I watched a television show recently where someone who was driving along the freeway at night looked into their rearview mirror and said to the person riding along with them, “I think I’m being followed.” To which the passenger responded, “Why would anyone be following you?” Right about then the dog barked and distracted me and I didn’t hear the answer. But I remembered the question. It was such a good question I’ve adapted it and restated it to stimulate our thinking: What motivates people to follow?
Going along with the crowd is one reason. Often people get caught up in some movement of a great multitude and get swept along in the energy of it all. They find themselves going along with the crowd to such an extent they can’t even tell you where they’re going but just know they are on the way to somewhere.
They want what someone else can offer them. Have you ever seen someone following some political candidate because of promises that have been made? People who are discontented can be vulnerable to this deception.
They don’t want to miss out on anything. These are the people who are envious of what someone else receives and because of their self-centered lifestyles they are driven by their desires to not be left behind.
They want to be with the person they follow. Like a puppy following a little child, some people follow other people because of their desire to be with that person. This can be found in the perverted desire of the stalker.
They want to be like the person they follow. This is one of the highest forms of admiration. To follow in one’s footsteps is a figure of speech that expresses a desire to demonstrate the utmost respect and reverence for another. So now we get to the so what of this introduction:
Why are you following Jesus? And if you aren’t following Jesus, why not?
The Gospel of Mark is the gospel in action. Jesus is described in the narrative as actively ministering in the midst of the people. So to keep up with what Jesus is doing in the first few chapters, we see Him moving about in many different locations and many multitudes are following. After the first eight verses introduce Him, we see that He came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized. From there it is the desert, where apart from the angels, He is alone in His temptations. After John’s arrest, He returns to Galilee, preaching the gospel of God. Walking by the sea, He calls some disciples to follow Him. They left everything, the nets, the boats, their father and friends. He passed by the booth of a tax collector who left his ledgers and livelihood and followed Jesus. What was the powerful motivation for people to follow? From the seashore to the synagogues and from the private homes to the public places, Jesus interacted with the people of the land. Today’s passage may help us understand why people followed Jesus in that day and what motivates them to follow Him in our day. Let’s hear now the word of the Lord:
Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9 And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. (Mark 3:7-10)
Jesus rejected the motivation of the multitude who followed only to have their earthly needs met.
I. A FAVORABLE FOLLOWING WILL SEEK THE ONE WHO CAN GRANT THEM FAVORS.
…a great multitude…a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him…
People throughout history have followed their gods because of what they could gain. Pagan religious superstitions abound in antiquity. The gods of the lands in which God’s people resided were territorial and limited in their power and protection. One could gain the favor of a god through a combination of the right kind of sacrifice, or if the god was in a good mood, or if the stars were aligned rightly, or if they were worshiping the god of the land. Whether you were hoping for a good crop or a large family, appeasing the gods was no small task to take on. Then the Great God of the Hebrews began to reveal Himself not only to His people but to the people surrounding His people. By the time of Jesus, the Hebrew or Jewish people had been scattered from their homeland and had influenced many of the different nations around them. So we read in the text that Galileans, local people, began to follow Jesus. From Jerusalem, the capital of Judaism, to Idumea, the ancient land of the descendants of Esau, people came to follow Jesus. From beyond the Jordan, the people of modern day Jordan and Iraq, and perhaps even Iran, came to follow Jesus. From the ancient seaports of Tyre and Sidon, idolatrous strongholds, they came to see what Jesus was doing. Jesus…the hope of the nations.
People who do not follow Christ as God have more hope to lose than anything they could ever gain. The multitudes were more interested in what He was doing than why He was here. The favors they sought were centered on themselves and their need. The what’s-in-it-for me attitude drives many to follow in our day as well. But people will find that following a self-centered agenda only makes them losers. They lose the peace that comes by knowing Christ personally. Christ does not call people to follow Him so their lives will be financially prosperous or holistically healthy. When a person follows Christ they surrender their life as they have known it. They no longer live to please self but desire to please God. Christ did not come so we could be comfortable in this world. He came to deliver us from hell in the next one. If a person never turns to Christ and follows Him as God, he will lose his soul, even if he gains the whole world. Why would someone do that? Why chase after earthly favors and lose eternal favor with God? Maybe because they confuse favors from God with favor with God.
Christ extends His favor to His favorites. The disciple is the favored follower of Christ. Does Christ love all men? The Bible tells us …For God so loved the world… So does the whole world find favor with God through Christ? Not unless they are His disciples. Not unless they believe and trust God with their lives. Not unless they repent from their sin, receive and believe in the gospel. A disciple is a learner who follows Christ to learn of Him and learns of Him to follow Him. God has chosen the chosen followers of Christ to show them His favor, or His blessing. This is what Christ is doing in this passage. He is living out the promise that God promised to Abraham. Through Abraham all nations would be blessed. Jesus, the seed of the woman, Son of God, descendant of David, child of Abraham, came to bless the nations and shed the favor, or the grace, of God upon all mankind.
Christ followers find favor in His personal presence. It is enough that God is with them in any circumstance. Whether we are in danger of losing our life, our health, our property, our families, our friends, God is with His people. Have you followed Christ long enough to know that He really doesn’t care about your SUV? He cares about your SOUL. And He comes to commune with us. He wants to be with us. And Christ followers find favor by spending time with Him.
The church runs the risk of wrongly reacting to the social gospel. There is a difference between the social gospel and the gospel that Jesus preached. The gospel is God’s good news for man’s bad condition. Jesus did not come to heal as much as He came to save. The social gospel is our man-centered belief that we must first attend to people’s physical needs before they will give the gospel a serious hearing. Well, tell that to Legion in Mark 5. He was a self-mutilating maniac who was a demoniac, homeless in a graveyard because it was not safe for him to live among the living. Imagine a team of people going out to him to assess his physical needs. Imagine them seeing him in his natural and by the way, naked, condition. They would have thought he needed shelter, medical treatment, psychological counseling, social interaction, clothing and possibly a shower. Then Jesus came by night to invade the pervasive darkness of his life. After the confrontation with the Christ, the man called Legion was sitting at the feet of his master, clothed and in his right mind. When Jesus went to get into the boat to leave, Legion wanted to follow. This is the gospel. It is the power of God in Christ to save.
II. A FAVORABLE FOLLOWING WILL BE FICKLE IN THEIR LOYALTY IF THEY DON’T CONTINUE TO FIND FAVOR.
Great multitudes have followed a Great God for trivial reasons. There is nothing trivial about the account of the Exodus. God brought judgment on the land of Egypt and directed Moses to lead His people out of slavery. They followed God to survive. You would think a slave would be ecstatic over his freedom. But amazingly enough, within just a few days of beholding the power of Almighty God, they began to grumble about their condition. When your life is self-centered, your god will be very trivial. This Great God Jehovah is worthy of following. Why do you follow Jesus? What is your reasoning? Do you follow Him because of who He is or what He can do for you? You will never be disappointed with who He is. You will often be let down because of what He has done for you. God does not exist to meet our expectations. We are not the focus of what God is doing. Deliverance from sin is the focus of the work of Christ. Jesus is not God’s gift to us to please us. He is God’s gift to us to save us. We follow Him to survive.
Followers who fall away usually have failed to find their heart’s desire. I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Some modern day preachers would add that following Jesus does the same thing. Well, I can agree with one out of three. Following Jesus makes one wise because the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When you follow Jesus you will fear God. Some have tried to follow Jesus without knowing He is God. And they have been disappointed because they think they are following some mere man who was a good teacher and a moral model. When life has gotten difficult, they have fallen away because they never understood that following Jesus is the wisest thing a human being can do. To follow Jesus is to seek wisdom. It is a fool’s choice to reject the gospel of God. A fool is disappointed with God.
