narrow so that the crowd was tightly bunched in. A celebrity was coming through, everyone had their camera, everyone wanted an autograph. Jesus’ entourage of body guards were trying to get Him through the crowd, hopefully gently pushing everyone aside because Jesus had something important to do. In a few verses, well get a sense of the exasperation of the disciples as they are trying to make their way through this crowd.
But in the midst of this slowdown, when nerves are getting frayed, another interruption occurred.
READ 25-28
The nerve of this lady—couldn’t she see that Jesus was busy, that He was in a hurry, that He shouldn’t be bothered? Yes, in many ways, she can see all of that. That’s one reason why she doesn’t want to make a big deal about it—she just wants to touch Jesus’ robe and be on her way. She believed, perhaps a bit superstitiously, that Jesus’ Power is great enough, that it would be transferred into His clothes—she doesn’t need a big miracle, she just needs a small dose of that power—she was after all desperate.
Look at the words used to describe her.
Suffering—for 12 years she had been bleeding—probably gynecological, enough to make her weak, uncertain of her future, but also unclean. She was embarrassed about her problem, she was shunned and looked down upon for her problem. If she didn’t think God was punishing her, then I’d expect many other people did think that.
Common attitudes would be: There must be some serious sin in her life for this to be happening to her. OR: She must not have very much faith to not experience healing for 12 years. To have a sickness, to have a disease that not only hurts, not only embarrasses, but cuts you off from the faith and from people and keeps them from getting close to you. Nothing has worked, nothing has cured--
Endured Much—even the kind of treatments that were given to her over the years did not produce healing, instead they produced more suffering. Rather than helping, they intensified the problem, increased the pain
Spent Everything—here was a woman, cut off in many ways, trying to support herself—spent everything she had, every penny she made assuming she could find any work, because everything she touched was considered unclean. But the money she spent was probably her own probably even her dowry for marriage. Because if she was married before this started, her husband probably got rid of her. She had laid aside any hope of her future, in order to try and get better. She spent it all—on doctors, sacrifices, on faith healers,—planting seeds in their ministry—with the promise of return. Rather than better, she was…
Worse, physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually,—nothing has improved for this woman. Her pain and suffering are real. She was essentially stuck—her life was on hold until she could be restored. She was captive to her disease—she couldn’t work, she couldn’t get married, she was a burden to her family. She is in desperate need of a Redeemer. Someone who would purchase her freedom. That is a hope that carries through the Old Testament.
JOB 19:25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
ISA 54:5 For your Maker is your husband-- the LORD Almighty is his name-- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
ISA 35:8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.
ISA 35:9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
She Would be disqualified in her current state.
ISA 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
To need Redemption means that you are trapped, held captive and enslaved—trapped as a prisoner of war, trapped in debt, trapped as a slave, and you are held against your will, a captive—and you are unable to Free yourself, unable to change your own condition—you don’t have enough, you have no hope—and you are being auctioned off to the highest bidder. To be Redeemed means that you have been bought off the auctioning block and you have been set free. That’s what Jesus promised to do in His first teaching at a synagogue.
LUKE 4:18-21—quoting Isaiah 61
He comes as our Redeemer—redeeming us from Sin & Death, Redeeming us from the Kingdom of Darkness—where we are captives and dead in our sin—He Redeems us to Life, Light & Holiness
Jesus is on His way to Redeem a young girl from the clutches of death—and He is passing another one in need of redemption.
Here she was, her life on hold and she hears about Jesus being nearby. She believes, has faith that Jesus can heal her.
But she’s not supposed to go near Him. She’s not supposed to mingle with the tight crowds—because of her bleeding—but if she can just get one touch—that will be enough—that One Touch won’t bother Him, won’t interrupt Him, won’t embarrass Him, He’ll never know. I’ll just touch and go—He’ll be on His way, and I’ll be restored.
If I just get to Jesus all my problems will be solved.
Vs. 28
He’ll Never Notice—I’ll come and go, zip in & zip out, Touch & GO--disappear with my healing, disappear with what God has done for me. No one ever has to know. Maybe I’ll send Him a thank you card.
READ vs. 29, 31
Even the Disciples were of the same attitude—there’s a big crowd—we’re pressed in here like sardines—You’re in a hurry to save this other little girl. I’ve got too many people touching me already and you’re worried about someone you don’t even know. there are more important things to be worrying about Jesus.
But Jesus disregards all of that in search of the one who drew Redeeming power from Him. READ 30, 32
Even though the disciples had asked Jesus to move on—and they had many good reasons, there are a lot of people, there are more pressing things—Jesus does not follow their words and insistence—instead, He stops, turns around and asks—“Who touched my robes?”
1. One principle I see in this is that No matter what is going on in the World—Jesus will never ignore you, dismiss you or be too busy for you.
This woman waited for 12 years, so it’s not like if you do something, pray something, confess something, plant some seed, God is then Obligated to jump at your command and do your bidding—heal you on the spot, give you that great new job, that money, or whatever else—despite what Joel Osteen says.
God is under no obligation to do anything—but don’t confuse a “Not Yet” or even a “No” with “I’m not paying attention” or “I don’t care”. People…
the world may be on the brink of falling apart, international leaders might be struggling with a decision, Billy Graham may be on the hotline—but every single one of the hairs on your head are still numbered and not one of them falls to the ground without His notice.
Jesus stops the world essentially to address this woman.
“Who touched my clothes?”
He asks not because He didn’t know, but b/c He wanted the woman to come forward on her own and take another step of faith.
READ vs. 33
It was a great step of faith for her to reach out and touch Jesus—Jesus calls her to even more—One Step was not enough—He didn’t want her to remain in anonymity, but to publically show herself and the answer to her desperation.
It would have been so easy for her to disappear, to blend back into the crowd—to look around and pretend to scan the crowd for the real perpetrator—but she did not—she knew she had been touched, knew she had been healed, knew she had been made whole, knew she had been Redeemed.
She came forward, even though she was afraid—afraid of what? A harsh word? Condemnation? A withdrawal of the miracle and a return to her suffering? Whatever was going through her mind, she took another step of faith and came forward, fell at His feet and spoke the Truth--And the truth set her free.
This is a second principle to take from this passage. When God works in your life, He does not want us to be ashamed of it, to conceal it, to Hide it—to fade into the background, to disappear or to downplay what He has done for us--we shouldn’t hide out on the back row when God has done something wonderful that needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
God doesn’t want just a Touch & GO faith—He wants a lifetime of touches and steps—the same kind of faith that gave her the courage to reach out and touch Jesus in the first place is the kind of faith that gave her courage to acknowledge it was her, to fall at his feet, to speak the truth.
There was a miracle of faith in her healing, but there was also a miracle of faith in her Testimony.
READ vs. 34
Jesus knew who it was--He wants courage and boldness, not just to reach out to Jesus for healing and forgiveness, but to acknowledge His work.
Daughter—the only time in the Gospels that Jesus calls a woman by this title—your faith has healed you—other translations say “saved”—the word is often interchangeable for Physical & Spiritual Healing. Your Faith has Freed You! This woman was Redeemed—the power went out from Jesus, but it was in response to her faith. Did she have that kind of faith all along? I don’t know, but the Faith to believe, combined with the Right Divine Moment to produce a powerful Testimony to the Healing, Redeeming Power of Christ.
It was exactly the kind of testimony—messy as it was—that Jesus was looking for. You and I have been touched by the Master—we have a Testimony, we have a story to tell—you may look at your s and think that yours is not as dramatic, not as powerful, not as wonderful as hers was—but the spiritual transaction that brought her out of the Kingdom of Darkness is the same one that Saved You.
It takes Faith to open our mouths—it takes faith to tell someone about the Power of Christ at work in our life. Faith to Believe and the Right Divine Moment—we will miss it if we hang back in the crowd.
Now, who do you think benefitted from this woman’s Healing & Testimony?
Jesus called her His daughter--
Jesus is moving from one daughter to another daughter— Jairus benefitted.
The text does not say, but I would not be surprised to find out in Eternity that Jairus knew this woman. That she had come to the synagogue for years seeking prayer and cleansing. That as a leader in town, he knew of her affliction, had recommended doctors, recommended treatment, prayed for her.
The testimony of the woman, acknowledging this healing that had plagued her for 12 years--as long as Jairus’ daughter had been alive—strengthened his resolve as well.
“Wow—if Jesus can heal her—and she’s been sick for 12 years, I know He can heal my daughter.” He would have said.
So as he was escorting Jesus back to his home and the people came up saying, “It’s too late, your daughter is dead! Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
“Don’t be Afraid—Just Believe”
Hey if Jesus can heal her and she’s been bleeding for 12 years—I know He can heal, save, Redeem my daughter!”
Don’t you understand—so many people are out there hurting and in pain and they think their hurt, their sickness, their sin is so bad that not even Jesus can help them—they don’t believe it’s possible.
They need to hear from you the healing power—they need your courage of faith to not disappear into the crowd—not hole up on the back row—but hear of your Healing, Hear of your Restoration, Hear of Your Redeemer—they don’t believe because they’ve never seen it—they’ve not heard it from the Church—
we’re too afraid of our own sin, too embarrassed of our own past, too unwilling to step out of the crowd and say “Yes! I touched Him and He touched Me”
There is no sin that He cannot forgive—I doubt you will find many people in and on the streets of Macomb that has a sin in their life that is not somehow shared with people already here in this church. Sexual sin—hey come on in—we’re already here. Drug abuse—yeah, we tried that too—Jesus is helping us overcome that too. Financial failure—we’re here
Hey, God loves you and He can make you whole just like He did me. I Know My Redeemer Lives
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Sermon--Sowing & Fruitfulness--Mark 4:1-20
Mark 4:1-20--Sowing & Fruitfulness
Read Vs. 10-11
God Has Entrusted You with a Secret, a Mystery—the Kingdom of God
• This Secret, this mystery is not supposed to stay that way
• This secret is not meant to be hoarded or locked away—it’s not supposed to stay unclear, hidden or obscure
• This secret is to be told to everyone possible
• They mystery revealed
• This secret will not be understood by everyone
• Only faith comprehends the secret
Sower & Soils—READ 4:1-9
The consistent thing in the whole parable is the fact that the Sower was busy about the work of Scattering the Seed—scattering the Word—leaving the results up to God—see vs. 26-29—The sower is not responsible for the growth of the seed—God is—
The sower is responsible to sow the seed. Just like a farmer has to prepare the ground and plant the seed in anticipation of the rains—he must be faithful to prepare, to plant before the rains come—believing that what is needed will come. He cannot wait until he sees the rain, then the ground will not be prepared, the crop not ready to receive the blessing.
It is my firm belief that Individuals are to be Sowers and Churches as a whole are to be Sowers.
But it is not always easy.
14-15—they hear, but Satan takes it away
We are responsible to sow the word, sow the gospel, sow Jesus—many times, over and over again.
In many cases, neither you nor the church will receive any direct benefit from it. Much of what we do will not return to us. The seed falls and it does not produce the fruit of a changed life.
But God still sees the Sower as Faithful—the growth is a factor of the Work of God and the condition of the Heart upon whom it lands. God will hold the sower responsible if he fails or is unwilling to sow the seed in the same way that a Watchman in Ezek. 33 is held responsible for the blood of those who die because they neglect their duty on the wall.
We must be about Sowing. Much of our efforts to share the secret, the mystery of the Kingdom of God will be like this—you throw it out there but it never takes root. It comes back without fruit—it is snatched away—the enemy keeps someone in chains.
We tend to look at that as a failure—as somehow a lack of faith—but it is not so.
Some may look at it as the foolishness of the sower to waste such seed on the path—he should be more careful and only put it in the places he knows it will take root. That’s “spending his money wisely”. But do not think for a moment that the Word is void even in this situation. It is by no means void—it will not return
void—
Isaiah 55: ISA 55:10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
ISA 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Even the word on the path, accomplishes what He desires—it may be one step, one act of soil preparation in the path of the person hearing the word. It may be removing any excuse or defense—actually increasing the rightness of God’s judgment. But regardless of what happens with the one on whom the seed falls—
Sowing the Good News, sowing God’s Word changes the Sower—the more the Sower sows, the greater the closeness to, the dependence on, the trust and expectation from God.
He who sows little, harvests little. Those who sow sparingly are not trusting of the one who has called, hired, and told them to sow.
“Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them” Satan also uses that in the heart of the sower—to discourage you from sowing any more, to dissuade you from the hope of ever seeing a harvest.
How long has it been since you’ve been a part of a harvest? Have you forgotten the joy and thrill of seeing someone respond in faith—to see the light ignite in their hearts and eyes? Has it kept you from sharing your story, from inviting, from praying at all?
Satan comes to steal it away to keep faith from taking root, and also with the hope of stopping the sower.
READ vs. 16-17
There are many people that the church meets, speaks to, and shares Christ with and respond. There’s an excitement, there’s an expectation. Both the Sower and the Receiver are greatly encouraged. They respond to your invitation and come to try it out—but quickly conclude that it’s not for them—so they quickly disappear—we no longer see them. Often, they may stay for a while, but eventually they will move on to something new. Maybe they see difficulty and trouble and move on, maybe they will see strife, gossip and bickering, maybe they will get their feelings hurt.
That is the pattern of church shopping and hopping. “if you ever find the perfect church—don’t join it because you will instantly corrupt it.”
Fewer and fewer will stay in one church for their whole lives, very few who will be committed to one denomination over their lives. How many of you grew up SBC? Churches are constantly seeing people come in and leave—even in the best and most healthy churches this happens.
I just spoke to the minister who married Vicky and I—the pastor of a good and vibrant church and ministry, he’s been the pastor of the church for about 20 years. He told me his church is currently plateaued because they are losing (despite their best efforts) just as many new people they bring in.
70% of SBC churches are plateaued or declining. Worse, only 11% of SBC churches were experiencing healthy growth.
People leave and move on from churches regularly—it is not unusual— In part, this is what we’re seeing now—for various reasons people are moving on—you and I both know of those who have responded, visited, and left quickly. Some may have stayed for a while but were never planning on staying for long. Still others, as you know, are retiring and relocating.
Some of the causes for people leaving are recent, other causes have been simmering for years, some are the typical pattern of the church in America—especially here—as I was told when my family first moved here—the mobility of the university population has for many years been considered a hindrance to growth at UBC.
This situation—those who receive it—only for a short time—can again very discouraging for the Sower. Why bother to invest the seed, the time when it’s not going to last? Affliction and trouble is just going to undo what we’ve been trying to do.
That kind of discouragement—for the Sower, for those who stay is what contributes to the next: READ vs. 18-19
These are ones in which the faith has grown—they have had all the time to grow, they are in the time of harvest, but when checked for fruit, they have little to none. In relation to the church, these are the ones who have sat in the pew all their lives and never invited, never shared, never led anyone to Christ.
It is possible to hear the word, to receive it and still be Unfruitful. Because of discouragement, but also other things beside their walk with Christ become more important, become obstacles to true faithfulness—nothing happens in their life even though they’ve been sitting in the pews every Sunday and nothing happens—There is no Power, there is No sense of Victory, no Demonstration of the Work of the Spirit.
Sure they may be getting fed the word, some of the fruit of the Spirit grows in them, but it’s as if they are grain forever locked up in the storehouse—they never get out and contribute to a crop of their own.
Here is the cause—
• worries of life distract us from our true mission—
• the deceitfulness or seduction of wealth—get in the way, desires for other things—
• things less important keep us from doing what is truly important.
Every church has people drop out and disappear—we should never accept it or take it lightly, However, when people leave they typically have a reason. we should seek to be corrective when the church is or other members are at fault, forgiving, redeeming, reconciling and amiable.
However, the thing that will kill any church is not people who leave—the thing that kills a church is a
Failure to Sow and Sow a lot and Sow Generously, Lavishly.
Hoarding the Seed may allow you to eat for a little while, but your Future is Gone.
Not Reaching out to new people, not inviting, not sharing, not grabbing hold of the mission of Christ and taking it out to those who do not have a church home, who don’t want one. Having no love for the lost, no urgency to their salvation is a sign that the Weeds have come up and chocked out our Fruitfulness.
“Over time, most churches plateau, and most eventually decline. Typically, they start strong or experience periods of growth, but then they stagnate. Patterns and traditions that once seemed special eventually lose their meaning. Churches that were once outwardly focused eventually become worried about the wrong things. They become more concerned about a well used policy manual than a well used baptistery.”—pg 17
We must reconnect with our mission—the one Jesus gave to us as a reason for existence here on earth—we must recapture an urgency for sowing by awakening a true love and concern for the lost. Jesus outside of Jerusalem wept for those unwilling to embrace Him in faith. And our attitude according to Philippians 2 is to be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
It’s not going to be by memorizing a new outline though that may help you, but by continuing to fight, not losing hope, continuing to sow and trust the results to God—He makes it all grow.
A growing church requires each person using their gifts to serve and minister to others, sharing their life story, deliberately seeking out and praying for their friends, neighbors and co-workers, requires each person to be a growing and fruitful disciple. Fruitfulness is one way to measure growth. Fruitlessness is one way to measure distraction.
If you don’t ever share your story, if you don’t ever pray for another person in person, if you don’t ever invite anyone to church, or tell them of the life-changing power of Jesus Christ—then you are missing something as a disciple of Christ. And the church is missing something from it’s body—one thing that means is that we are unfruitful. Sowing People make a Sowing Church.
I’ve been asking around, asking previous members and ministers and observing and my fear is that we are not a sowing church. That’s why we can see almost a generation and a half missing from the church. We have children & youth and then roughly 45’s and up. The only ones in the 20-30’s range are on staff.
If our church were to close its doors today, would anyone besides our own member notice?
Would the city be saddened because such a great community-transformation partner—a missionary of impact was gone? Or would it even miss a beat?
Jesus is the Light of the World—but in Matt. 5:14 He calls us the light of the world—the light that should not be hidden,
The light we have is not meant to be hidden, the mystery and secret we have been given is not meant to be concealed.
Vs. 22, 24-25
We must hold on to the hope that is found in vs. 20—that those who receive and become fruitful will produce a wonderful harvest.
The Heart of a Sower—
I’ve got this seed—I’ve been saving it—it is precious—it is the future—it is the future of my family, it is the future of my people—only by scattering and being generous with this precious seed do any of us have any hope. I can’t guarantee the harvest, for each seed, I don’t know if it will produce anything, if I will see any harvest from it. I have faith & hope. The only thing I am certain of is that I don’t scatter it—there will be no harvest.
Individually, you must be a sower—scattering the seed of your faith at every possible moment. But even bigger than you individually—our family, our fellowship must be a sowing church.
Only if we are willing to sow will we ever see an increase. We need, I believe to repent of our unwillingness to sow.
Read Vs. 10-11
God Has Entrusted You with a Secret, a Mystery—the Kingdom of God
• This Secret, this mystery is not supposed to stay that way
• This secret is not meant to be hoarded or locked away—it’s not supposed to stay unclear, hidden or obscure
• This secret is to be told to everyone possible
• They mystery revealed
• This secret will not be understood by everyone
• Only faith comprehends the secret
Sower & Soils—READ 4:1-9
The consistent thing in the whole parable is the fact that the Sower was busy about the work of Scattering the Seed—scattering the Word—leaving the results up to God—see vs. 26-29—The sower is not responsible for the growth of the seed—God is—
The sower is responsible to sow the seed. Just like a farmer has to prepare the ground and plant the seed in anticipation of the rains—he must be faithful to prepare, to plant before the rains come—believing that what is needed will come. He cannot wait until he sees the rain, then the ground will not be prepared, the crop not ready to receive the blessing.
It is my firm belief that Individuals are to be Sowers and Churches as a whole are to be Sowers.
But it is not always easy.
14-15—they hear, but Satan takes it away
We are responsible to sow the word, sow the gospel, sow Jesus—many times, over and over again.
In many cases, neither you nor the church will receive any direct benefit from it. Much of what we do will not return to us. The seed falls and it does not produce the fruit of a changed life.
But God still sees the Sower as Faithful—the growth is a factor of the Work of God and the condition of the Heart upon whom it lands. God will hold the sower responsible if he fails or is unwilling to sow the seed in the same way that a Watchman in Ezek. 33 is held responsible for the blood of those who die because they neglect their duty on the wall.
We must be about Sowing. Much of our efforts to share the secret, the mystery of the Kingdom of God will be like this—you throw it out there but it never takes root. It comes back without fruit—it is snatched away—the enemy keeps someone in chains.
We tend to look at that as a failure—as somehow a lack of faith—but it is not so.
Some may look at it as the foolishness of the sower to waste such seed on the path—he should be more careful and only put it in the places he knows it will take root. That’s “spending his money wisely”. But do not think for a moment that the Word is void even in this situation. It is by no means void—it will not return
void—
Isaiah 55: ISA 55:10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
ISA 55:11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
Even the word on the path, accomplishes what He desires—it may be one step, one act of soil preparation in the path of the person hearing the word. It may be removing any excuse or defense—actually increasing the rightness of God’s judgment. But regardless of what happens with the one on whom the seed falls—
Sowing the Good News, sowing God’s Word changes the Sower—the more the Sower sows, the greater the closeness to, the dependence on, the trust and expectation from God.
He who sows little, harvests little. Those who sow sparingly are not trusting of the one who has called, hired, and told them to sow.
“Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them” Satan also uses that in the heart of the sower—to discourage you from sowing any more, to dissuade you from the hope of ever seeing a harvest.
How long has it been since you’ve been a part of a harvest? Have you forgotten the joy and thrill of seeing someone respond in faith—to see the light ignite in their hearts and eyes? Has it kept you from sharing your story, from inviting, from praying at all?
Satan comes to steal it away to keep faith from taking root, and also with the hope of stopping the sower.
READ vs. 16-17
There are many people that the church meets, speaks to, and shares Christ with and respond. There’s an excitement, there’s an expectation. Both the Sower and the Receiver are greatly encouraged. They respond to your invitation and come to try it out—but quickly conclude that it’s not for them—so they quickly disappear—we no longer see them. Often, they may stay for a while, but eventually they will move on to something new. Maybe they see difficulty and trouble and move on, maybe they will see strife, gossip and bickering, maybe they will get their feelings hurt.
That is the pattern of church shopping and hopping. “if you ever find the perfect church—don’t join it because you will instantly corrupt it.”
Fewer and fewer will stay in one church for their whole lives, very few who will be committed to one denomination over their lives. How many of you grew up SBC? Churches are constantly seeing people come in and leave—even in the best and most healthy churches this happens.
I just spoke to the minister who married Vicky and I—the pastor of a good and vibrant church and ministry, he’s been the pastor of the church for about 20 years. He told me his church is currently plateaued because they are losing (despite their best efforts) just as many new people they bring in.
70% of SBC churches are plateaued or declining. Worse, only 11% of SBC churches were experiencing healthy growth.
People leave and move on from churches regularly—it is not unusual— In part, this is what we’re seeing now—for various reasons people are moving on—you and I both know of those who have responded, visited, and left quickly. Some may have stayed for a while but were never planning on staying for long. Still others, as you know, are retiring and relocating.
Some of the causes for people leaving are recent, other causes have been simmering for years, some are the typical pattern of the church in America—especially here—as I was told when my family first moved here—the mobility of the university population has for many years been considered a hindrance to growth at UBC.
This situation—those who receive it—only for a short time—can again very discouraging for the Sower. Why bother to invest the seed, the time when it’s not going to last? Affliction and trouble is just going to undo what we’ve been trying to do.
That kind of discouragement—for the Sower, for those who stay is what contributes to the next: READ vs. 18-19
These are ones in which the faith has grown—they have had all the time to grow, they are in the time of harvest, but when checked for fruit, they have little to none. In relation to the church, these are the ones who have sat in the pew all their lives and never invited, never shared, never led anyone to Christ.
It is possible to hear the word, to receive it and still be Unfruitful. Because of discouragement, but also other things beside their walk with Christ become more important, become obstacles to true faithfulness—nothing happens in their life even though they’ve been sitting in the pews every Sunday and nothing happens—There is no Power, there is No sense of Victory, no Demonstration of the Work of the Spirit.
Sure they may be getting fed the word, some of the fruit of the Spirit grows in them, but it’s as if they are grain forever locked up in the storehouse—they never get out and contribute to a crop of their own.
Here is the cause—
• worries of life distract us from our true mission—
• the deceitfulness or seduction of wealth—get in the way, desires for other things—
• things less important keep us from doing what is truly important.
Every church has people drop out and disappear—we should never accept it or take it lightly, However, when people leave they typically have a reason. we should seek to be corrective when the church is or other members are at fault, forgiving, redeeming, reconciling and amiable.
However, the thing that will kill any church is not people who leave—the thing that kills a church is a
Failure to Sow and Sow a lot and Sow Generously, Lavishly.
Hoarding the Seed may allow you to eat for a little while, but your Future is Gone.
Not Reaching out to new people, not inviting, not sharing, not grabbing hold of the mission of Christ and taking it out to those who do not have a church home, who don’t want one. Having no love for the lost, no urgency to their salvation is a sign that the Weeds have come up and chocked out our Fruitfulness.
“Over time, most churches plateau, and most eventually decline. Typically, they start strong or experience periods of growth, but then they stagnate. Patterns and traditions that once seemed special eventually lose their meaning. Churches that were once outwardly focused eventually become worried about the wrong things. They become more concerned about a well used policy manual than a well used baptistery.”—pg 17
We must reconnect with our mission—the one Jesus gave to us as a reason for existence here on earth—we must recapture an urgency for sowing by awakening a true love and concern for the lost. Jesus outside of Jerusalem wept for those unwilling to embrace Him in faith. And our attitude according to Philippians 2 is to be the same as that of Christ Jesus.
It’s not going to be by memorizing a new outline though that may help you, but by continuing to fight, not losing hope, continuing to sow and trust the results to God—He makes it all grow.
A growing church requires each person using their gifts to serve and minister to others, sharing their life story, deliberately seeking out and praying for their friends, neighbors and co-workers, requires each person to be a growing and fruitful disciple. Fruitfulness is one way to measure growth. Fruitlessness is one way to measure distraction.
If you don’t ever share your story, if you don’t ever pray for another person in person, if you don’t ever invite anyone to church, or tell them of the life-changing power of Jesus Christ—then you are missing something as a disciple of Christ. And the church is missing something from it’s body—one thing that means is that we are unfruitful. Sowing People make a Sowing Church.
I’ve been asking around, asking previous members and ministers and observing and my fear is that we are not a sowing church. That’s why we can see almost a generation and a half missing from the church. We have children & youth and then roughly 45’s and up. The only ones in the 20-30’s range are on staff.
If our church were to close its doors today, would anyone besides our own member notice?
Would the city be saddened because such a great community-transformation partner—a missionary of impact was gone? Or would it even miss a beat?
Jesus is the Light of the World—but in Matt. 5:14 He calls us the light of the world—the light that should not be hidden,
The light we have is not meant to be hidden, the mystery and secret we have been given is not meant to be concealed.
Vs. 22, 24-25
We must hold on to the hope that is found in vs. 20—that those who receive and become fruitful will produce a wonderful harvest.
The Heart of a Sower—
I’ve got this seed—I’ve been saving it—it is precious—it is the future—it is the future of my family, it is the future of my people—only by scattering and being generous with this precious seed do any of us have any hope. I can’t guarantee the harvest, for each seed, I don’t know if it will produce anything, if I will see any harvest from it. I have faith & hope. The only thing I am certain of is that I don’t scatter it—there will be no harvest.
Individually, you must be a sower—scattering the seed of your faith at every possible moment. But even bigger than you individually—our family, our fellowship must be a sowing church.
Only if we are willing to sow will we ever see an increase. We need, I believe to repent of our unwillingness to sow.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sermon--Offensive Power-- 5/18/08
The Audio for this message is better
READ Mark 3:20-22a
Why would Pharisees be sent from Jerusalem to Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee to check out a small fish like Jesus?