The authority of Christ is on display for those who can recognize it. Not all who attempt to approach Christ understand who He is. Not everyone who pursues Him knows how to approach Him. Often we presume too much in our pursuit. The passage says that …all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. The language of the text says that they literally “fell upon Him”. They pushed their way into God’s presence because they wanted to “touch” Him. It is not right to crowd in on God. Contrast how the demons reacted immediately following our passage:
Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” (Mark 3:11)
The spirit realm knows what is hidden to the physical world. The unseen, but ultimate, authority of God can only be known spiritually. There is a difference in falling upon Him and falling before Him. Shouldn’t people who know Christ have at least as much reverence for His authority as the demons demonstrate? Do the people who are not following Christ see the followers of Christ living as though Christ is the authority in their lives? Our very lives should be a testimony of Christ in charge. Does the authority of Christ affect how you treat your wife? Does the authority of Christ reflect how you respect your husband? Does the authority of Christ shine through how you lovingly discipline your children? Do you work for a paycheck or work under the authority of God? Do you follow Christ as one who is under authority? The love of God in Christ is God’s basis for kingdom rule.
Disciples come to Jesus out of need and will follow Him out of love. Peter’s answer to Jesus in John 6 is a proper response. Many of the multitudes were falling away because Jesus began teaching some hard concepts. When Jesus asked the disciples if they were going away, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” When I came to Jesus it is because I answered His call to come and because I realized He was my greatest need. I continue to follow because of love. Not so much my love for Him. But His love for me is steadfast. Do you continue to follow Jesus because He continues to love you?
People will not follow Jesus unless they receive the gospel. Our challenge as a church is not to take lightly the needs of humanity. Our challenge is to keep it balanced with what we are to be about as the church. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel. We are not to get so entwined in meeting people’s physical needs that we never get around to presenting the gospel. This is why Jesus told His disciples to have the boat standing by. His mission was to preach the gospel of God. This is the mission of the church. Make disciples by presenting the gospel of God and continuously learn how to be disciples by living out the gospel of God. Following Christ because we want to be like Christ is one of the best reasons I know.
The “so what” of today’s message:I would rather be in the “favored following” category.
God has favored me by calling me to follow.
Are you following Christ for all the right reasons?
Have you decided to follow Jesus? If not, why not?
There is a difference between deciding and following. Let us follow Jesus.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Withered Hands and Shriveled Hearts
There once was a guy with an artificial hand. It was not one of those prosthetic devices that could be functionally used to do many things but it was one that was flesh-colored and rubbery, useless, except in appearance. Some right-handed people who have disabled hands will often shake hands with their left one. But this guy delighted in taking this lifeless right hand and placing in someone else’s hand as he introduced himself. He wanted to study how people reacted to the experience. Some recoiled immediately, laughing nervously about being the butt of some sick joke. Some people got angry at being caught off guard and embarrassed. They cursed him or threatened him with bodily harm. But the strangest reactions of all were those who acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They smiled with pasted on expressions, all the while continuing to shake the hand. It was as if the man’s affliction was not a reality and they chose to ignore it altogether. How can that be possible? Weren’t they aware of his affliction?
Our passage today in Mark’s Gospel reveals how Jesus encountered a man with a disabled hand and solicited a response from the religious authorities of the day. Let’s look at the passage before us today and see how the responses differed between the man with the withered hand, the religious elite, and the Lord Jesus. Our hope is to learn how His truth can lead us into our own responses to His word today. Hear the word of the Lord.
He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. (Mark 3:1-6)
GODLY SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY ALWAYS PROMOTES LIFE.
I. PEOPLE CAN FOCUS SO MUCH ON NOT DOING WRONG THAT THEY WON’T DO RIGHT. (V. 1-4a)
Is it lawful to do good...?
When God asks a question, He already knows the answer. The first dialogue we have recorded between God and the fallen man Adam is the question, Where are you? To Adam’s son Cain, He asks, Where is your brother Abel? To Moses, the reluctant leader, Who has made man’s mouth? Consider God’s servant Job. How did he answer questions like, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? or Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? God does not ask questions to gain information. He asks questions to expose the truth. These questions are found all throughout the biblical story. In the text before us today, we come to the fifth question that Jesus asks in the Gospel of Mark. All five were directed to the religious leaders of the day. All five have to do with revealing the authority of God in Christ Jesus. In the synagogue that day Jesus asked a timeless question of religious people. Is it lawful… to do good…to do harm…to save…to kill…on the Sabbath? God already knew the answer. How would they respond?
Fearful and fallen men would rather do nothing than do the wrong thing. We can be mystified by stories we hear where people are assaulted by hoodlums and good people stand by and watch it happen and do not intervene. We hear of stories where people are injured in accidents and other people stand back and watch but dare not get involved. They justify it by saying it is none of their business. After all, they reason, they may get sued! It’s not against the law for them not to help, is it? I would argue that some things that are legal are not always moral. When you are so afraid of being seen doing wrong, you will miss the opportunity to do right.
Christ not only came to do the right thing, He came to be the right thing.
This second Sabbath day confrontation took place in the synagogue. Jesus had cast out a demon in the synagogue and discussion had ensued about His authority. This conflict is all about the authority of Christ over the authority of religious standards. The problem with the religious standard of the day was that it was open to Pharisaical additions and interpretations. The standard kept moving. And it kept moving people away from the worship of God. Christ came to intervene in this restrictive religious system of deadness with a new standard of life. Without Christ as the standard of righteousness, religious standards will become our master. Without Christ as our Master, we are never truly free.
Be discerning in the ways we exercise our freedom in Christ. Our freedom in Christ is not freedom from His moral law. It is freedom to do good, freedom to save life, freedom to worship God. The world is not impressed with Christians who profess to be followers of Christ while living habitually sinful lifestyles. They can see right through that hypocrisy. So can Christ. The Pharisees had an opportunity to respond rightly to the question God was asking. But they were too afraid. The man who was afflicted was not even an issue with them. Their fear rendered them ineffective in the religious community.
Fear breeds mistrust that creates a culture of impotence. In our lives together as a congregation, we will be faced with questions God is asking. He already knows the answer. We can remain in a safe place in the synagogue of the Pharisees, relying on our personal interpretation of our cultural religious tradition, and remain impotent. Religion can have a form of godliness, but lack power because of fear. Fear causes people to build walls between themselves, even if they are on the same side. Do we trust Christ with His church? Or are we afraid of the new things He can do and only He can do. Christ breaks down walls of division. If we will ask God to help us be right, He will also help us tell others how to do so.
II. PEOPLE BOUND IN IDOLATRY STOP TELLING OTHERS HOW TO DO RIGHT. (V. 4b)
...But they kept silent...
Man’s ideas for worship leads to man-centered culture. Consider the people of God as recorded in Exodus. They had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. During this time they had retained their identity as a people. The Exodus is the account of God’s people coming out of the Land of Bondage and moving toward the Land of Promise under the authority of God. His Presence had led them and provided for them while in the wilderness. When Moses went up to God on Mount Sinai, he left his brother Aaron in charge. In just a matter of days, the desire to be led by a god other than Yahweh infected even the leadership. Aaron was approached by the people who implored him to make another god (or gods) to lead them. They had waited on Moses long enough. You would think Aaron would be quick to defend the God of Israel as the One True God. But he told them to bring him the gold and he made them their god. Isn’t that what sinful man really desires to be? A god-maker? He shaped it into the form of a calf and the people began to behave as sinful people do without any restraint. Depravity always spirals downward. It leads to destruction. Listen to what God told Moses:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32:7-10)
This is the God of Salvation History. He is always at war with idolatry. He is always revealing His authority. He was willing to destroy them all, even Aaron, the brother of Moses, and start all over with Moses. God is still intent on making a people for Himself just as He did with Abraham, just as He did with Noah, just as He did with Adam. This God is serious about there are no other gods among His people. Idolatry is deadly. When leaders are caught up in idolatry, they lose their ability to speak for God. They stop telling others how to do right. The next step is teaching them to do wrong.