Looking at the life of Jesus in the early chapters of Mark, you’d see that for the most part, He’s still in the popular stage. Crowds are surging to Him. People are coming from all over to see and hear the spectacle that is Jesus. Word travels to the great halls of Jerusalem—“what do we do with this new teacher? He’s able to do things we’ve never seen. He teaches with an authority all His own. What do we do about this guy?”
So a dispatch is sent out. To find Jesus, see what He’s up to, make a judgment.
Both Matthew and Luke introduce this confrontation with the Pharisees by talking about the healing of a demon possessed man—Matthew tells us he is deaf and mute.
• They look at this man and do not rejoice at his healing. Rather they sneer at it just like they had the man healed on the Sabbath.
• They see Jesus’ popularity and don’t like it. After all God is not always popular so Jesus must be just playing to the crowd.
• They hear His teaching and are offended by it.
• They see His power over sickness and the demonic and they envy it—“wow—I can’t do that on my best day.”
• They saw the issue—crowds flocking to Jesus—“not one of us”—and away from them
• They hear His call to Faith and are unmoved by it.
They made certain Assumptions
• We’ve seen this type before and they turned out to be false
• We know we’re good and right with God
• We know we’re God’s Chosen
• We know we have the truth
• We know we serve as guardians of the truth
• We know Jesus is not one of our approved representatives
They came to certain Conclusions
• He’s not one of us, not our friend, so He must be our enemy and a false teacher
• If He’s our enemy, He must also be God’s enemy
• If He’s God’s enemy, He must not be teaching God’s Truth, nor have God’s Power, nor God’s Spirit
• If He has neither God’s power, nor God’s Spirit and He doesn’t teach God’s Truth—then the only other way Jesus could do all these things is if He is filled with Demonic Power.
READ 3:22
This is a reasonable course of action—you investigate an issue, you think it over, make some assumptions, weigh it over experience, you come to a conclusion—basic problem solving follows this line of thinking.
But what if some of your assumptions are wrong? What if some of the experiences you had before do not apply? Because what Jesus likes to do is shatter our paradigms—work outside our box, and do those types of things that totally aggravate and upset us.
But Jesus, according to Matthew, “knew their thoughts” and called them to Him.
READ 3:23-30
Jesus knew their thoughts and knew they were wrong.
Something totally different is going on Here
The Jews acknowledge that Jesus is driving out demons and curing the sick. What they want to discredit is how He is doing it. He’s doing it in a way and with an authority that those who came down from Jerusalem don’t have—and they know it.
They accuse Jesus of working by demonic power, but Matthew establishes that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit. Just before the parallel passage, Matthew says this:
Matt. 12:17—“This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations.”
So it cannot be a demonic spirit that Jesus works by—If Satan were to drive out other demonic powers, then his Kingdom is divided. Even Jesus recognizes that Divide and Conquer works—just as Satan knows that and tries to do that even among the church.
Matt 12:27—“If I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?”
These Pharisees claimed to drive out demons—Acts19:13-16—“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Divide and Conquer is not how God will defeat Satan—Satan won’t be beaten on a technicality, by sneak attack, luck or cunning—he will be completely overpowered.
By casting out demons, setting Prisoners free, Jesus is raiding the Strong Man’s House. Jesus—“I AM the one who enchains the Strong Man—I AM the One who plunders his property, his kingdom”
Revelation describes Satan being captured and bound, enchained before being thrown into the pit.
Colossians 1:13—“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
He is the One, who by the Power of the Cross, by the blood that was shed, by His death and Resurrection—He is the One who paid it all. He is the One who has bound up the strong man and pillaged his kingdom.
The Pharisees had it all wrong—it was not the demonic at work, it was the Holy Spirit who worked in Jesus—blaspheming Him is the continual ongoing rejection of the Holy Spirit to call you to faith and point you to Christ. This wasn’t the first time the Pharisees had rejected what was right before them and it wasn’t the last time. Some of their hearts are so hard they will never believe even if someone were to rise from the dead.
If you worry that you have committed the unpardonable sin then you haven’t—because anyone who has will be so hardened of heart that they won’t care or worry about it. when your heart becomes calloused and unresponsive to God and His leading—then you’re in trouble--
But the Pharisees they came down to make a judgment and it was reasonable but wrong.
In the same way—there have been many in the SBC of late responding to Annual Church Profiles, declines in church membership & participation—many of you are considering the same types of things here at the local level—but nationally, some are saying it’s no big deal—it’s just a change in reporting, it’s just a problem of –we must stay the course—just keep doing what we’re doing.
President of the SBC—Frank Paige—on May 1st.
“The Southern Baptist Convention is rapidly dying and resistance to change could kill more than half of the denomination’s churches by 2030.
“Many Southern Baptist churches are small groups of white people who are holding on until the end. Not only have we not reached out to younger generations, but we have failed to reach out to ethnic minorities who are all around us. Rather than embracing a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality to change and restore a local church to health, many pastors and churches have chosen to die rather than change, and they are doing it.”
Unless something is done to reverse the downward trend, Southern Baptist churches could number only 20,000—down from the current total of more than 44,000—in fewer than 22 years,
http://westernrecorder.com/wr/WRSITE.nsf/stories/200820-ChurchesDying
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, said there is no escaping the fact that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did. LifeWay gathers the year-to-year information on the convention's behalf. According to the ACP statistics reported by Southern Baptist churches, baptisms in 2007 dropped nearly 5.5 percent to 345,941, compared to 364,826 in 2006.
“This report is truly disheartening,” Rainer said. “Total membership showed a slight decline. Baptisms have now declined for three consecutive years and for seven of the last eight years, and are at their lowest level since 1987.
“Indeed, the total baptisms are among the lowest reported since 1970. We are a denomination that, for the most part, has lost its evangelistic passion.”
UBC is not alone in our current struggle—and we would be wrong to jump to conclusions and point fingers of blame. Blame is the division of the enemy and our Kingdom cannot stand if we are divided.
If we are to survive as a congregation, then we must be willing to have our hearts broken—be willing to do whatever it takes—give all of ourselves—more than just band-aids on problems that require surgery. This is not some intellectual exercise, we cannot keep each other, we cannot keep God at a distance
We must come before God and truly lay our hearts down before Him, cast all our cares and uncertainties upon Him—not praying against each other, but praying for each other, praying blessing upon each other, praying successful ministry upon each other, praying for boldness, praying for a heart for the lost, a lack of fear, pray for children to fill this sanctuary with all their bustle and noise, pray for the lost and hurting with all their messy lives to be here for healing.
If there is any day, if there is any time to come forward, not for salvation, not for some closeted, secret sin, but just to come in brokenness and concern for our church… today is the day. Do not let your hearts be hardened. Come down here today, and we as a body as His people will get before Him and humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, turning for ways that are displeasing to Him and cry out for His Healing & Restoration.
Ed Stetzer
"People will not change until the pain of remaining the same exceeds the pain of change."
We must move from a Come and See mindset, a I come to be Served, I come to be fed mindset to a Go and Tell mindset, a I come to serve mindset, I come to feed the spiritually starving.
READ Mark 3:20-22a
Why would Pharisees be sent from Jerusalem to Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee to check out a small fish like Jesus?
Looking at the life of Jesus in the early chapters of Mark, you’d see that for the most part, He’s still in the popular stage. Crowds are surging to Him. People are coming from all over to see and hear the spectacle that is Jesus. Word travels to the great halls of Jerusalem—“what do we do with this new teacher? He’s able to do things we’ve never seen. He teaches with an authority all His own. What do we do about this guy?”
So a dispatch is sent out. To find Jesus, see what He’s up to, make a judgment.
Both Matthew and Luke introduce this confrontation with the Pharisees by talking about the healing of a demon possessed man—Matthew tells us he is deaf and mute.
• They look at this man and do not rejoice at his healing. Rather they sneer at it just like they had the man healed on the Sabbath.
• They see Jesus’ popularity and don’t like it. After all God is not always popular so Jesus must be just playing to the crowd.
• They hear His teaching and are offended by it.
• They see His power over sickness and the demonic and they envy it—“wow—I can’t do that on my best day.”
• They saw the issue—crowds flocking to Jesus—“not one of us”—and away from them
• They hear His call to Faith and are unmoved by it.
They made certain Assumptions
• We’ve seen this type before and they turned out to be false
• We know we’re good and right with God
• We know we’re God’s Chosen
• We know we have the truth
• We know we serve as guardians of the truth
• We know Jesus is not one of our approved representatives
They came to certain Conclusions
• He’s not one of us, not our friend, so He must be our enemy and a false teacher
• If He’s our enemy, He must also be God’s enemy
• If He’s God’s enemy, He must not be teaching God’s Truth, nor have God’s Power, nor God’s Spirit
• If He has neither God’s power, nor God’s Spirit and He doesn’t teach God’s Truth—then the only other way Jesus could do all these things is if He is filled with Demonic Power.
READ 3:22
This is a reasonable course of action—you investigate an issue, you think it over, make some assumptions, weigh it over experience, you come to a conclusion—basic problem solving follows this line of thinking.
But what if some of your assumptions are wrong? What if some of the experiences you had before do not apply? Because what Jesus likes to do is shatter our paradigms—work outside our box, and do those types of things that totally aggravate and upset us.
But Jesus, according to Matthew, “knew their thoughts” and called them to Him.
READ 3:23-30
Jesus knew their thoughts and knew they were wrong.
Something totally different is going on Here
The Jews acknowledge that Jesus is driving out demons and curing the sick. What they want to discredit is how He is doing it. He’s doing it in a way and with an authority that those who came down from Jerusalem don’t have—and they know it.
They accuse Jesus of working by demonic power, but Matthew establishes that Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit. Just before the parallel passage, Matthew says this:
Matt. 12:17—“This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations.”
So it cannot be a demonic spirit that Jesus works by—If Satan were to drive out other demonic powers, then his Kingdom is divided. Even Jesus recognizes that Divide and Conquer works—just as Satan knows that and tries to do that even among the church.
Matt 12:27—“If I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?”
These Pharisees claimed to drive out demons—Acts19:13-16—“Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Divide and Conquer is not how God will defeat Satan—Satan won’t be beaten on a technicality, by sneak attack, luck or cunning—he will be completely overpowered.
By casting out demons, setting Prisoners free, Jesus is raiding the Strong Man’s House. Jesus—“I AM the one who enchains the Strong Man—I AM the One who plunders his property, his kingdom”
Revelation describes Satan being captured and bound, enchained before being thrown into the pit.
Colossians 1:13—“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
He is the One, who by the Power of the Cross, by the blood that was shed, by His death and Resurrection—He is the One who paid it all. He is the One who has bound up the strong man and pillaged his kingdom.
The Pharisees had it all wrong—it was not the demonic at work, it was the Holy Spirit who worked in Jesus—blaspheming Him is the continual ongoing rejection of the Holy Spirit to call you to faith and point you to Christ. This wasn’t the first time the Pharisees had rejected what was right before them and it wasn’t the last time. Some of their hearts are so hard they will never believe even if someone were to rise from the dead.
If you worry that you have committed the unpardonable sin then you haven’t—because anyone who has will be so hardened of heart that they won’t care or worry about it. when your heart becomes calloused and unresponsive to God and His leading—then you’re in trouble--
But the Pharisees they came down to make a judgment and it was reasonable but wrong.
In the same way—there have been many in the SBC of late responding to Annual Church Profiles, declines in church membership & participation—many of you are considering the same types of things here at the local level—but nationally, some are saying it’s no big deal—it’s just a change in reporting, it’s just a problem of –we must stay the course—just keep doing what we’re doing.
President of the SBC—Frank Paige—on May 1st.
“The Southern Baptist Convention is rapidly dying and resistance to change could kill more than half of the denomination’s churches by 2030.
“Many Southern Baptist churches are small groups of white people who are holding on until the end. Not only have we not reached out to younger generations, but we have failed to reach out to ethnic minorities who are all around us. Rather than embracing a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality to change and restore a local church to health, many pastors and churches have chosen to die rather than change, and they are doing it.”
Unless something is done to reverse the downward trend, Southern Baptist churches could number only 20,000—down from the current total of more than 44,000—in fewer than 22 years,
http://westernrecorder.com/wr/WRSITE.nsf/stories/200820-ChurchesDying
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, said there is no escaping the fact that Southern Baptists are not reaching as many people for Christ as they once did. LifeWay gathers the year-to-year information on the convention's behalf. According to the ACP statistics reported by Southern Baptist churches, baptisms in 2007 dropped nearly 5.5 percent to 345,941, compared to 364,826 in 2006.
“This report is truly disheartening,” Rainer said. “Total membership showed a slight decline. Baptisms have now declined for three consecutive years and for seven of the last eight years, and are at their lowest level since 1987.
“Indeed, the total baptisms are among the lowest reported since 1970. We are a denomination that, for the most part, has lost its evangelistic passion.”
UBC is not alone in our current struggle—and we would be wrong to jump to conclusions and point fingers of blame. Blame is the division of the enemy and our Kingdom cannot stand if we are divided.
If we are to survive as a congregation, then we must be willing to have our hearts broken—be willing to do whatever it takes—give all of ourselves—more than just band-aids on problems that require surgery. This is not some intellectual exercise, we cannot keep each other, we cannot keep God at a distance
We must come before God and truly lay our hearts down before Him, cast all our cares and uncertainties upon Him—not praying against each other, but praying for each other, praying blessing upon each other, praying successful ministry upon each other, praying for boldness, praying for a heart for the lost, a lack of fear, pray for children to fill this sanctuary with all their bustle and noise, pray for the lost and hurting with all their messy lives to be here for healing.
If there is any day, if there is any time to come forward, not for salvation, not for some closeted, secret sin, but just to come in brokenness and concern for our church… today is the day. Do not let your hearts be hardened. Come down here today, and we as a body as His people will get before Him and humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, turning for ways that are displeasing to Him and cry out for His Healing & Restoration.
Ed Stetzer
"People will not change until the pain of remaining the same exceeds the pain of change."
We must move from a Come and See mindset, a I come to be Served, I come to be fed mindset to a Go and Tell mindset, a I come to serve mindset, I come to feed the spiritually starving.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sermon-- Offensive Draft Pick by Jesus-- Mark 2:13-17
The audio for this message can be found here.