Humanistic philosophies will lead to anything other than God-centered ideology. The interpretation and addition to the law of God gave the religious elite of the day a power base. The religious, political, social, and economic lives of the people were controlled by the ones who made the rules. They cared more about the appearance of being godly than being godly. They were “good” people. This is the danger of the position that people find themselves in today. They think they are good because they aren’t as bad as some and somehow God grades on a sliding scale. They believe that they are relatively good because they have a relative truth. This is man-centered thinking. The cross of Christ is at the center of a God-centered lifestyle. And the “best” among us is judged by God according to His standard. Let the humanist ponder that for awhile.
Christ challenges the religious institutions of all ages with a standard of righteousness. How often has the church been silent when speaking God’s word would have been appropriate? How many times have you heard people say that the church does really well at telling people how they are doing wrong without telling them how to do right? For example, the church very vocal about the sin of homosexuality while silent to people in their midst about immoral hetero-sexual relationships. When a man and a woman used to live together without being married, it used to be called “living in sin”. Asked lately by someone who wanted to know if “living together” as Christians was sinful, I replied, “If you really say what it is, you will have your answer.” Any and all sexual relationship with anyone other than a marital partner is immoral and sinful. This is the standard of righteousness that Christ brings to the church. People who “live together” are actually dying together.
We can know differences of what it is to be culturally acceptable, traditionally desirable, and biblically non-negotiable. As Christians, we must decide if our lives can be described as Christ-followers. Not all who think of themselves as Christians follow Christ. Some things that are acceptable in our culture today are anti-biblical. Some things that seem right are so wrong. Some things that have been handed down for generations and have more power over us than our desire to please God need to be rejected. For a greater understanding of what are the non-negotiables, we must have a greater understanding of the biblical Christ. He continuously pressed against all that would mold Him into man’s image. We must push back against that as well. Learn what it means to live like God. Learn about Christ.
Humility in our corporate life will leave little room for hypocrisy. When we get the opportunity to speak truth into the lives of others it is always wise to consider our own lives before God. Consider how we would be impacted when people come to us and confront us in our sin. Consider how hard it is to be restored to God’s place. Consider how God’s word says to do that in Galatians 6:
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)
Too much pride and too little humility leads to hypocrisy. Silence can result because we really don’t care about others. Humility frees the hypocrite from idolatrous bondage. Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. Let’s be real with God and with one another. Speak Christ. He is humble in heart. Let us in the church be seen in our culture with humble and not hardened hearts.
III. IT IS BETTER TO GO THROUGH LIFE WITH A WITHERED HAND THAN A HARDENED HEART. (V. 5)
...looking at them with anger...He was grieved at their hardness of heart...
Historically speaking, a hardened heart is a life-threatening condition. Both the Old and New Testaments give us God’s timeless counsel. If you can hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. When the first man Adam listened to the voice of another, his heart was hardened against God. His loss of spiritual hearing resulted in his loss of his spiritual life. The hardness of heart is a genetic spiritual and fatal flaw. It is in the DNA of every human. We are spiritually stillborn, until we are born by the Spirit of God. In this synagogue, the Word of God was in the midst of men with hardened hearts. This is the one passage in Scripture where it is very clear that Jesus was angry with those who by their silence and their treachery were intent on putting Jesus on trial. They watched to see what the God-man would do. And if He did the right thing, which was to heal this man with a withered hand, they would have grounds for condemnation. The healing of the man was insignificant to them. Maintaining their grip on their own authority was the issue. They would not concede that the right thing to do was the right thing to do. Hardness of heart affects spiritual understanding. They were in grave danger.
Unwillingness to respond to the voice of God leaves one exposed to the wrath of God. To the one today who is not following Christ but has a desire to do so there is hope. The reason you are here today is the same reason this man with the withered hand was in the synagogue. He was there to hear the word of a sovereign God. The gospel of Luke tells us the withered hand was the right hand. His hand of power was impotent. God in Christ came to restore that which was lost. If you have no relationship with the Christ and have not confessed your condition as a sinner against God, you are in grave danger. For until there is confession there is no repentance or a turning from sin to God. Without repentance, there can be no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, you are exposed to the wrath of God. When Christ calls you, you can respond and seek His forgiveness. This man came to Christ, in response to the call to come forward, while the enemies of Christ remained nonresponsive. When Christ calls, our part is to come to Him. Then Christ asked the man to do the impossible. Stretch out your hand. He could not do this apart from the power of God. Respond to Christ as He calls you. Then Christ will do for you that which you can never do for yourself. This is the gospel.
Christ restored the hand that was withered and grieved over the heart that was shriveled. Both the withered hand and the hardened heart get God’s attention. To the hand, He is merciful, to the heart, He is angry. A hard heart is a lifeless heart, shriveled up, uncaring, dead, putrefied, and petrified. For it to be purified, it must be quickened with life...born again. But see the two things here that are coupled together. Anger and grief. He was angry because those with hardened hearts were not compassionate. And He grieved over what they would lose by being hard. I can only soak a raisin in water long enough to produce a plumper raisin. But without the power of God, it will never be a grape again.
Apathetic indifference to people’s afflictions speaks volumes about our spiritual heart condition as disciples. Do we care about the suffering that we see? Do we care about their lives? Do we see people as God sees them? Or do we see them at all? The danger is that we as believers can harden our hearts to the voice of the Lord. The progression of this will lead believers to unbelief. Unbelief will cause us to fall away from the Living God according to Hebrews 3. Apostasy follows apathy in God’s people. We will forget that it took the penalty of the cross and the power of the resurrection to give us a heart that lives and feels and sees what God sees. And we will revert back to our indifference to the God who makes a difference.
The gospel message is our constant reminder of our own withered hands and hardened hearts. We in the church are made up of many testimonies. Different as to when and where we came to Christ. But we are all alike as to how. Just as this man could not stretch out his hand under his own power, we can never claim to be born again apart from a work of God. Some formulaic sinner’s prayer could not do it alone. Some ritual baptism without an inward conversion holds no promise that we are children of God. We all came to God helpless to save ourselves. We all suffer from hardness of heart that must be guarded against. Come to the altar today and confess your condition to God. Whether it is a withered hand or hardened heart, God offers His gospel of grace.
IV. HARD HEARTS FORM UNHOLY ALLIANCES OF DESTRUCTION. (V. 6)
...the Pharisees...began taking counsel with the Herodians...as to how they might destroy Him...
The story of the Bible is the story of God’s battle with His enemy. Humanity is only the supporting cast. God is the protagonist of the biblical story. Satan is the antagonist. God is the main character in the drama. He is the one the story is about. Satan is the one who once supported the protagonist, but now opposes. The stories of the Bible tell us how the supporting cast relates to the story. We all too often get caught up with trying to live like some of the biblical models. But as you can see, the Bible never hides the humanity of humanity. Then we are introduced to Christ, the God-man. All God. All man. There is none like Him. He is the restoring agent of creation and re-creation. He is the victor in this battle. Satan is the real loser. And he wants company in his misery.
The non-Christian has God as an enemy and God has never lost a battle. If you are not following Christ you are following the wrong person. Satan is a personal devil and there are only two sides. Which group of supporting actors would you find yourself in today if you really took a close look? What do you think Jesus would say?
Christ came to be the center of God’s plan and the center of Satan’s target on the cross. The natural progression of an unregenerate heart is death and not life, hurting not helping, destruction not restoration, tearing down and not building up. Christ came for a heart break. He came to mend the broken hearted and break the hard hearted. He died of heart break on the cross for the sin of all humanity for all of time. To a person who never knew sin, that is mighty destructive. He came to give life. He came to save men from themselves and the wrath of God. He died for those who destroyed Him. He died for those who degraded Him. He died for those who dishonored Him. He died for those who shamed Him. He certainly died for me and you. We have all played a part. How should we respond when we are treated like Him as one of His supporting cast?
Rejoice when you are conspired against, lied about, and become a target for the sake of Christ. Blessed are you, Christ said, when you are treated this way. How many of us know that sometimes God’s blessings are painful? Some days I feel more blessed than others. We live in a day when the reproach of being a Christian is often fashionable in our culture. Wear this as the clothing that Christ provides for us. His righteousness is enough. His grace is sufficient. Stay close to Christ these days. He has much to say to us. Stop trying to justify your position. Live like Christ told us to live. As wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.
Repent from attitudes of apathy toward what Christ has done in our midst, even if you did not understand. God is alive and well in the church where His word is held in high regard. Sometimes we are witness to different ways that Christ is at work around us in the church. And it is all too often a ho-hum experience for us. When we look for the grace of God in our midst we will find it. And it is as much a miracle as the raising of the dead. When God gives us a heart for those who are dying a slow death from living a fast life, we can be energetic and not apathetic for the cause of Christ.
What is our So What? for today?
Worldly authority found in dead religious tradition prefers an unchanging standard of lifelessness.
It is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
Hardness of heart grieves our Lord.
When the Lord asks a question, we need to answer.
What will be your response to Him?
Our passage today in Mark’s Gospel reveals how Jesus encountered a man with a disabled hand and solicited a response from the religious authorities of the day. Let’s look at the passage before us today and see how the responses differed between the man with the withered hand, the religious elite, and the Lord Jesus. Our hope is to learn how His truth can lead us into our own responses to His word today. Hear the word of the Lord.
He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. (Mark 3:1-6)
GODLY SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY ALWAYS PROMOTES LIFE.
I. PEOPLE CAN FOCUS SO MUCH ON NOT DOING WRONG THAT THEY WON’T DO RIGHT. (V. 1-4a)
Is it lawful to do good...?
When God asks a question, He already knows the answer. The first dialogue we have recorded between God and the fallen man Adam is the question, Where are you? To Adam’s son Cain, He asks, Where is your brother Abel? To Moses, the reluctant leader, Who has made man’s mouth? Consider God’s servant Job. How did he answer questions like, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? or Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? God does not ask questions to gain information. He asks questions to expose the truth. These questions are found all throughout the biblical story. In the text before us today, we come to the fifth question that Jesus asks in the Gospel of Mark. All five were directed to the religious leaders of the day. All five have to do with revealing the authority of God in Christ Jesus. In the synagogue that day Jesus asked a timeless question of religious people. Is it lawful… to do good…to do harm…to save…to kill…on the Sabbath? God already knew the answer. How would they respond?
Fearful and fallen men would rather do nothing than do the wrong thing. We can be mystified by stories we hear where people are assaulted by hoodlums and good people stand by and watch it happen and do not intervene. We hear of stories where people are injured in accidents and other people stand back and watch but dare not get involved. They justify it by saying it is none of their business. After all, they reason, they may get sued! It’s not against the law for them not to help, is it? I would argue that some things that are legal are not always moral. When you are so afraid of being seen doing wrong, you will miss the opportunity to do right.
Christ not only came to do the right thing, He came to be the right thing.
This second Sabbath day confrontation took place in the synagogue. Jesus had cast out a demon in the synagogue and discussion had ensued about His authority. This conflict is all about the authority of Christ over the authority of religious standards. The problem with the religious standard of the day was that it was open to Pharisaical additions and interpretations. The standard kept moving. And it kept moving people away from the worship of God. Christ came to intervene in this restrictive religious system of deadness with a new standard of life. Without Christ as the standard of righteousness, religious standards will become our master. Without Christ as our Master, we are never truly free.
Be discerning in the ways we exercise our freedom in Christ. Our freedom in Christ is not freedom from His moral law. It is freedom to do good, freedom to save life, freedom to worship God. The world is not impressed with Christians who profess to be followers of Christ while living habitually sinful lifestyles. They can see right through that hypocrisy. So can Christ. The Pharisees had an opportunity to respond rightly to the question God was asking. But they were too afraid. The man who was afflicted was not even an issue with them. Their fear rendered them ineffective in the religious community.
Fear breeds mistrust that creates a culture of impotence. In our lives together as a congregation, we will be faced with questions God is asking. He already knows the answer. We can remain in a safe place in the synagogue of the Pharisees, relying on our personal interpretation of our cultural religious tradition, and remain impotent. Religion can have a form of godliness, but lack power because of fear. Fear causes people to build walls between themselves, even if they are on the same side. Do we trust Christ with His church? Or are we afraid of the new things He can do and only He can do. Christ breaks down walls of division. If we will ask God to help us be right, He will also help us tell others how to do so.
II. PEOPLE BOUND IN IDOLATRY STOP TELLING OTHERS HOW TO DO RIGHT. (V. 4b)
...But they kept silent...
Man’s ideas for worship leads to man-centered culture. Consider the people of God as recorded in Exodus. They had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. During this time they had retained their identity as a people. The Exodus is the account of God’s people coming out of the Land of Bondage and moving toward the Land of Promise under the authority of God. His Presence had led them and provided for them while in the wilderness. When Moses went up to God on Mount Sinai, he left his brother Aaron in charge. In just a matter of days, the desire to be led by a god other than Yahweh infected even the leadership. Aaron was approached by the people who implored him to make another god (or gods) to lead them. They had waited on Moses long enough. You would think Aaron would be quick to defend the God of Israel as the One True God. But he told them to bring him the gold and he made them their god. Isn’t that what sinful man really desires to be? A god-maker? He shaped it into the form of a calf and the people began to behave as sinful people do without any restraint. Depravity always spirals downward. It leads to destruction. Listen to what God told Moses:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32:7-10)
This is the God of Salvation History. He is always at war with idolatry. He is always revealing His authority. He was willing to destroy them all, even Aaron, the brother of Moses, and start all over with Moses. God is still intent on making a people for Himself just as He did with Abraham, just as He did with Noah, just as He did with Adam. This God is serious about there are no other gods among His people. Idolatry is deadly. When leaders are caught up in idolatry, they lose their ability to speak for God. They stop telling others how to do right. The next step is teaching them to do wrong.
Humanistic philosophies will lead to anything other than God-centered ideology. The interpretation and addition to the law of God gave the religious elite of the day a power base. The religious, political, social, and economic lives of the people were controlled by the ones who made the rules. They cared more about the appearance of being godly than being godly. They were “good” people. This is the danger of the position that people find themselves in today. They think they are good because they aren’t as bad as some and somehow God grades on a sliding scale. They believe that they are relatively good because they have a relative truth. This is man-centered thinking. The cross of Christ is at the center of a God-centered lifestyle. And the “best” among us is judged by God according to His standard. Let the humanist ponder that for awhile.
Christ challenges the religious institutions of all ages with a standard of righteousness. How often has the church been silent when speaking God’s word would have been appropriate? How many times have you heard people say that the church does really well at telling people how they are doing wrong without telling them how to do right? For example, the church very vocal about the sin of homosexuality while silent to people in their midst about immoral hetero-sexual relationships. When a man and a woman used to live together without being married, it used to be called “living in sin”. Asked lately by someone who wanted to know if “living together” as Christians was sinful, I replied, “If you really say what it is, you will have your answer.” Any and all sexual relationship with anyone other than a marital partner is immoral and sinful. This is the standard of righteousness that Christ brings to the church. People who “live together” are actually dying together.