Yesterday was the start of something big in NFL circles. The Draft. Each year, college players are poked, prodded, processed, and timed. And the teams pick the best players, or the ones who will best fit the needs of their team. But it’s not an exact science, there have been some terrible decisions. Some decisions draw the ire of the fans because they are astounded by the horrible decision that has just been made. And there have been some great players that have sat on the shelf—that no one saw their greatness, their competitive spirit, rather only their flaws, deficiencies and weaknesses.
Draft Picks—Yesterday—NFL Greatest Draft Steals--
• QB Joe Montana (Notre Dame)--Drafted by: 49ers, third round, No. 82 overall, 1979—3rd QB
• QB Tom Brady (Michigan)--Drafted by: Patriots, sixth round, No. 199 overall, 2000
• Brett Favre—was picked in the 2nd round--#31 by the Atlanta Falcons—but immediately traded him to Green Bay thinking he wasn’t worth it.
• S Rodney Harrison (Western Illinois)--Drafted by: Chargers, fifth round, No. 145 overall, 1994
Sometimes the ones that are the true champions are the less obvious—the hidden gems—that nobody talks about, that nobody expects much of.
Jesus made a habit of doing this—making offensive picks. If Jesus was a team’s draft expert—there would be calls for His firing. I mean, look at the kind of men Jesus picked for His team.
James and John were a bit judgmental—disrespect for Jesus deserves fire from heaven in their mind—hardly the best example of turn the other cheek
One was a zealot--violent and quick to a fight
Peter—one who is a loud-mouth, uneducated, boastful, but not courageous enough to back up his boasts.
One of Jesus choices betrayed Him
But Jesus, being God in the Flesh did what God often does—He chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise—according to Paul, to the larger Christian community—1 Corinthians 1:26--“think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential, not many were of noble birth.”
They were reaches—they were bad draft picks—the kind of people Jesus picked were the ones that you least expected and despised—what’s worse—some didn’t think they could play the game or even have a place at the table. And it was offensive.
Offensive Decisions—Read Mark 2:13-14
You probably know this, but there are some professions in this country that just get ripped to pieces on a regular basis. April 15th is only a couple of weeks in the past and for many of you, you may still have a bad taste in your mouth. Not only do we not like taxes, we often don’t like tax collectors—here’s a couple of examples.
Q: How is golf like taxes?
A: Well, you drive hard to get to the green, and then you wind up in the hole
Q. What is the difference between a terrorist and a tax inspector?
A. You can negotiate with a terrorist.
"What's the difference between an overzealous tax auditor and a rottweiler? Answer: "A rottweiler eventually lets go!"
"Why do sharks not attack tax auditors?" Answer: "Professional courtesy."
If we were to be given the opportunity to look into the faces of the crowd that day, we’d probably see several qualified, good looking, popular and resourceful people. I can imagine us tapping Jesus on the shoulder and saying—“hey, look at that one—they would be great to add to the team.”
The last one we would expect is the one who is not allowed in the church (synagogue) because he’s been kicked out. The last one we’d expect to see Jesus would want us to talk to about faith and salvation and the call is the one with no respectable friends, the one who is in fact so unpopular that he is hated as an outcast and who at least is suspected of cheating those who pay him anything.
Jesus Sees People In the Crowd in ways that we do not—the way we cannot—the way we are unwilling to and the way that is offensive to us.
Of all the people along the way, Levi sitting there in his tax collector’s booth—ripping people off—he’s not one we would think would respond to an invitation from Jesus.
Levi was able to listen while at work—listen to Jesus teaching the crowd. Jesus’ message wasn’t complicated—Follow me—and Levi did—he got up and followed Jesus
The one Least Likely to Respond—responded.—oh, but that’s Jesus.
When you and I live our lives as disciples of Jesus we too often fall for this attitude—“Oh, I’m not going to bother sharing Christ with this person, I know they’ll say no—they’ve still go too many problems and issues—I know they will not respond to Jesus so I’m not even going to ask—I’m not going to risk it—I’m not going to waste my time.”
You don’t know!!! You can’t wait around in life for the sure thing, the guarantee—if you waited only for that before acting—then you would never do, say, accomplish anything. You are not responsible for someone responding favorably to Jesus.
You must not second guess yourself into silence when the opportunity to testify to your faith is before you—even if they are the hardest case, the most indifferent—you are not going to convince anyone—that’s God’s job—you are responsible to be faithful and share—be prepared by all means—but leave the results to Him.
There are few people clamoring for you to tell them about Jesus, few saying—“Pick Me!” when Jesus—in the form of you--passes by.
Not only is Levi on the Least Likely to Respond list—in most people’s mind—a tax collector like Levi should also be on Galilee’s Most Wanted—for the belief that he is lining his own pockets by ripping off of his fellow Jews. They looked at Tax Collectors—working for the Roman authorities as Traitors. So on one hand, Levi was on Galilee’s Most Wanted-- but he would also qualify for Galilee’s Most Unwanted—he’s a sell out—he’s a cheat—he’s not good enough.
That’s what we see.
You don’t really want “that sort” to be a part of the church, do you? They don’t look like us—different culture, different race, they don’t act like us, they aren’t smart enough, they don’t have enough, they have too much, they’re snobby. They work at a bar, they don’t work at all.
The Patriot—the movie with Mel Gibson had dialog that reflected this. The father and son went out to sign up people to serve in the South Carolina militia against the British during the Revolutionary War. The son, went to a church to sign people up because they are good men of principle, who believe in the cause of liberty. The father goes to a local pub to find men who know how to fight and who are mean enough to actually do it and not just talk about it. When the son sees the men his father signed up he says, “These aren’t the sort of men we need.” The father responds by saying, "these are exactly the sort we need. They've fought this kind of war before." One of the father's recruits comes to him and asks: "Am I that sort?" "No, you’re the sort that gives that sort a bad name." to which the man responds in laughter.
See, underlying the thoughts that says—I don’t think they’ll respond—underlying that, if we’re honest with ourselves—in many instances is the notion that we don’t really want them to respond--we don't want "that sort" to come to our church.
What kind of people do we want?
The Kind of people we want to start coming to this church are the kind that know their Bible? That’s good, right?
We want the Kind of people we want to start coming to this church are the kind that don’t drink, smoke, cuss, or work at the bar, right?
That’s Wrong!
The kind of people we want and need to start coming to this church are the kind that don’t know what the Bible is—who have only seen a Bible under 3 inches of dust, who wouldn’t qualify to read the "Bible for Dummies".
We need to invite the kind that don’t know that the Bible is the Word of God, who don’t know that God loves them, that Jesus loves them and that He died for their sins and that He rose from the dead in Victory. You know why?
Because we can show them that we believe it, believe that we have "good news". We can teach them those things—because they will learn their Bible, actually read their Bible when they see us living our claims.
We actually want the people who don’t know to stop drinking yet, who don’t know to stop cussing yet, who work at the bar—because we can love them and show them another way to live— if we want to see the transformational power of the Love of God working in the People of God by the Word of God--"that's the sort we need". We want and need those kinds of people in church so you and I can be a part of the God at Work.
Levi was one of those guys—someone who everyone tells to pass right on by—Levi? He’s not the sort we need.
Let me put it this way. How many of you have ever caught a fish? When you caught it, was it already de-scaled, de-boned and filleted, ready to cook? NO—you get those at the grocery store. What would you do if you pulled in your line and the fish looked like this? Would you think there was something wrong? I sure hope so!
We want the cleaned up kind of people, the ones who are already know their Bible because they require less of us, less time, less effort, less building of a disciple—less chance of ruffling my feathers, less chance of offending my self-righteousness.
Jesus doesn’t see people that way. Jesus—He sees people in their sin and moves to intercept.
Sees People In Need of the Life Changing Power & Influence of God—He sees the Least Likely, He sees the Sinners--and rather than shrinking away from them, rather than avoiding them—He seeks them out—He goes where they are—He befriends them. He calls them—and they rejoice.
READ 2:15—Luke 5 tells us that in response to Jesus calling him, in response to Jesus inviting him, in response to Jesus giving him a chance to participate in the spiritual life—Levi throws a party—he hosts a great banquet at his home.
Now how many of you, when you meet an alcoholic and talk to him about Jesus--when they invite you to their house for a party—you’re like—sure, love to!
How many of you when you meet a criminal want to go back to their house to hang out his buddies that just got out of jail?
Now unfortunately for Jesus reputation—the only friends an outcast can invite into his home are other outcasts—more tax collectors, more people with their lives out of whack—more people who have rejected God. Upon seeing the guest list, you or I may be inclined to avoid going altogether. Not Jesus. Jesus goes and celebrates with them—has dinner with them.
And that is offensive—to who? The religious types—the Pharisees, the teachers of the law. Because you know this dinner crowd probably don’t have their life in order, all cleaned up. Weren't upstanding members of the synagogue.
Jesus called Levi—and he responded in faith—but he had a long way to go—his life was headed for some major changes—but before he even had the chance, he did invite all his friends to meet Jesus. Here was a sinner, who’s life is being transformed—and Jesus was right in the middle of it—and not everyone liked it.
READ vs. 16—
Let me share with you a story that I read this week from a pastor of a young man named Eric.
Whole unedited story can be found here:
He was driving by the church with a pistol underneath the front seat, an open container of beer in the cup holder, and was on his way to an open field where he would drink himself to drunkenness in order to have the courage to commit suicide. As he drove past the church he the church sign that said, "Prepare to Meet Thy God." The words so rattled him he turned into the parking lot and prayed, "God, if you are sending me a sign, let someone be inside this church to help me." The Lord answered his prayer.
Guess what, he went in, talked to a minister and got saved! The next Sunday..
--First person testimony--
When the appropriate time came "I" introduced him to our church. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce you to a young man who this week was intent on killing himself, but God has intervened. This is Eric . . ." As I was speaking to the crowd I turned to look at Eric and to my horror, I saw Eric was wearing a Budweiser Beer T-Shirt that said, "Budweiser, King of Beers."
I knew some of the deacons would be upset. Sure enough, after church one of the older deacons came up to me and said, "Pastor, did you talk to Eric?" Acting ignorant, though knowing full well what he meant, I said, "About what?" "Did you tell him he ought not be wearing that beer t-shirt in church? It ain't appropriate."
I took a deep breath and said, "No, I didn't. He has just come to faith in Christ. If we begin to tell him what he can't do, shouldn't do, ought not do, etc . . . we quench the work of the Spirit by imposing a law. Let's love him, get to know him, and encourage him - but let's stay away from the 'should nots' of religion and give time for his relationship with Christ to develop."
Apparently Eric had quite a collection of Beer shirts and for the next 4 weeks, he wore one to church. The pastor says it was difficult at times to hold his tongue. But then, on the 5th Sunday, Eric walked in wearing one of these.
About the fifth Sunday Eric came to church wearing a new t-shirt. It was a t-shirt with a Christian logo. He had found a Christian t-shirt store and, prompted by the Spirit, Eric purchased several t-shirts with a Christian message.
That Sunday he had traded in his "Budweiser: King of Beers" t-shirt for one that said, "Jesus Christ: King of Kings." Christ had Eric's heart. The change that occurred happened within. There was not the demand for conformity imposed upon this young Christian by a Southern Baptist congregation, but rather, there was the powerful, internal work of the Spirit within the heart of a man that experienced the love, acceptance and patience of a people who themselves had tasted of the grace of God
READ 2:17--
Ministry with the sick is messy—it makes us uncomfortable—but that is exactly the kind of mercy and love we need if we are going to survive as a church.
Jesus doesn’t look at us in terms of “I don’t want that one.” Or “Least Likely to Respond” All Jesus sees is the hunger, the spiritual need, the longing for something real, the power of the Kingdom of God. Levi, better known as Matthew—went from a bad reputation tax collector and sinner, to the author of one of the Gospels of Jesus life.
We better know who Jesus is because He reached out to "that sort".
At some point, we were that sort. You and I were the ones that in some way or another were sitting behind the tax collector's booth.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11-- Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Have you ever thought, “I can’t imagine what God would do if He ever got a hold of _____________--there’s no telling what God could do through them.”
Who did you think of? Maybe you thought of someone famous. Tell me, how many of the Apostles were famous before Jesus met them?
Now, how many of you thought of someone other than yourself?
There’s the problem with the church in the world today—it's usually filled by somebody other than me.
At one point—you were the one sitting in the tax booth. God looks at you and He looks at me just like He did this small town tax collector and He says to Himself—“If Only they would let Me into their hearts, if only the would let Me change them, if only they would let Me use them! I can change the world!”
At some point looking over the crowds, looking at the least likely, in the mind and heart of God—He was thinking of you—If He can only get a hold of your heart—my heart—
Are there "that sort" of people around you sitting at the Tax Booth?
Are you still sitting at the tax booth?
The Jesus wants to invite you to a greater life.
Yesterday was the start of something big in NFL circles. The Draft. Each year, college players are poked, prodded, processed, and timed. And the teams pick the best players, or the ones who will best fit the needs of their team. But it’s not an exact science, there have been some terrible decisions. Some decisions draw the ire of the fans because they are astounded by the horrible decision that has just been made. And there have been some great players that have sat on the shelf—that no one saw their greatness, their competitive spirit, rather only their flaws, deficiencies and weaknesses.
Draft Picks—Yesterday—NFL Greatest Draft Steals--
• QB Joe Montana (Notre Dame)--Drafted by: 49ers, third round, No. 82 overall, 1979—3rd QB
• QB Tom Brady (Michigan)--Drafted by: Patriots, sixth round, No. 199 overall, 2000
• Brett Favre—was picked in the 2nd round--#31 by the Atlanta Falcons—but immediately traded him to Green Bay thinking he wasn’t worth it.
• S Rodney Harrison (Western Illinois)--Drafted by: Chargers, fifth round, No. 145 overall, 1994
Sometimes the ones that are the true champions are the less obvious—the hidden gems—that nobody talks about, that nobody expects much of.