We can know differences of what it is to be culturally acceptable, traditionally desirable, and biblically non-negotiable. As Christians, we must decide if our lives can be described as Christ-followers. Not all who think of themselves as Christians follow Christ. Some things that are acceptable in our culture today are anti-biblical. Some things that seem right are so wrong. Some things that have been handed down for generations and have more power over us than our desire to please God need to be rejected. For a greater understanding of what are the non-negotiables, we must have a greater understanding of the biblical Christ. He continuously pressed against all that would mold Him into man’s image. We must push back against that as well. Learn what it means to live like God. Learn about Christ.
Humility in our corporate life will leave little room for hypocrisy. When we get the opportunity to speak truth into the lives of others it is always wise to consider our own lives before God. Consider how we would be impacted when people come to us and confront us in our sin. Consider how hard it is to be restored to God’s place. Consider how God’s word says to do that in Galatians 6:
Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)
Too much pride and too little humility leads to hypocrisy. Silence can result because we really don’t care about others. Humility frees the hypocrite from idolatrous bondage. Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. Let’s be real with God and with one another. Speak Christ. He is humble in heart. Let us in the church be seen in our culture with humble and not hardened hearts.
III. IT IS BETTER TO GO THROUGH LIFE WITH A WITHERED HAND THAN A HARDENED HEART. (V. 5)
...looking at them with anger...He was grieved at their hardness of heart...
Historically speaking, a hardened heart is a life-threatening condition. Both the Old and New Testaments give us God’s timeless counsel. If you can hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. When the first man Adam listened to the voice of another, his heart was hardened against God. His loss of spiritual hearing resulted in his loss of his spiritual life. The hardness of heart is a genetic spiritual and fatal flaw. It is in the DNA of every human. We are spiritually stillborn, until we are born by the Spirit of God. In this synagogue, the Word of God was in the midst of men with hardened hearts. This is the one passage in Scripture where it is very clear that Jesus was angry with those who by their silence and their treachery were intent on putting Jesus on trial. They watched to see what the God-man would do. And if He did the right thing, which was to heal this man with a withered hand, they would have grounds for condemnation. The healing of the man was insignificant to them. Maintaining their grip on their own authority was the issue. They would not concede that the right thing to do was the right thing to do. Hardness of heart affects spiritual understanding. They were in grave danger.
Unwillingness to respond to the voice of God leaves one exposed to the wrath of God. To the one today who is not following Christ but has a desire to do so there is hope. The reason you are here today is the same reason this man with the withered hand was in the synagogue. He was there to hear the word of a sovereign God. The gospel of Luke tells us the withered hand was the right hand. His hand of power was impotent. God in Christ came to restore that which was lost. If you have no relationship with the Christ and have not confessed your condition as a sinner against God, you are in grave danger. For until there is confession there is no repentance or a turning from sin to God. Without repentance, there can be no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, you are exposed to the wrath of God. When Christ calls you, you can respond and seek His forgiveness. This man came to Christ, in response to the call to come forward, while the enemies of Christ remained nonresponsive. When Christ calls, our part is to come to Him. Then Christ asked the man to do the impossible. Stretch out your hand. He could not do this apart from the power of God. Respond to Christ as He calls you. Then Christ will do for you that which you can never do for yourself. This is the gospel.
Christ restored the hand that was withered and grieved over the heart that was shriveled. Both the withered hand and the hardened heart get God’s attention. To the hand, He is merciful, to the heart, He is angry. A hard heart is a lifeless heart, shriveled up, uncaring, dead, putrefied, and petrified. For it to be purified, it must be quickened with life...born again. But see the two things here that are coupled together. Anger and grief. He was angry because those with hardened hearts were not compassionate. And He grieved over what they would lose by being hard. I can only soak a raisin in water long enough to produce a plumper raisin. But without the power of God, it will never be a grape again.
Apathetic indifference to people’s afflictions speaks volumes about our spiritual heart condition as disciples. Do we care about the suffering that we see? Do we care about their lives? Do we see people as God sees them? Or do we see them at all? The danger is that we as believers can harden our hearts to the voice of the Lord. The progression of this will lead believers to unbelief. Unbelief will cause us to fall away from the Living God according to Hebrews 3. Apostasy follows apathy in God’s people. We will forget that it took the penalty of the cross and the power of the resurrection to give us a heart that lives and feels and sees what God sees. And we will revert back to our indifference to the God who makes a difference.
The gospel message is our constant reminder of our own withered hands and hardened hearts. We in the church are made up of many testimonies. Different as to when and where we came to Christ. But we are all alike as to how. Just as this man could not stretch out his hand under his own power, we can never claim to be born again apart from a work of God. Some formulaic sinner’s prayer could not do it alone. Some ritual baptism without an inward conversion holds no promise that we are children of God. We all came to God helpless to save ourselves. We all suffer from hardness of heart that must be guarded against. Come to the altar today and confess your condition to God. Whether it is a withered hand or hardened heart, God offers His gospel of grace.
IV. HARD HEARTS FORM UNHOLY ALLIANCES OF DESTRUCTION. (V. 6)
...the Pharisees...began taking counsel with the Herodians...as to how they might destroy Him...
The story of the Bible is the story of God’s battle with His enemy. Humanity is only the supporting cast. God is the protagonist of the biblical story. Satan is the antagonist. God is the main character in the drama. He is the one the story is about. Satan is the one who once supported the protagonist, but now opposes. The stories of the Bible tell us how the supporting cast relates to the story. We all too often get caught up with trying to live like some of the biblical models. But as you can see, the Bible never hides the humanity of humanity. Then we are introduced to Christ, the God-man. All God. All man. There is none like Him. He is the restoring agent of creation and re-creation. He is the victor in this battle. Satan is the real loser. And he wants company in his misery.
The non-Christian has God as an enemy and God has never lost a battle. If you are not following Christ you are following the wrong person. Satan is a personal devil and there are only two sides. Which group of supporting actors would you find yourself in today if you really took a close look? What do you think Jesus would say?
Christ came to be the center of God’s plan and the center of Satan’s target on the cross. The natural progression of an unregenerate heart is death and not life, hurting not helping, destruction not restoration, tearing down and not building up. Christ came for a heart break. He came to mend the broken hearted and break the hard hearted. He died of heart break on the cross for the sin of all humanity for all of time. To a person who never knew sin, that is mighty destructive. He came to give life. He came to save men from themselves and the wrath of God. He died for those who destroyed Him. He died for those who degraded Him. He died for those who dishonored Him. He died for those who shamed Him. He certainly died for me and you. We have all played a part. How should we respond when we are treated like Him as one of His supporting cast?
Rejoice when you are conspired against, lied about, and become a target for the sake of Christ. Blessed are you, Christ said, when you are treated this way. How many of us know that sometimes God’s blessings are painful? Some days I feel more blessed than others. We live in a day when the reproach of being a Christian is often fashionable in our culture. Wear this as the clothing that Christ provides for us. His righteousness is enough. His grace is sufficient. Stay close to Christ these days. He has much to say to us. Stop trying to justify your position. Live like Christ told us to live. As wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.
Repent from attitudes of apathy toward what Christ has done in our midst, even if you did not understand. God is alive and well in the church where His word is held in high regard. Sometimes we are witness to different ways that Christ is at work around us in the church. And it is all too often a ho-hum experience for us. When we look for the grace of God in our midst we will find it. And it is as much a miracle as the raising of the dead. When God gives us a heart for those who are dying a slow death from living a fast life, we can be energetic and not apathetic for the cause of Christ.