Jesus made a habit of doing this—making offensive picks. If Jesus was a team’s draft expert—there would be calls for His firing. I mean, look at the kind of men Jesus picked for His team.
James and John were a bit judgmental—disrespect for Jesus deserves fire from heaven in their mind—hardly the best example of turn the other cheek
One was a zealot--violent and quick to a fight
Peter—one who is a loud-mouth, uneducated, boastful, but not courageous enough to back up his boasts.
One of Jesus choices betrayed Him
But Jesus, being God in the Flesh did what God often does—He chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise—according to Paul, to the larger Christian community—1 Corinthians 1:26--“think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential, not many were of noble birth.”
They were reaches—they were bad draft picks—the kind of people Jesus picked were the ones that you least expected and despised—what’s worse—some didn’t think they could play the game or even have a place at the table. And it was offensive.
Offensive Decisions—Read Mark 2:13-14
You probably know this, but there are some professions in this country that just get ripped to pieces on a regular basis. April 15th is only a couple of weeks in the past and for many of you, you may still have a bad taste in your mouth. Not only do we not like taxes, we often don’t like tax collectors—here’s a couple of examples.
Q: How is golf like taxes?
A: Well, you drive hard to get to the green, and then you wind up in the hole
Q. What is the difference between a terrorist and a tax inspector?
A. You can negotiate with a terrorist.
"What's the difference between an overzealous tax auditor and a rottweiler? Answer: "A rottweiler eventually lets go!"
"Why do sharks not attack tax auditors?" Answer: "Professional courtesy."
If we were to be given the opportunity to look into the faces of the crowd that day, we’d probably see several qualified, good looking, popular and resourceful people. I can imagine us tapping Jesus on the shoulder and saying—“hey, look at that one—they would be great to add to the team.”
The last one we would expect is the one who is not allowed in the church (synagogue) because he’s been kicked out. The last one we’d expect to see Jesus would want us to talk to about faith and salvation and the call is the one with no respectable friends, the one who is in fact so unpopular that he is hated as an outcast and who at least is suspected of cheating those who pay him anything.
Jesus Sees People In the Crowd in ways that we do not—the way we cannot—the way we are unwilling to and the way that is offensive to us.
Of all the people along the way, Levi sitting there in his tax collector’s booth—ripping people off—he’s not one we would think would respond to an invitation from Jesus.
Levi was able to listen while at work—listen to Jesus teaching the crowd. Jesus’ message wasn’t complicated—Follow me—and Levi did—he got up and followed Jesus
The one Least Likely to Respond—responded.—oh, but that’s Jesus.
When you and I live our lives as disciples of Jesus we too often fall for this attitude—“Oh, I’m not going to bother sharing Christ with this person, I know they’ll say no—they’ve still go too many problems and issues—I know they will not respond to Jesus so I’m not even going to ask—I’m not going to risk it—I’m not going to waste my time.”
You don’t know!!! You can’t wait around in life for the sure thing, the guarantee—if you waited only for that before acting—then you would never do, say, accomplish anything. You are not responsible for someone responding favorably to Jesus.
You must not second guess yourself into silence when the opportunity to testify to your faith is before you—even if they are the hardest case, the most indifferent—you are not going to convince anyone—that’s God’s job—you are responsible to be faithful and share—be prepared by all means—but leave the results to Him.
There are few people clamoring for you to tell them about Jesus, few saying—“Pick Me!” when Jesus—in the form of you--passes by.
Not only is Levi on the Least Likely to Respond list—in most people’s mind—a tax collector like Levi should also be on Galilee’s Most Wanted—for the belief that he is lining his own pockets by ripping off of his fellow Jews. They looked at Tax Collectors—working for the Roman authorities as Traitors. So on one hand, Levi was on Galilee’s Most Wanted-- but he would also qualify for Galilee’s Most Unwanted—he’s a sell out—he’s a cheat—he’s not good enough.
That’s what we see.
You don’t really want “that sort” to be a part of the church, do you? They don’t look like us—different culture, different race, they don’t act like us, they aren’t smart enough, they don’t have enough, they have too much, they’re snobby. They work at a bar, they don’t work at all.
The Patriot—the movie with Mel Gibson had dialog that reflected this. The father and son went out to sign up people to serve in the South Carolina militia against the British during the Revolutionary War. The son, went to a church to sign people up because they are good men of principle, who believe in the cause of liberty. The father goes to a local pub to find men who know how to fight and who are mean enough to actually do it and not just talk about it. When the son sees the men his father signed up he says, “These aren’t the sort of men we need.” The father responds by saying, "these are exactly the sort we need. They've fought this kind of war before." One of the father's recruits comes to him and asks: "Am I that sort?" "No, you’re the sort that gives that sort a bad name." to which the man responds in laughter.
See, underlying the thoughts that says—I don’t think they’ll respond—underlying that, if we’re honest with ourselves—in many instances is the notion that we don’t really want them to respond--we don't want "that sort" to come to our church.
What kind of people do we want?
The Kind of people we want to start coming to this church are the kind that know their Bible? That’s good, right?
We want the Kind of people we want to start coming to this church are the kind that don’t drink, smoke, cuss, or work at the bar, right?
That’s Wrong!
The kind of people we want and need to start coming to this church are the kind that don’t know what the Bible is—who have only seen a Bible under 3 inches of dust, who wouldn’t qualify to read the "Bible for Dummies".
We need to invite the kind that don’t know that the Bible is the Word of God, who don’t know that God loves them, that Jesus loves them and that He died for their sins and that He rose from the dead in Victory. You know why?
Because we can show them that we believe it, believe that we have "good news". We can teach them those things—because they will learn their Bible, actually read their Bible when they see us living our claims.
We actually want the people who don’t know to stop drinking yet, who don’t know to stop cussing yet, who work at the bar—because we can love them and show them another way to live— if we want to see the transformational power of the Love of God working in the People of God by the Word of God--"that's the sort we need". We want and need those kinds of people in church so you and I can be a part of the God at Work.
Levi was one of those guys—someone who everyone tells to pass right on by—Levi? He’s not the sort we need.
Let me put it this way. How many of you have ever caught a fish? When you caught it, was it already de-scaled, de-boned and filleted, ready to cook? NO—you get those at the grocery store. What would you do if you pulled in your line and the fish looked like this? Would you think there was something wrong? I sure hope so!
We want the cleaned up kind of people, the ones who are already know their Bible because they require less of us, less time, less effort, less building of a disciple—less chance of ruffling my feathers, less chance of offending my self-righteousness.
Jesus doesn’t see people that way. Jesus—He sees people in their sin and moves to intercept.
Sees People In Need of the Life Changing Power & Influence of God—He sees the Least Likely, He sees the Sinners--and rather than shrinking away from them, rather than avoiding them—He seeks them out—He goes where they are—He befriends them. He calls them—and they rejoice.
READ 2:15—Luke 5 tells us that in response to Jesus calling him, in response to Jesus inviting him, in response to Jesus giving him a chance to participate in the spiritual life—Levi throws a party—he hosts a great banquet at his home.
Now how many of you, when you meet an alcoholic and talk to him about Jesus--when they invite you to their house for a party—you’re like—sure, love to!
How many of you when you meet a criminal want to go back to their house to hang out his buddies that just got out of jail?
Now unfortunately for Jesus reputation—the only friends an outcast can invite into his home are other outcasts—more tax collectors, more people with their lives out of whack—more people who have rejected God. Upon seeing the guest list, you or I may be inclined to avoid going altogether. Not Jesus. Jesus goes and celebrates with them—has dinner with them.
And that is offensive—to who? The religious types—the Pharisees, the teachers of the law. Because you know this dinner crowd probably don’t have their life in order, all cleaned up. Weren't upstanding members of the synagogue.
Jesus called Levi—and he responded in faith—but he had a long way to go—his life was headed for some major changes—but before he even had the chance, he did invite all his friends to meet Jesus. Here was a sinner, who’s life is being transformed—and Jesus was right in the middle of it—and not everyone liked it.
READ vs. 16—
Let me share with you a story that I read this week from a pastor of a young man named Eric.
Whole unedited story can be found here:
He was driving by the church with a pistol underneath the front seat, an open container of beer in the cup holder, and was on his way to an open field where he would drink himself to drunkenness in order to have the courage to commit suicide. As he drove past the church he the church sign that said, "Prepare to Meet Thy God." The words so rattled him he turned into the parking lot and prayed, "God, if you are sending me a sign, let someone be inside this church to help me." The Lord answered his prayer.
Guess what, he went in, talked to a minister and got saved! The next Sunday..
--First person testimony--
When the appropriate time came "I" introduced him to our church. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce you to a young man who this week was intent on killing himself, but God has intervened. This is Eric . . ." As I was speaking to the crowd I turned to look at Eric and to my horror, I saw Eric was wearing a Budweiser Beer T-Shirt that said, "Budweiser, King of Beers."
I knew some of the deacons would be upset. Sure enough, after church one of the older deacons came up to me and said, "Pastor, did you talk to Eric?" Acting ignorant, though knowing full well what he meant, I said, "About what?" "Did you tell him he ought not be wearing that beer t-shirt in church? It ain't appropriate."
I took a deep breath and said, "No, I didn't. He has just come to faith in Christ. If we begin to tell him what he can't do, shouldn't do, ought not do, etc . . . we quench the work of the Spirit by imposing a law. Let's love him, get to know him, and encourage him - but let's stay away from the 'should nots' of religion and give time for his relationship with Christ to develop."
Apparently Eric had quite a collection of Beer shirts and for the next 4 weeks, he wore one to church. The pastor says it was difficult at times to hold his tongue. But then, on the 5th Sunday, Eric walked in wearing one of these.
About the fifth Sunday Eric came to church wearing a new t-shirt. It was a t-shirt with a Christian logo. He had found a Christian t-shirt store and, prompted by the Spirit, Eric purchased several t-shirts with a Christian message.
That Sunday he had traded in his "Budweiser: King of Beers" t-shirt for one that said, "Jesus Christ: King of Kings." Christ had Eric's heart. The change that occurred happened within. There was not the demand for conformity imposed upon this young Christian by a Southern Baptist congregation, but rather, there was the powerful, internal work of the Spirit within the heart of a man that experienced the love, acceptance and patience of a people who themselves had tasted of the grace of God
READ 2:17--
Ministry with the sick is messy—it makes us uncomfortable—but that is exactly the kind of mercy and love we need if we are going to survive as a church.
Jesus doesn’t look at us in terms of “I don’t want that one.” Or “Least Likely to Respond” All Jesus sees is the hunger, the spiritual need, the longing for something real, the power of the Kingdom of God. Levi, better known as Matthew—went from a bad reputation tax collector and sinner, to the author of one of the Gospels of Jesus life.
We better know who Jesus is because He reached out to "that sort".
At some point, we were that sort. You and I were the ones that in some way or another were sitting behind the tax collector's booth.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11-- Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Have you ever thought, “I can’t imagine what God would do if He ever got a hold of _____________--there’s no telling what God could do through them.”
Who did you think of? Maybe you thought of someone famous. Tell me, how many of the Apostles were famous before Jesus met them?
Now, how many of you thought of someone other than yourself?
There’s the problem with the church in the world today—it's usually filled by somebody other than me.
At one point—you were the one sitting in the tax booth. God looks at you and He looks at me just like He did this small town tax collector and He says to Himself—“If Only they would let Me into their hearts, if only the would let Me change them, if only they would let Me use them! I can change the world!”
At some point looking over the crowds, looking at the least likely, in the mind and heart of God—He was thinking of you—If He can only get a hold of your heart—my heart—
Are there "that sort" of people around you sitting at the Tax Booth?
Are you still sitting at the tax booth?
The Jesus wants to invite you to a greater life.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Sermon-- Forgiveness Offensive?--Mark 2:1-12
The Audio for this message can be found here.
Mark 2:1-12
Forgiveness is Offensive?
Imagine for a moment—you’re a executive manager of a company—everyone looks to you. Scratch that, you’re a tenured professor and an important figure on your campus. You’ve helped set up the program and are conducting several important research projects. Then you get assigned a Graduate Assistant. And the students love it when you miss class and you GA has to teach for you. In fact, as soon as they see you’re not there, they call all their friends and class attendance triples—every seat is taken, some sit on the floor, others stand in the back of the room. To add insult to injury—while you were away defending your request for a grant, in the middle of one of your experiments, this graduate assistant comes in and reorganizes everything—“trust me, I know better then the Professor does”—he changes the procedure, changes the subject of the experiment, changes the objective—all because he insists he’s got a better way.
What do you say when you get back and see what’s going on?
“I don’t care how popular you with the students: Who gave you the right to make these changes? Who do you think you are?”
“Don’t worry Professor,” the graduate assistant says. “I’ve already finished all the experiments and processed the data—thanks to my changes, I’ve more than justifies your grant and may in fact revolutionize the field. You can thank me later.”
Welcome to the world of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law with Jesus on the scene. A young, upstart teacher who knows more than you do, is more popular than you are, and has an uncanny way of proving it.
As we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Mark—it only gets worse in ch. 2
1. Offending Crowds--Read 1-4
a. Standing Room Only—Once again, Jesus was attracting a crowd—unlike any crowd that ever came for one of the regular Saturday Sabbaths. Clearly Jesus was something different—He had some spark about Him that everyone was attracted to—an uncertainty that they were about to see God do something in their midst that hadn’t been done before. He was continuing to do what He had said was His purpose—Jesus was preaching the word to the crowds.
b. A little professional Jealousy would be understandable at this point—What’s He got that I don’t? He’s no better than I am. Heresy is always able to attract a crowd—if it’s popular, it must be wrong.
c. Into this crowd comes Desperation personified. Here was this man who was trapped in his own body—paralyzed—he could not go to Jesus on his own. Taking care of this man required others giving of themselves and their willingness to help. We have no idea how he got this way—whether he was born paralyzed or due to some accident. But he had friends and family that believed that if anyone could help him, Jesus could.
d. But there was a problem. There were many obstacles in the way. The crowds, the popularity, the limited space. I suspect there were even those who didn’t think someone like this paralytic deserved to be in Jesus’ presence—b/c he probably is so sinful that he deserves
e. Think about the obstacles you face in bringing people to church or bringing people to Jesus. What reasons do we give? “They work on Sunday”, “I’ve already asked them before and they said no.”, “I’m worried about what they will think of me.”
f. What if these friends had given up—“Oh well, there’s a crowd. I guess we should just take him home.” “These people are rude—can’t they see our friend needs to see Jesus.” “I really don’t want to dig through the roof—last time I checked, destruction of private property isn’t a good evangelism strategy.”
g. It is my belief that we give up too easily in seeking to bring our friends, family, co-workers to Jesus. They say “No” one time, and we tuck our tails between our legs and never bring it up again.
h. Determination and Persistence and realizing that Jesus is the only One who can truly heal and forgive—Jesus saw that kind of faith commendable and He responded to it.
i. Vs. 5—it was their faith, the faith of the men bringing the paralytic that Jesus sees and responds to. This man’s body was twisted and paralyzed physically, you would think that Jesus would address this problem first—but He doesn’t. Apparently, in Jesus’ mind, the man’s greater need was spiritual—maybe He saw that everyone else thought sin was the problem.
j. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Even if Jesus never healed his physical body—providing forgiveness for his sins was the greater miracle.
k. Here again, Jesus offends the teachers and leaders—this time by proclaiming forgiveness.
2. Offensive Forgiveness--God’s Territory
a. Why is forgiveness offensive? Why in this case would Jesus even bring up its need?
b. Our culture is not so different from theirs. Many times, when we see bad situation happen to someone, we try to figure out why. In many cases, we look at the things that person has done to bring it on themselves. Today, we just couch it in medical terms: “If he had just eaten better all those years, he wouldn’t have had that heart attack.” “She smoked at least a pack a day, it’s no wonder she’s got cancer.” “I can’t have too much sympathy for someone who risked his life like that—(parachuting, sex, rock climbing, speeding)”
c. This man must have been considered sinful—why else would this man be so paralyzed—He must have done something to deserve it. God must have been punishing this man for something. He was the type that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law would have counseled by saying, “brother, confess your sins, and God will heal you. Confess your sins, have faith—and if you are worthy—God will heal you.” Gee, you’re not healed—either you’re more sinful than thought, or you must not be worthy.
d. And with that—they could walk on by and never give him another thought. I hope you see from this passage that sometimes healing is not about your crying out, not about your persistence, but the persistence of those praying for you.
e. Son, your sins are forgiven.
f. How dare He say that— READ 5-7--forgiveness is the realm of God’s alone
g. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
h. Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
i. The audacity of Jesus is astounding. By saying this man was forgiven, Jesus was claiming to be able to do something only God could do—he was blaspheming. Only God had that kind of authority—Only God could forgive sin. These teachers understood the implication immediately.
j. Jesus was walking into a realm that the teachers of the law would never go—they could never pronounce forgiveness—but Jesus did and
k. He did it without the sacrifice—Jesus didn’t tell the man to get cleaned up, to go to the temple and make offerings. Jesus demanded no confession or repentance from the man. He responds to faith—and a desperation—He cleanses.
l. For some, this willingness to forgive and show mercy is unacceptable and offensive. They want to see the wicked get toasted—they look forward to the Fire & Brimstone. Jonah in the OT was hoping that Nineveh would be destroyed—James & John, the Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven simply because a Samaritan village didn’t welcome Jesus.
m. The thought of Forgiveness & Mercy Offends, especially those that think of themselves as righteous. To suggest that forgiveness was available without sacrifice drew into question the entire existence of the people, the law, the Temple.
n. Does Jesus offer forgiveness at no cost? Think about that? When someone wants to give you a gift, many times we receive it with suspicion—“what’s the catch?” or “what do you expect in return?” or “what’s this going to cost me?”
o. Jesus says, “you can be forgiven at no cost to you. All I ask is that you repent—stop going the wrong way—Trust & Receive.
3. Offensive Knowledge & Healing?—6-12
a. Jesus knew their hearts—sometimes there’s nothing more disconcerting to realize that someone knows exactly what’s going through your head—knowing exactly how you’re going to respond, what you’re going to say or do. How could they know me so well? Am I that transparent?
b. It’s disturbing playing a chess master when they can predict your moves in advance.
c. Of course, knowing someone knows you so well is also a sign of love and closeness—see Jesus knows your heart and mind because He shared in our creation—He loves us so much that He knows us. But our hearts are also like open books before Him—His word cuts to our hearts.
d. Which is easier? Some people claim a lot of things—that doesn’t make it true. Some people claim to be prophets, some healers, some mouthpieces for God—but just because they claim it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
e. Under other circumstances—with someone else—you and I would be right there with the teachers of the law—“excuse me? You can’t really speak for God!”
f. Jesus acknowledges it—anybody can make the claim—but not everybody can back it up. “Get up, take your mat ant walk.”
g. Jesus command over the physical condition—which they had likely attributed to sin—was proof that He had command over the spiritual condition.
h. He did this “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
i. Jesus had knowledge of their hearts. He proved to have greater authority than the teachers of the law. And that claim—that Knowledge & Authority was offensive.
j. Jesus claims to know more than you know—Jesus claims more authority over your body than you have—Jesus claims more authority over your sin than you have.
k. Is it any wonder that some of His listeners were offended? He didn’t sugar coat or gloss over this man’s need of forgiveness, but confronted it with the offer of forgiveness.
l. Many people are offended at Jesus—many people allow obstacles to stop them from coming to Jesus. And sadly many times we who are here—we the ones already before Jesus are the Obstacle—blocking those who are desperately coming to Jesus.
m. Are there any obstacles in your way today? Jesus has the authority to heal and forgive—to give purpose and meaning. See past all those obstacles, all those things that are between you and Him and come—just as you are.
Mark 2:1-12
Forgiveness is Offensive?
Imagine for a moment—you’re a executive manager of a company—everyone looks to you. Scratch that, you’re a tenured professor and an important figure on your campus. You’ve helped set up the program and are conducting several important research projects. Then you get assigned a Graduate Assistant. And the students love it when you miss class and you GA has to teach for you. In fact, as soon as they see you’re not there, they call all their friends and class attendance triples—every seat is taken, some sit on the floor, others stand in the back of the room. To add insult to injury—while you were away defending your request for a grant, in the middle of one of your experiments, this graduate assistant comes in and reorganizes everything—“trust me, I know better then the Professor does”—he changes the procedure, changes the subject of the experiment, changes the objective—all because he insists he’s got a better way.
What do you say when you get back and see what’s going on?
“I don’t care how popular you with the students: Who gave you the right to make these changes? Who do you think you are?”
“Don’t worry Professor,” the graduate assistant says. “I’ve already finished all the experiments and processed the data—thanks to my changes, I’ve more than justifies your grant and may in fact revolutionize the field. You can thank me later.”
Welcome to the world of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law with Jesus on the scene. A young, upstart teacher who knows more than you do, is more popular than you are, and has an uncanny way of proving it.
As we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Mark—it only gets worse in ch. 2
1. Offending Crowds--Read 1-4
a. Standing Room Only—Once again, Jesus was attracting a crowd—unlike any crowd that ever came for one of the regular Saturday Sabbaths. Clearly Jesus was something different—He had some spark about Him that everyone was attracted to—an uncertainty that they were about to see God do something in their midst that hadn’t been done before. He was continuing to do what He had said was His purpose—Jesus was preaching the word to the crowds.
b. A little professional Jealousy would be understandable at this point—What’s He got that I don’t? He’s no better than I am. Heresy is always able to attract a crowd—if it’s popular, it must be wrong.
c. Into this crowd comes Desperation personified. Here was this man who was trapped in his own body—paralyzed—he could not go to Jesus on his own. Taking care of this man required others giving of themselves and their willingness to help. We have no idea how he got this way—whether he was born paralyzed or due to some accident. But he had friends and family that believed that if anyone could help him, Jesus could.
d. But there was a problem. There were many obstacles in the way. The crowds, the popularity, the limited space. I suspect there were even those who didn’t think someone like this paralytic deserved to be in Jesus’ presence—b/c he probably is so sinful that he deserves
e. Think about the obstacles you face in bringing people to church or bringing people to Jesus. What reasons do we give? “They work on Sunday”, “I’ve already asked them before and they said no.”, “I’m worried about what they will think of me.”
f. What if these friends had given up—“Oh well, there’s a crowd. I guess we should just take him home.” “These people are rude—can’t they see our friend needs to see Jesus.” “I really don’t want to dig through the roof—last time I checked, destruction of private property isn’t a good evangelism strategy.”
g. It is my belief that we give up too easily in seeking to bring our friends, family, co-workers to Jesus. They say “No” one time, and we tuck our tails between our legs and never bring it up again.
h. Determination and Persistence and realizing that Jesus is the only One who can truly heal and forgive—Jesus saw that kind of faith commendable and He responded to it.
i. Vs. 5—it was their faith, the faith of the men bringing the paralytic that Jesus sees and responds to. This man’s body was twisted and paralyzed physically, you would think that Jesus would address this problem first—but He doesn’t. Apparently, in Jesus’ mind, the man’s greater need was spiritual—maybe He saw that everyone else thought sin was the problem.
j. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Even if Jesus never healed his physical body—providing forgiveness for his sins was the greater miracle.
k. Here again, Jesus offends the teachers and leaders—this time by proclaiming forgiveness.
2. Offensive Forgiveness--God’s Territory
a. Why is forgiveness offensive? Why in this case would Jesus even bring up its need?
b. Our culture is not so different from theirs. Many times, when we see bad situation happen to someone, we try to figure out why. In many cases, we look at the things that person has done to bring it on themselves. Today, we just couch it in medical terms: “If he had just eaten better all those years, he wouldn’t have had that heart attack.” “She smoked at least a pack a day, it’s no wonder she’s got cancer.” “I can’t have too much sympathy for someone who risked his life like that—(parachuting, sex, rock climbing, speeding)”
c. This man must have been considered sinful—why else would this man be so paralyzed—He must have done something to deserve it. God must have been punishing this man for something. He was the type that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law would have counseled by saying, “brother, confess your sins, and God will heal you. Confess your sins, have faith—and if you are worthy—God will heal you.” Gee, you’re not healed—either you’re more sinful than thought, or you must not be worthy.
d. And with that—they could walk on by and never give him another thought. I hope you see from this passage that sometimes healing is not about your crying out, not about your persistence, but the persistence of those praying for you.
e. Son, your sins are forgiven.
f. How dare He say that— READ 5-7--forgiveness is the realm of God’s alone
g. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
h. Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
i. The audacity of Jesus is astounding. By saying this man was forgiven, Jesus was claiming to be able to do something only God could do—he was blaspheming. Only God had that kind of authority—Only God could forgive sin. These teachers understood the implication immediately.
j. Jesus was walking into a realm that the teachers of the law would never go—they could never pronounce forgiveness—but Jesus did and
k. He did it without the sacrifice—Jesus didn’t tell the man to get cleaned up, to go to the temple and make offerings. Jesus demanded no confession or repentance from the man. He responds to faith—and a desperation—He cleanses.
l. For some, this willingness to forgive and show mercy is unacceptable and offensive. They want to see the wicked get toasted—they look forward to the Fire & Brimstone. Jonah in the OT was hoping that Nineveh would be destroyed—James & John, the Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven simply because a Samaritan village didn’t welcome Jesus.
m. The thought of Forgiveness & Mercy Offends, especially those that think of themselves as righteous. To suggest that forgiveness was available without sacrifice drew into question the entire existence of the people, the law, the Temple.
n. Does Jesus offer forgiveness at no cost? Think about that? When someone wants to give you a gift, many times we receive it with suspicion—“what’s the catch?” or “what do you expect in return?” or “what’s this going to cost me?”
o. Jesus says, “you can be forgiven at no cost to you. All I ask is that you repent—stop going the wrong way—Trust & Receive.
3. Offensive Knowledge & Healing?—6-12
a. Jesus knew their hearts—sometimes there’s nothing more disconcerting to realize that someone knows exactly what’s going through your head—knowing exactly how you’re going to respond, what you’re going to say or do. How could they know me so well? Am I that transparent?
b. It’s disturbing playing a chess master when they can predict your moves in advance.
c. Of course, knowing someone knows you so well is also a sign of love and closeness—see Jesus knows your heart and mind because He shared in our creation—He loves us so much that He knows us. But our hearts are also like open books before Him—His word cuts to our hearts.
d. Which is easier? Some people claim a lot of things—that doesn’t make it true. Some people claim to be prophets, some healers, some mouthpieces for God—but just because they claim it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
e. Under other circumstances—with someone else—you and I would be right there with the teachers of the law—“excuse me? You can’t really speak for God!”
f. Jesus acknowledges it—anybody can make the claim—but not everybody can back it up. “Get up, take your mat ant walk.”
g. Jesus command over the physical condition—which they had likely attributed to sin—was proof that He had command over the spiritual condition.
h. He did this “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
i. Jesus had knowledge of their hearts. He proved to have greater authority than the teachers of the law. And that claim—that Knowledge & Authority was offensive.
j. Jesus claims to know more than you know—Jesus claims more authority over your body than you have—Jesus claims more authority over your sin than you have.
k. Is it any wonder that some of His listeners were offended? He didn’t sugar coat or gloss over this man’s need of forgiveness, but confronted it with the offer of forgiveness.
l. Many people are offended at Jesus—many people allow obstacles to stop them from coming to Jesus. And sadly many times we who are here—we the ones already before Jesus are the Obstacle—blocking those who are desperately coming to Jesus.
m. Are there any obstacles in your way today? Jesus has the authority to heal and forgive—to give purpose and meaning. See past all those obstacles, all those things that are between you and Him and come—just as you are.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Who Could Be Opposed to Prayer?--Mark 1:35-45
The audio for this message will be better and more developed than the text. I dared to stray more often than usual! Some, I know will be proud of me :-)
I'll get the audio posted ASAP
Who Could Be Opposed to Prayer?
Very few people refuse prayer. Most people believe and practice some form of prayer—even without knowing who or what you’re praying to—many people will appreciate the concern and good will expressed in prayer. But not everyone appreciated Jesus and His efforts at prayer—often because He came back changed and empowered for great ministry.