What is our So What? for today?
Worldly authority found in dead religious tradition prefers an unchanging standard of lifelessness.
It is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
Hardness of heart grieves our Lord.
When the Lord asks a question, we need to answer.
What will be your response to Him?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Lord Of The Law
When I was a boy, Sundays were different. Even if people didn’t believe that the day was set aside for a particular purpose, there was a general respect for the idea. You wouldn’t hear lawn mowers cutting grass during the time of worship services. And most church-going folks wouldn’t go fishing or skiing on Sunday afternoons. I remember one family who lived across the street from the church building. The mother would worship regularly on Sundays with her son and daughter. But her husband and their father never came as long as I attended there. He was a drunkard. I don’t know for sure how he was treated by any other church member. I don’t know whether they acknowledged him at all in any positive way. I never saw anyone go talk to him on Sunday mornings. The son and daughter were about my age and I spent a lot of time with them, but never went to play in their yard. It was as if the drunkard was to be avoided. As a boy I didn’t think much about this man’s need for Christ. It’s as though he didn’t exist at all.
I wonder today if this man was ever converted to Christianity and his life was radically changed. I wonder if he ever became the husband his wife was praying for or the father that God intended. I wonder if he is still alive and his days of hearing the church bell ring, piercing his Sunday morning hangover, are only faded memories if he can remember at all. Or I wonder if he has died and entered an eternity without Christ without saving faith in Christ. I wonder if the one who stood at the door of the church building ever thought about him very much at all. It seems the message of Christ is more than just about all the bells and whistles. The gospel is much more than that.
Outwardly religious people often care more about their holy days than people and their basic needs. The Gospel of Mark brings us this week into a head-on collision between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day in relation to the observance of the Sabbath Day. The tradition that was built and maintained was a powerful in the days of Jesus and it is still a powerful force today. Can we get so bound up in the observance of God’s law that we lose focus not only on people who are strangers to God but also ignore the needs of the people of God who were supposed to be the beneficiaries of it? Let’s read the passage together and see what we can find.
And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.
The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”
Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28)
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS NOT LORD OVER THE LORD.
I. SABBATH LAW WAS MADE TO BE OBSERVED, NOT SERVED. (27)
...the Sabbath was made for man...
In the beginning, Sabbath was a day for God’s glory and man’s benefit. In Jesus’ day, Sabbath day observance was a hardship...something hard to do. But it was not always so. The Sabbath was made to serve man. In the creation account, after six days, God had finished His work of creation. The crowning jewel of all creation had been formed. Man was created in the image of God. God set aside a special day. By His decree, it was a holy day, designated to be a day of rest. It was a day of rest, although God was not tired. But He rested. Why? In Genesis 2, He had finished the work of creation. And the purpose of the day was to reflect on the awesome grandeur of a holy God who speaks and it is so. The Creator is worthy of the worship of creation. Man would benefit from a regular time of rest; set aside as time that he could reflect on His Maker and listen for His voice. But then came chapter 3 of Genesis. In the fall, man’s purpose in creation became perverted. This seventh day observance became vastly different from what God had originally intended. By the time of the public ministry days of Jesus, the Sabbath had become a tradition that was void of the glory of God and the benefit of man. It had become twisted in its purpose.
The allusion to the time of Abiathar would have been provocative to the religious establishment. Before David was a king, he was a fugitive. King Saul was jealous of David and the favor that God had bestowed upon him. Young David had slain the Philistine champion Goliath and had become Israel’s champion. David’s status as a national hero provoked Saul and he tried to kill David. During this time, David came to a place called Nob. In 1 Samuel 21 we read that he approached a priest named Ahimelech and asked for some bread for him and his men. The priest only had the consecrated bread, or the showbread, traditionally kept for worship purposes. The priest relented after David had appealed to him and gave him this holy bread. The priest also gave David the sword of Goliath as well. Witnessing this event was a man named Doeg, who was an Edomite shepherd of Saul, the worldly king. See the contrast here. The Edomites were descendents of Esau, the brother of Jacob, whom God had chosen to father His people. Jacob was called Israel. Jacob was chosen and Esau rejected. Doeg was a shepherd who aligned Himself to Saul, an earthly king. David was a shepherd who said that the King of Heaven was his Shepherd. Doeg related this episode to Saul, who assembled Ahimelech and the priests at Nob. Saul commanded Doeg to kill the priests and he slew eighty-five priests that day. One escaped the calamity and his name was Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech. The time of Abiathar that Jesus referred to was the time when God preserved His priest and His king in the midst of murderous hypocrisy. Saul pretended to be in authority and it looked like he had the upper hand. But God had anointed David before he had ever killed Goliath. The time of Abiathar was a time when God had chosen David, who was a hungry king who pursued the heart of God. In the aftermath of the slaughter at Nob, it is believed that David wrote Psalm 52. Listen to the passionate cry of his heart as he mourned over his provocative part in this episode.
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.”
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
I believe when these Pharisees heard the reference to the time of Abiathar, they knew Jesus was referring to them as being more like Saul than like David in their religious observance of the Sabbath. They would have been more aligned with ungodliness in their observance. They did not care about people. The Law was their lord.
Christ declared that human need supersedes mere ritual and ceremony. He did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. He came to set man free from his burden of keeping the Law. One of the Ten Commandments deals with the observance of the Sabbath. By the time of Jesus, this one command had grown into many prohibitions tacked on like many Congressional earmarks to today’s legislation. The things that were added to Sabbath observance had nothing to do with the intent of God’s original command.
Although Christians are not bound to Sabbath Law, there are benefits to the Sabbath principle. Even before the fall, God had seen that man needs time to wind down and reflect on God and His word. Sundays are not the Sabbath. Sundays are our reminder of Resurrection Day. Often this is used to justify people who live and work in a culture with a self serving motive. Either we work every day because we think we can or we take the day off to pamper ourselves. The holy day has become a holiday so we can do what we want to do. Holy days become hollow days when we think one day in seven is more about us rather than all about God. Sabbath is for God’s glory and man’s benefit.
The Sabbath principle is beneficial to the congregation because we can be too busy to effectively be about God’s business. I used to think that a church that has something going on every day, bustling with the busyness of many activities, is really on mission with God and accomplishing His purpose. If the devil cannot tempt us as a church to successfully to do wrong things, we can quickly fall into the trap of doing right things in the wrong way.
II. WE CAN BECOME ENSLAVED TO THE LAW INSTEAD OF FREE TO OBSERVE IT. (27)
…and not man for the Sabbath.
Man was created to be free to worship God and not free from the worship of God. Here is the original purpose of the Sabbath. Consider that Jesus was crucified on the day before the Sabbath. What was God up to? The most holy act of worship ever experienced was the crucifixion. The most holy sacrifice was presented to the Most Holy God. And when He was taken down dead from the cross, the Sabbath Day was for reflection. God said…and it was so. Think about what that means for you and me. It makes me want to worship God. And this side of the Cross, we are free to do so. But we are never free to not worship God.
Man is not free to worship a system of rules because the Law will quickly become a hard master. Man was created to worship God and serve Him as master. When the day that God set aside for our benefit became our bondage, something was wrong with that picture. Jesus came to do something about that.
Christ came to restore true worship of the Living God. Anytime we keep God’s law out of a sense of duty or even grudgingly we can become captive to it. They were free to worship Him using that which was created. The Sabbath was not intended to be a heartless despot that man must serve regardless of the cost to himself; rather it was given to meet man’s need for rest. It was given to meet man’s need for God.
Walking with the God who gives rest is radically refreshing. These disciples were walking with God. And God was walking with them. When is the last time you have “passed through the grainfields”, walking with the Creator, and trusting Him as your provider?