Mark 1:35—39
1. Jesus Went Out to Pray and Came Back with Renewed Purpose--Changed and Charged
a. Left the house—sometimes special places are necessary
b. Solitary place—a place without interruption or distraction
c. How possible in the busy world? How possible with kids or other demands? Realize just how important and necessary our prayer life is—without it, we’re not hearing from God and you’ll have a hard time knowing what God would have you do.
d. Somewhere in His time of prayer, Jesus got the message that He had stayed in one place long enough. Jesus went out to pray and He came back with a greater Purpose.
e. Jesus Returned saying—let us go somewhere else. My ministry can no longer stay in this isolated, small pocket—there are many people who are hurting many people who are sick, many people affected by the Deceiver—I need to go to them—the nearby villages
f. So in this respect, Prayer broke the monotony, broke the stagnant, commonplace existence. If it feels like nothing is moving or happening in your life, if it feels like you’re staying in the same place all the time, then seek God’s direction and Purpose. Jesus went out in prayer and came back with a message to shake things up!
g. Time With God Gave Jesus Direction & Instruction—even Jesus sought time alone with God to seek His will, His Presence, His voice.
h. But the last thing those who were losing influence wanted was for Jesus to really be communing with God and receiving Purpose and power from Him.
i. Jesus Came Back with Renewed Purpose--Communion With God Gives or Reminds Us of Our Purpose
j. Let’s Go So I can preach there also—that is Why I Have Come
k. He didn’t just want to move for the sake of moving—He had something to do—to preach—the Good News of God’s Love—of Redemption & Repentance.
l. What’s amazing to me is what He doesn’t say-- as much as what He says. He didn’t say, I came to Heal. He didn’t say, I have come to drive our demons—No—Jesus says I have come to Preach—somehow or another, this sharing of the Good News to all was more important—had a greater eternal value, this preaching brought healing, brought deliverance and rescue from the demonic. Those things happened as a result of the courage and boldness of preaching the Good News and the Kingdom of God.
m. Who could be against this? We’ve already seen how the teachers of the law and the Pharisees are opposed to this teaching. And they would be opposed to Jesus gaining any more influence or popularity. By expanding His ministry area, Jesus would be drawing their ire. But not only because of the expansion, but how He went forward, and what He did.
2. Jesus Went Forward With Enhanced Power & Compassion--—vs. 40-45
a. As a Result—of leaving what had become His base, Jesus Saw God move, saw God’s hand at work. Sometimes you and I miss God’s Hand at work when we stay where it’s too comfortable, when we don’t break out explore new territory.
b. What Jesus found was more people hurting and in need of the healing touch of God. Jesus’ renewed purpose also came with Enhanced Power and Compassion.
c. Communion With God Enhances our Compassion—makes us think of others more than ourselves.. The Power of God is at work when we minister to those hurting and in need
d. You would think that helping someone like this man would draw praise—but let me assure you again, that this is not the case. Jesus touches someone no one else would—He crossed a line that the Pharisees and teachers of the law would not. They kept this man at a distance. He was an outcast until “he confessed his sin” and God restored him.
e. Jesus was not afraid of this man like these others were in their hypocrisy. They were not moved to compassion, they were moved to scorn. And the contrast between them couldn’t be more clear.
f. We have to check ourselves here—there are many conditions in which we hesitate and draw back— we often want people to get their lives together first, to get themselves clean and sober before we really welcome them into church with all of their disruptions and problems.
g. We’ll ask people how they are doing—but we want to hear “I’m fine” more than, I’m really struggling today. We’ll pray for those who’s marriages are struggling or who are dealing with alcohol addictions but we don’t want to really get involved. Do we really want to cross a line and help someone with AIDS?
h. Jesus did not fear crossing social barriers to reach the lost, the hurting, the outcast. He even touched this man—something that may not have happened for years. In this ministry—after receiving a refreshing Power and Compassion from His time in Prayer, Jesus touched this man and healed him.
i. Immediately—the leprosy left him.
j. Not only did Jesus touch someone who shouldn’t be touched, but He did something they themselves had been unable to do—heal this disease.
k. And notice, that the people he wants to know about it are not the masses, but the priests. Do everything right as the Law commands “as a testimony to them.”
l. In Mark, this is the first person sent out with the Good News. He had called Peter and some others, but they had not been sent out yet. Jesus sends this man to the Priests—to be a witness—to the ones who may be the most opposed to Him. He wanted the priests to see and confirm the healing so the man could re-enter the community of faith—kind of like going back to the doctor for a 2nd opinion or test. But the intention was also so they may believe and bear testimony to the power of God—they have an even bigger platform from which to proclaim—if the priests and Levites got on board with what Jesus was doing, then more of Israel could be saved. Those who were supposed to be closest to God—also needed to hear the Good News.
m. Those of us who are familiar with God, those of us who think we’ve got God figured out—we need to be reached—we still need to see God at work—see His power touch someone’s life—if we don’t we will become stagnant, stale and powerless. We won’t really be able to help those in need—those who are struggling and in need of a touch from God.
n. You and I need to be reminded of how Good God is—how we draw our purpose and our power, even our compassion from our Time with Him in prayer.
o. Word spread--The man goes out and spreads the word so much that it disrupted Jesus’ ability to effectively minister in town—but those most involved in the church were not reached with this Healing.
p. The man’s healing is marred by the word, “instead”. Instead of following Jesus’ directive to show himself to the priest, the man tells everyone else. Jesus had intentionally, I believe, wanted this man to testify to the religious leaders so they would have a better opportunity to believe themselves. Now, God still spread the word, still accomplished good from the disobedience (an encouraging thought) but perhaps the real opportunity was lost. I pray that our lives and our walk with Christ cannot be marked by the word, “Instead”.
q. You and I need a Greater sense of our Purpose—but also a Greater Power and Compassion—it will come when we truly pray for one another—when we leave our cloistered faith and take it out to those who need to hear the Good News.
r. Only when we do that will see more of God at work in our lives.
s. And if you are here today, needing a touch from God—in need of healing—know that it won’t happen without coming to Him. This man “came to [Jesus]”, sought Him out and received the blessing of Jesus’ touch.
I'll get the audio posted ASAP
Who Could Be Opposed to Prayer?
Very few people refuse prayer. Most people believe and practice some form of prayer—even without knowing who or what you’re praying to—many people will appreciate the concern and good will expressed in prayer. But not everyone appreciated Jesus and His efforts at prayer—often because He came back changed and empowered for great ministry.
Mark 1:35—39
1. Jesus Went Out to Pray and Came Back with Renewed Purpose--Changed and Charged
a. Left the house—sometimes special places are necessary
b. Solitary place—a place without interruption or distraction
c. How possible in the busy world? How possible with kids or other demands? Realize just how important and necessary our prayer life is—without it, we’re not hearing from God and you’ll have a hard time knowing what God would have you do.
d. Somewhere in His time of prayer, Jesus got the message that He had stayed in one place long enough. Jesus went out to pray and He came back with a greater Purpose.
e. Jesus Returned saying—let us go somewhere else. My ministry can no longer stay in this isolated, small pocket—there are many people who are hurting many people who are sick, many people affected by the Deceiver—I need to go to them—the nearby villages
f. So in this respect, Prayer broke the monotony, broke the stagnant, commonplace existence. If it feels like nothing is moving or happening in your life, if it feels like you’re staying in the same place all the time, then seek God’s direction and Purpose. Jesus went out in prayer and came back with a message to shake things up!
g. Time With God Gave Jesus Direction & Instruction—even Jesus sought time alone with God to seek His will, His Presence, His voice.
h. But the last thing those who were losing influence wanted was for Jesus to really be communing with God and receiving Purpose and power from Him.
i. Jesus Came Back with Renewed Purpose--Communion With God Gives or Reminds Us of Our Purpose
j. Let’s Go So I can preach there also—that is Why I Have Come
k. He didn’t just want to move for the sake of moving—He had something to do—to preach—the Good News of God’s Love—of Redemption & Repentance.
l. What’s amazing to me is what He doesn’t say-- as much as what He says. He didn’t say, I came to Heal. He didn’t say, I have come to drive our demons—No—Jesus says I have come to Preach—somehow or another, this sharing of the Good News to all was more important—had a greater eternal value, this preaching brought healing, brought deliverance and rescue from the demonic. Those things happened as a result of the courage and boldness of preaching the Good News and the Kingdom of God.
m. Who could be against this? We’ve already seen how the teachers of the law and the Pharisees are opposed to this teaching. And they would be opposed to Jesus gaining any more influence or popularity. By expanding His ministry area, Jesus would be drawing their ire. But not only because of the expansion, but how He went forward, and what He did.
2. Jesus Went Forward With Enhanced Power & Compassion--—vs. 40-45
a. As a Result—of leaving what had become His base, Jesus Saw God move, saw God’s hand at work. Sometimes you and I miss God’s Hand at work when we stay where it’s too comfortable, when we don’t break out explore new territory.
b. What Jesus found was more people hurting and in need of the healing touch of God. Jesus’ renewed purpose also came with Enhanced Power and Compassion.
c. Communion With God Enhances our Compassion—makes us think of others more than ourselves.. The Power of God is at work when we minister to those hurting and in need
d. You would think that helping someone like this man would draw praise—but let me assure you again, that this is not the case. Jesus touches someone no one else would—He crossed a line that the Pharisees and teachers of the law would not. They kept this man at a distance. He was an outcast until “he confessed his sin” and God restored him.
e. Jesus was not afraid of this man like these others were in their hypocrisy. They were not moved to compassion, they were moved to scorn. And the contrast between them couldn’t be more clear.
f. We have to check ourselves here—there are many conditions in which we hesitate and draw back— we often want people to get their lives together first, to get themselves clean and sober before we really welcome them into church with all of their disruptions and problems.
g. We’ll ask people how they are doing—but we want to hear “I’m fine” more than, I’m really struggling today. We’ll pray for those who’s marriages are struggling or who are dealing with alcohol addictions but we don’t want to really get involved. Do we really want to cross a line and help someone with AIDS?
h. Jesus did not fear crossing social barriers to reach the lost, the hurting, the outcast. He even touched this man—something that may not have happened for years. In this ministry—after receiving a refreshing Power and Compassion from His time in Prayer, Jesus touched this man and healed him.
i. Immediately—the leprosy left him.
j. Not only did Jesus touch someone who shouldn’t be touched, but He did something they themselves had been unable to do—heal this disease.
k. And notice, that the people he wants to know about it are not the masses, but the priests. Do everything right as the Law commands “as a testimony to them.”
l. In Mark, this is the first person sent out with the Good News. He had called Peter and some others, but they had not been sent out yet. Jesus sends this man to the Priests—to be a witness—to the ones who may be the most opposed to Him. He wanted the priests to see and confirm the healing so the man could re-enter the community of faith—kind of like going back to the doctor for a 2nd opinion or test. But the intention was also so they may believe and bear testimony to the power of God—they have an even bigger platform from which to proclaim—if the priests and Levites got on board with what Jesus was doing, then more of Israel could be saved. Those who were supposed to be closest to God—also needed to hear the Good News.
m. Those of us who are familiar with God, those of us who think we’ve got God figured out—we need to be reached—we still need to see God at work—see His power touch someone’s life—if we don’t we will become stagnant, stale and powerless. We won’t really be able to help those in need—those who are struggling and in need of a touch from God.
n. You and I need to be reminded of how Good God is—how we draw our purpose and our power, even our compassion from our Time with Him in prayer.
o. Word spread--The man goes out and spreads the word so much that it disrupted Jesus’ ability to effectively minister in town—but those most involved in the church were not reached with this Healing.
p. The man’s healing is marred by the word, “instead”. Instead of following Jesus’ directive to show himself to the priest, the man tells everyone else. Jesus had intentionally, I believe, wanted this man to testify to the religious leaders so they would have a better opportunity to believe themselves. Now, God still spread the word, still accomplished good from the disobedience (an encouraging thought) but perhaps the real opportunity was lost. I pray that our lives and our walk with Christ cannot be marked by the word, “Instead”.
q. You and I need a Greater sense of our Purpose—but also a Greater Power and Compassion—it will come when we truly pray for one another—when we leave our cloistered faith and take it out to those who need to hear the Good News.
r. Only when we do that will see more of God at work in our lives.
s. And if you are here today, needing a touch from God—in need of healing—know that it won’t happen without coming to Him. This man “came to [Jesus]”, sought Him out and received the blessing of Jesus’ touch.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Sermon-- The Message that Sent Jesus to the Cross-- Pt. 2
Last week we began looking at the Gospel of Mark for reasons why people would have wanted to send Jesus to the Cross. From Mark 1, last week we looked: Here is the Audio of the message.
1. A Message Shared with a Criminal
2. A Message of Fulfillment
3. A Message of Repentance
4. A Message of the Good News
All of these things contributed to many wanting to send Jesus to the Cross. Yes, even the Good News—that God is a God of Grace, that Salvation is a free gift that is not earned or deserved—so angered people, so stripped the religious Pharisees of unlawful authority that they opposed Him and hated Jesus for it.
But there’s more—there’s more in this passage that provided fuel to the fire.
1. A Message of Authority—1:21-22
a. Jesus has a teaching that is contrary to the world’s way of thinking. He comes right into the middle of our lives and teaches that mercy is better than sacrifice, that the thoughts and attitudes of the heart are just as important as one’s actions, that doing good in they eyes of man will never earn salvation. He confronts our apathy, He confronts our prejudices, He proclaims that the Love of God is not based on ceremony or ritual but forgiveness & holiness, especially sacrificial love. A love so great that the answer is that the innocent would lay down His life for the guilty.
b. But one thing that upset the local leadership is that it didn’t take people long to figure out that Jesus had a greater authority than they did.
c. One reason why Jesus stood out so much in this day and age was because very rarely would a speaker or teacher speak for themselves. They would always quote and say what someone else said. Some famous teacher, some commentary on the Torah. They would speak with someone else’s authority to try and bolster their own. Reading the words of Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount—“You’ve heard it was said, but I say to you…”—it was different—Jesus spoke not just as one who had read and heard things all his life, but as One who knew the heart of God so well, One who remembered the intent of those laws when they were written before all the baggage
d. Matthew 7:28-29—“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
e. For years, the people had depended on the voices of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law. They were the Gatekeepers—Access to God was granted or restricted based upon the adherence to their rules and regulations.
f. They set the rules, they said what you could do and couldn’t do—only if you satisfied them, would you be granted access to God. but their rules were not based upon Scripture—but the additions of opinion—there were the rules of the law—and to avoid breaking those laws—we’ll make buffer laws, or we’ll make special exceptions so you can do the same thing without violating the law. You don’t have to honor your father and mother if you say “corban” and dedicate your wealth to God—after you die of course. You don’t have to honor the Sabbath if you follow certain paths, but you violate the Sabbath if you do good or pick a few seeds.
g. I’ve heard some—Christians shouldn’t play cards—shouldn’t go to the movies—women shouldn’t wear pants—no dancing—you must have a quiet time before your feet hit the floor out of bed. Many of these rules are not necessarily wrong—they have elements of truth and warnings of danger—but they are convictions—the hard part, the dangerous part —the excessive demand and rule comes when you or I try to take those convictions and make them rules or mandates that every “good” Christian should follow.
h. You do know what makes a good Christian don’t you? Everyone who agrees with me and does what I do.
i. Jesus is the only one who can say that. He possessed a greater authority than those in charge and the people were hungering and thirsting for it. That hasn’t changed.
j. So many people are hungering and thirsting for authoritative teaching. And there are many that are jumping forward to claim the title. Even Oprah is involved in a webcast of spiritual truth that thousands are following which says there is no such thing as sin—many ways to God—that the kind of divinity Jesus had is yours if you would only realize it. among other things that are contrary to biblical teaching. Many are claiming to be the authority—But Jesus is the one who has the Authority
k. And just in case there was any doubt to this authority, Jesus gives some proof with…
2. A Message of Power—vs. 23-26, 30, 32-34
l. Vs. 23-26—the demonic live in a spiritual reality—the things that we are typically not aware of is the reality they see every moment and understand.
m. The Demons Knew Him—“I know who you are”—they knew Jesus’ identity.
n. The Demons Feared Him —have you come to destroy us?—they knew what Jesus was capable of.
o. The Demons Obeyed Him
p. The Demons Fled from Him
q. Even the demons believed
r. Vs. 27-28
s. Such a contrary message—from other incidents in the New testament, we know that in Judaism, within the people blessed with the testimony of God’s intervention, blessed with the law, there were still people ravaged by demonic influence—some affected children, throwing them into the fire. Some were so violent and uncontrollable that they lived in tombs. Others caused an inability to speak. The demonic caused immense suffering—and many had lost hope at overcoming them. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were helpless when faced with this kind of opposition.
t. Then Jesus comes along—the demons know Him, they fear Him, they Obey Him. As long as this Jesus has this kind of power even over the spiritual world, then the teachers of the law would fear the influence of Jesus—“what do we do, they might start looking to Him, they might start listening to Him more than they listen to us.
u. Not just over the Demonic—but the Physical as well—vs 29-34—let’s us know that a fever, not caused by the demonic was cured—that many people with various diseases were brought to Jesus.
v. What’s worse for the leadership is that “the whole town gathered at the door” For those accustomed to being the mouthpiece of God, used to the attention and prestige for their religious authority—Jesus came in with authoritative teaching—came with demonstrations of authority of disease and the demonic.
w. Jesus claimed it, He proved it—and He awakened such an impassioned resistance even from the demonic that He was sent to the Cross—you will either want to embrace Jesus or you will want to crucify Him—this middle ground of –“Wow, He’s really interesting or a Good teacher” is not really a sustainable position—you must make a decision about who He is and what He has come to do.
x. Because it is in that message of authority and power that comes…
3. A Message of Calling—Mark 1:16-20
a. This good news Jesus did not allow His teachings to just become a nice set of laws or teaching philosophies. Jesus comes across people who’s hearts are seeking after God and He calls them out of their ordinary existence and puts them on the path of eternal significance. Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
b. He calls you and me to a decision—a decision that will radically change
i. what we are doing,
ii. why we are doing it and
iii. who we are doing it for.
c. Whatever you are doing in life—God calls you to a greater cause, a greater purpose, a greater more abundant life. I wonder what Jesus would have said if He had been walking in front of a bunch of
i. Accountants—Come, follow me and you will tally the harvest of heaven.
ii. Mechanics—Come, follow Me and I will have you repair those seeking the Way of Holiness
iii. Soldiers—Come, follow Me and I will have you rescue the fallen from behind enemy lines
iv. Professors—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring the true light to minds darkened by sin
v. Garbage Men—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring beauty to the unclean
d. There is no mundane life, no mundane job, no area of life that Jesus cannot transform into something glorious. The Call of God is to take our lives and Transform them into a grand adventure—for the Kingdom of God—it’s not about fame, fortune, brilliance, the bold or the beautiful—He calls you out of a life that does not fulfill our hearts desire and unite it to a more noble purpose.
e. 2 Timothy 2:20—“ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
2TI 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
f. Gold, silver, wood, clay—all of them were capable of being used for noble purposes. We miss that fact sometimes. We sometimes thing that only the best, only the smartest, only the most talented, only the best paying are capable of being used for God’s glory. But that’s not true—a noble purpose is something that only God is able to give.
g. People in the world by nature, do not do things of a true, eternal, noble purpose—they may be able to accomplish some good, even great things—for themselves, for others—but our purposes are always tainted by our sin nature that come through and taints what we want to do with greed, selfishness—and accomplish things that will not make a difference in eternity.
h. The truly noble things, great and meaningful tings are the ones which Jesus invites us to—because what Jesus invites us to will have an Eternal Kingdom Value.
i. And these men were seeking something—seeking something greater, something bigger, something more inspiring than the daily grind. Their hearts were yearning for something significant. Do you share that? Do you share the desire for your life to mean something? It requires doing what they did—immediately, with desire and urgency—follow Him—even if it means leaving behind the comforting things.
j. Jesus is calling you and me out of where we are and into a life of significance. There is something more to be living for and Jesus is the one with the Authority and Power to show it to you!
k. Let me say that I don’t believe you will ever look at your job, your life, your opportunities the same way again when it is your heart’s desire to glorify God and draw people to Him in whatever you happen to be doing.
1. A Message Shared with a Criminal
2. A Message of Fulfillment
3. A Message of Repentance
4. A Message of the Good News
All of these things contributed to many wanting to send Jesus to the Cross. Yes, even the Good News—that God is a God of Grace, that Salvation is a free gift that is not earned or deserved—so angered people, so stripped the religious Pharisees of unlawful authority that they opposed Him and hated Jesus for it.
But there’s more—there’s more in this passage that provided fuel to the fire.
1. A Message of Authority—1:21-22
a. Jesus has a teaching that is contrary to the world’s way of thinking. He comes right into the middle of our lives and teaches that mercy is better than sacrifice, that the thoughts and attitudes of the heart are just as important as one’s actions, that doing good in they eyes of man will never earn salvation. He confronts our apathy, He confronts our prejudices, He proclaims that the Love of God is not based on ceremony or ritual but forgiveness & holiness, especially sacrificial love. A love so great that the answer is that the innocent would lay down His life for the guilty.
b. But one thing that upset the local leadership is that it didn’t take people long to figure out that Jesus had a greater authority than they did.
c. One reason why Jesus stood out so much in this day and age was because very rarely would a speaker or teacher speak for themselves. They would always quote and say what someone else said. Some famous teacher, some commentary on the Torah. They would speak with someone else’s authority to try and bolster their own. Reading the words of Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount—“You’ve heard it was said, but I say to you…”—it was different—Jesus spoke not just as one who had read and heard things all his life, but as One who knew the heart of God so well, One who remembered the intent of those laws when they were written before all the baggage
d. Matthew 7:28-29—“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
e. For years, the people had depended on the voices of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law. They were the Gatekeepers—Access to God was granted or restricted based upon the adherence to their rules and regulations.
f. They set the rules, they said what you could do and couldn’t do—only if you satisfied them, would you be granted access to God. but their rules were not based upon Scripture—but the additions of opinion—there were the rules of the law—and to avoid breaking those laws—we’ll make buffer laws, or we’ll make special exceptions so you can do the same thing without violating the law. You don’t have to honor your father and mother if you say “corban” and dedicate your wealth to God—after you die of course. You don’t have to honor the Sabbath if you follow certain paths, but you violate the Sabbath if you do good or pick a few seeds.
g. I’ve heard some—Christians shouldn’t play cards—shouldn’t go to the movies—women shouldn’t wear pants—no dancing—you must have a quiet time before your feet hit the floor out of bed. Many of these rules are not necessarily wrong—they have elements of truth and warnings of danger—but they are convictions—the hard part, the dangerous part —the excessive demand and rule comes when you or I try to take those convictions and make them rules or mandates that every “good” Christian should follow.
h. You do know what makes a good Christian don’t you? Everyone who agrees with me and does what I do.
i. Jesus is the only one who can say that. He possessed a greater authority than those in charge and the people were hungering and thirsting for it. That hasn’t changed.
j. So many people are hungering and thirsting for authoritative teaching. And there are many that are jumping forward to claim the title. Even Oprah is involved in a webcast of spiritual truth that thousands are following which says there is no such thing as sin—many ways to God—that the kind of divinity Jesus had is yours if you would only realize it. among other things that are contrary to biblical teaching. Many are claiming to be the authority—But Jesus is the one who has the Authority
k. And just in case there was any doubt to this authority, Jesus gives some proof with…
2. A Message of Power—vs. 23-26, 30, 32-34
l. Vs. 23-26—the demonic live in a spiritual reality—the things that we are typically not aware of is the reality they see every moment and understand.
m. The Demons Knew Him—“I know who you are”—they knew Jesus’ identity.
n. The Demons Feared Him —have you come to destroy us?—they knew what Jesus was capable of.
o. The Demons Obeyed Him
p. The Demons Fled from Him
q. Even the demons believed
r. Vs. 27-28
s. Such a contrary message—from other incidents in the New testament, we know that in Judaism, within the people blessed with the testimony of God’s intervention, blessed with the law, there were still people ravaged by demonic influence—some affected children, throwing them into the fire. Some were so violent and uncontrollable that they lived in tombs. Others caused an inability to speak. The demonic caused immense suffering—and many had lost hope at overcoming them. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were helpless when faced with this kind of opposition.
t. Then Jesus comes along—the demons know Him, they fear Him, they Obey Him. As long as this Jesus has this kind of power even over the spiritual world, then the teachers of the law would fear the influence of Jesus—“what do we do, they might start looking to Him, they might start listening to Him more than they listen to us.
u. Not just over the Demonic—but the Physical as well—vs 29-34—let’s us know that a fever, not caused by the demonic was cured—that many people with various diseases were brought to Jesus.
v. What’s worse for the leadership is that “the whole town gathered at the door” For those accustomed to being the mouthpiece of God, used to the attention and prestige for their religious authority—Jesus came in with authoritative teaching—came with demonstrations of authority of disease and the demonic.
w. Jesus claimed it, He proved it—and He awakened such an impassioned resistance even from the demonic that He was sent to the Cross—you will either want to embrace Jesus or you will want to crucify Him—this middle ground of –“Wow, He’s really interesting or a Good teacher” is not really a sustainable position—you must make a decision about who He is and what He has come to do.
x. Because it is in that message of authority and power that comes…
3. A Message of Calling—Mark 1:16-20
a. This good news Jesus did not allow His teachings to just become a nice set of laws or teaching philosophies. Jesus comes across people who’s hearts are seeking after God and He calls them out of their ordinary existence and puts them on the path of eternal significance. Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
b. He calls you and me to a decision—a decision that will radically change
i. what we are doing,
ii. why we are doing it and
iii. who we are doing it for.
c. Whatever you are doing in life—God calls you to a greater cause, a greater purpose, a greater more abundant life. I wonder what Jesus would have said if He had been walking in front of a bunch of
i. Accountants—Come, follow me and you will tally the harvest of heaven.
ii. Mechanics—Come, follow Me and I will have you repair those seeking the Way of Holiness
iii. Soldiers—Come, follow Me and I will have you rescue the fallen from behind enemy lines
iv. Professors—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring the true light to minds darkened by sin
v. Garbage Men—Come, follow Me and I will have you bring beauty to the unclean
d. There is no mundane life, no mundane job, no area of life that Jesus cannot transform into something glorious. The Call of God is to take our lives and Transform them into a grand adventure—for the Kingdom of God—it’s not about fame, fortune, brilliance, the bold or the beautiful—He calls you out of a life that does not fulfill our hearts desire and unite it to a more noble purpose.
e. 2 Timothy 2:20—“ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
2TI 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
f. Gold, silver, wood, clay—all of them were capable of being used for noble purposes. We miss that fact sometimes. We sometimes thing that only the best, only the smartest, only the most talented, only the best paying are capable of being used for God’s glory. But that’s not true—a noble purpose is something that only God is able to give.
g. People in the world by nature, do not do things of a true, eternal, noble purpose—they may be able to accomplish some good, even great things—for themselves, for others—but our purposes are always tainted by our sin nature that come through and taints what we want to do with greed, selfishness—and accomplish things that will not make a difference in eternity.
h. The truly noble things, great and meaningful tings are the ones which Jesus invites us to—because what Jesus invites us to will have an Eternal Kingdom Value.
i. And these men were seeking something—seeking something greater, something bigger, something more inspiring than the daily grind. Their hearts were yearning for something significant. Do you share that? Do you share the desire for your life to mean something? It requires doing what they did—immediately, with desire and urgency—follow Him—even if it means leaving behind the comforting things.
j. Jesus is calling you and me out of where we are and into a life of significance. There is something more to be living for and Jesus is the one with the Authority and Power to show it to you!
k. Let me say that I don’t believe you will ever look at your job, your life, your opportunities the same way again when it is your heart’s desire to glorify God and draw people to Him in whatever you happen to be doing.
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