When the people of God look for God’s provision daily, they will see their Provider. There is a time upon us in the Church today that we can look to worldly situations and see the emptiness of worldly solutions. We can be fearful in living out our lives, running to and fro, increasing our knowledge, and be desperate for wisdom. Here is wisdom. Spend time with God today, thanking Him for His daily provision. You will see your Provider.
III. THE LORD OF ALL IS LORD OF THE SABBATH. (28)
So the Son of Man is Lord ... even of the Sabbath...
God designated the Sabbath in the beginning and has full authority in its purpose. God thinks of everything. When He provided manna for His people in the wilderness, He made provision that they could gather twice as much on the day before the Sabbath so they would not have to gather it on the Sabbath. The Sabbath Day’s provision would not spoil or rot. But if they tried to do this on any other day, and work around God’s direction, the manna would spoil. How can you explain this? God has within His authority to make judgments about law He Himself establishes. It is so in the physical realm as well. We read that an ax head floated and the sun’s shadow went backward on a staircase. We read that the sun stood still, extending the daylight so a battle could be fought and we read that a Crucified Savior was raised to life from the dead. God and His authority are ultimate. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
A person will not have a concept of a holy day without a concept of a holy God. The unbeliever cannot have the concept of worshipping God or reflecting on His blessings without receiving these blessings. But they do have a concept of worship. That is what is wrong with their lives. Something is demanding their time, talent and resources. Their worship is out of whack. Holy days will be hollow days or holidays.
The authority of the Law is found in Christ. Christ was not above its authority, He was the authority. He was not asserting his freedom to violate the Sabbath law, but rather he was declaring his authority to interpret that law. What the disciples were doing did not violate God’s Sabbath. They violated man’s interpretation of it.
When Christians are yoked together with Christ they can find rest for their souls. Consider these words of Jesus:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
A yoke was something that was hung around the necks of two animals working together so they would walk together. One was always a lead animal who paced the pair and guided their direction. Are you yoked to Christ? How do you know? Because no matter what Christ calls you to, He does not call you to slavish Sabbath keeping. You will not find rest serving the Sabbath. You find rest serving Christ…take His yoke upon you…learn from Him. Heaven is a continuous Sabbath rest, forever yoked to Christ.
Holy days are hollow days when we spend time serving and worshipping other things. Our challenge as a church is to reach this city with a celebration of the holiness of Christ. There are plenty celebrations around Raleigh that you can choose to be a part of. As a matter of fact, you can so compartmentalize your Christianity that you can be worldly in your witness. This means that if I see you in public, I would not be able to tell the difference in your behavior than people who do not follow Christ. Are you a Christ follower? They stood out in the grainfields to people who saw their difference as negative. Will you be willing to stand out in your neighborhood as someone different in a positive Christlike way?
Our so what for today:
Is my worship experience holy or hollow?
Do I encounter the Christ of the Bible or practice some ritual on a religious checklist?
Do I practice the Sabbath principle?
You must take the time or the time will take you.
Here is an acrostic for the word BUSY to remember: Being Under Satan’s Yoke.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
I wonder today if this man was ever converted to Christianity and his life was radically changed. I wonder if he ever became the husband his wife was praying for or the father that God intended. I wonder if he is still alive and his days of hearing the church bell ring, piercing his Sunday morning hangover, are only faded memories if he can remember at all. Or I wonder if he has died and entered an eternity without Christ without saving faith in Christ. I wonder if the one who stood at the door of the church building ever thought about him very much at all. It seems the message of Christ is more than just about all the bells and whistles. The gospel is much more than that.
Outwardly religious people often care more about their holy days than people and their basic needs. The Gospel of Mark brings us this week into a head-on collision between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day in relation to the observance of the Sabbath Day. The tradition that was built and maintained was a powerful in the days of Jesus and it is still a powerful force today. Can we get so bound up in the observance of God’s law that we lose focus not only on people who are strangers to God but also ignore the needs of the people of God who were supposed to be the beneficiaries of it? Let’s read the passage together and see what we can find.
And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.
The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”
Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28)
THE LAW OF THE LORD IS NOT LORD OVER THE LORD.
I. SABBATH LAW WAS MADE TO BE OBSERVED, NOT SERVED. (27)
...the Sabbath was made for man...
In the beginning, Sabbath was a day for God’s glory and man’s benefit. In Jesus’ day, Sabbath day observance was a hardship...something hard to do. But it was not always so. The Sabbath was made to serve man. In the creation account, after six days, God had finished His work of creation. The crowning jewel of all creation had been formed. Man was created in the image of God. God set aside a special day. By His decree, it was a holy day, designated to be a day of rest. It was a day of rest, although God was not tired. But He rested. Why? In Genesis 2, He had finished the work of creation. And the purpose of the day was to reflect on the awesome grandeur of a holy God who speaks and it is so. The Creator is worthy of the worship of creation. Man would benefit from a regular time of rest; set aside as time that he could reflect on His Maker and listen for His voice. But then came chapter 3 of Genesis. In the fall, man’s purpose in creation became perverted. This seventh day observance became vastly different from what God had originally intended. By the time of the public ministry days of Jesus, the Sabbath had become a tradition that was void of the glory of God and the benefit of man. It had become twisted in its purpose.
The allusion to the time of Abiathar would have been provocative to the religious establishment. Before David was a king, he was a fugitive. King Saul was jealous of David and the favor that God had bestowed upon him. Young David had slain the Philistine champion Goliath and had become Israel’s champion. David’s status as a national hero provoked Saul and he tried to kill David. During this time, David came to a place called Nob. In 1 Samuel 21 we read that he approached a priest named Ahimelech and asked for some bread for him and his men. The priest only had the consecrated bread, or the showbread, traditionally kept for worship purposes. The priest relented after David had appealed to him and gave him this holy bread. The priest also gave David the sword of Goliath as well. Witnessing this event was a man named Doeg, who was an Edomite shepherd of Saul, the worldly king. See the contrast here. The Edomites were descendents of Esau, the brother of Jacob, whom God had chosen to father His people. Jacob was called Israel. Jacob was chosen and Esau rejected. Doeg was a shepherd who aligned Himself to Saul, an earthly king. David was a shepherd who said that the King of Heaven was his Shepherd. Doeg related this episode to Saul, who assembled Ahimelech and the priests at Nob. Saul commanded Doeg to kill the priests and he slew eighty-five priests that day. One escaped the calamity and his name was Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech. The time of Abiathar that Jesus referred to was the time when God preserved His priest and His king in the midst of murderous hypocrisy. Saul pretended to be in authority and it looked like he had the upper hand. But God had anointed David before he had ever killed Goliath. The time of Abiathar was a time when God had chosen David, who was a hungry king who pursued the heart of God. In the aftermath of the slaughter at Nob, it is believed that David wrote Psalm 52. Listen to the passionate cry of his heart as he mourned over his provocative part in this episode.
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, and will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.”
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
I believe when these Pharisees heard the reference to the time of Abiathar, they knew Jesus was referring to them as being more like Saul than like David in their religious observance of the Sabbath. They would have been more aligned with ungodliness in their observance. They did not care about people. The Law was their lord.
Christ declared that human need supersedes mere ritual and ceremony. He did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. He came to set man free from his burden of keeping the Law. One of the Ten Commandments deals with the observance of the Sabbath. By the time of Jesus, this one command had grown into many prohibitions tacked on like many Congressional earmarks to today’s legislation. The things that were added to Sabbath observance had nothing to do with the intent of God’s original command.
Although Christians are not bound to Sabbath Law, there are benefits to the Sabbath principle. Even before the fall, God had seen that man needs time to wind down and reflect on God and His word. Sundays are not the Sabbath. Sundays are our reminder of Resurrection Day. Often this is used to justify people who live and work in a culture with a self serving motive. Either we work every day because we think we can or we take the day off to pamper ourselves. The holy day has become a holiday so we can do what we want to do. Holy days become hollow days when we think one day in seven is more about us rather than all about God. Sabbath is for God’s glory and man’s benefit.
The Sabbath principle is beneficial to the congregation because we can be too busy to effectively be about God’s business. I used to think that a church that has something going on every day, bustling with the busyness of many activities, is really on mission with God and accomplishing His purpose. If the devil cannot tempt us as a church to successfully to do wrong things, we can quickly fall into the trap of doing right things in the wrong way.
II. WE CAN BECOME ENSLAVED TO THE LAW INSTEAD OF FREE TO OBSERVE IT. (27)
…and not man for the Sabbath.
Man was created to be free to worship God and not free from the worship of God. Here is the original purpose of the Sabbath. Consider that Jesus was crucified on the day before the Sabbath. What was God up to? The most holy act of worship ever experienced was the crucifixion. The most holy sacrifice was presented to the Most Holy God. And when He was taken down dead from the cross, the Sabbath Day was for reflection. God said…and it was so. Think about what that means for you and me. It makes me want to worship God. And this side of the Cross, we are free to do so. But we are never free to not worship God.
Man is not free to worship a system of rules because the Law will quickly become a hard master. Man was created to worship God and serve Him as master. When the day that God set aside for our benefit became our bondage, something was wrong with that picture. Jesus came to do something about that.
Christ came to restore true worship of the Living God. Anytime we keep God’s law out of a sense of duty or even grudgingly we can become captive to it. They were free to worship Him using that which was created. The Sabbath was not intended to be a heartless despot that man must serve regardless of the cost to himself; rather it was given to meet man’s need for rest. It was given to meet man’s need for God.
Walking with the God who gives rest is radically refreshing. These disciples were walking with God. And God was walking with them. When is the last time you have “passed through the grainfields”, walking with the Creator, and trusting Him as your provider?
When the people of God look for God’s provision daily, they will see their Provider. There is a time upon us in the Church today that we can look to worldly situations and see the emptiness of worldly solutions. We can be fearful in living out our lives, running to and fro, increasing our knowledge, and be desperate for wisdom. Here is wisdom. Spend time with God today, thanking Him for His daily provision. You will see your Provider.
III. THE LORD OF ALL IS LORD OF THE SABBATH. (28)
So the Son of Man is Lord ... even of the Sabbath...
God designated the Sabbath in the beginning and has full authority in its purpose. God thinks of everything. When He provided manna for His people in the wilderness, He made provision that they could gather twice as much on the day before the Sabbath so they would not have to gather it on the Sabbath. The Sabbath Day’s provision would not spoil or rot. But if they tried to do this on any other day, and work around God’s direction, the manna would spoil. How can you explain this? God has within His authority to make judgments about law He Himself establishes. It is so in the physical realm as well. We read that an ax head floated and the sun’s shadow went backward on a staircase. We read that the sun stood still, extending the daylight so a battle could be fought and we read that a Crucified Savior was raised to life from the dead. God and His authority are ultimate. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
A person will not have a concept of a holy day without a concept of a holy God. The unbeliever cannot have the concept of worshipping God or reflecting on His blessings without receiving these blessings. But they do have a concept of worship. That is what is wrong with their lives. Something is demanding their time, talent and resources. Their worship is out of whack. Holy days will be hollow days or holidays.
The authority of the Law is found in Christ. Christ was not above its authority, He was the authority. He was not asserting his freedom to violate the Sabbath law, but rather he was declaring his authority to interpret that law. What the disciples were doing did not violate God’s Sabbath. They violated man’s interpretation of it.
When Christians are yoked together with Christ they can find rest for their souls. Consider these words of Jesus:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
A yoke was something that was hung around the necks of two animals working together so they would walk together. One was always a lead animal who paced the pair and guided their direction. Are you yoked to Christ? How do you know? Because no matter what Christ calls you to, He does not call you to slavish Sabbath keeping. You will not find rest serving the Sabbath. You find rest serving Christ…take His yoke upon you…learn from Him. Heaven is a continuous Sabbath rest, forever yoked to Christ.
Holy days are hollow days when we spend time serving and worshipping other things. Our challenge as a church is to reach this city with a celebration of the holiness of Christ. There are plenty celebrations around Raleigh that you can choose to be a part of. As a matter of fact, you can so compartmentalize your Christianity that you can be worldly in your witness. This means that if I see you in public, I would not be able to tell the difference in your behavior than people who do not follow Christ. Are you a Christ follower? They stood out in the grainfields to people who saw their difference as negative. Will you be willing to stand out in your neighborhood as someone different in a positive Christlike way?
Our so what for today:
Is my worship experience holy or hollow?
Do I encounter the Christ of the Bible or practice some ritual on a religious checklist?
Do I practice the Sabbath principle?
You must take the time or the time will take you.
Here is an acrostic for the word BUSY to remember: Being Under Satan’s Yoke.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Different Discipleship
Have you ever seen what happens when four or five Mentos brand mints are dropped into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke? There is an extreme and volatile reaction. The bottle cannot hold the contents in. The liquid shoots out of the top of the bottle, spewing forth under pressure much like the eruption of a geyser in Yellowstone National Park. A world record was set on the television show Mythbusters. With the use of a nozzle it sent a jet stream into the air over 29 feet high! This reaction occurs when some different ingredients are introduced that causes a change in the nature of that which is inside the bottle. It could be described as a “change reaction” or a reaction to change. The setting for such a display would not be appropriate for us here today. It would create a very messy environment. The container could not contain the change.
The religious people who were critical of Jesus and His authority in the Gospel of Mark knew absolutely nothing about Diet Coke and Mentos. But they knew change when they saw it coming. They knew what happened when someone came along and tampered with their tradition. They knew what might happen when disciples acted differently. It made an absolute mess of their institution. It threatened their way of life because things happened outside of their control. Disciples of Jesus were different from what people had been used to seeing. They did not always act in the ways of the Pharisaical tradition. And this caused no small amount of conflict among the practicing religionists of the day. This is the first century setting for today’s message, Different Discipleship. Let’s read the text before us from Mark’s Gospel.
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22)
Jesus brings new life that religious tradition cannot produce or keep contained.
I. FASTING OFTEN ACCOMPANIES ACTS OF REPENTANCE AND RELIGIOUS TRADITION. (18)
...John’s disciples were fasting…the Pharisees were fasting...
Fasting symbolized mourning and sorrow and over time it grew into man-centered activity. The origin of the fasting of God’s people has its roots in the Old Testament. As God's people progressively heard from Him, He commanded them to set aside one day a year that came to be known as the Day of Atonement where they were to “humble their souls” in repentance and seek God’s forgiveness. To humble the soul required self humiliation and self denial, expressing sorrow for the effect of sin. The practice of fasting became a practical act of self-denial, abstaining from the intake of food. Fasting was often a response that symbolized sorrow and grief. Consider someone who grieves the death of a loved one and their response is so sorrowful they do not eat for some time, often for days. People also fasted in biblical times while seeking God’s direction, answers to prayer, or desired a heightened awareness of God’s presence in their mission and ministry such as Moses and Elijah. God’s people often fasted in situations of loss such as in the Babylonian captivity, where the Jews had lost their home and some believed they had lost their heritage as well. In the aftermath of the exile, the Jewish people continued their practice of fasting even after they had returned to their land. At the close of the Old Testament era, a group called the Pharisees rose to power and called the people to return to the basics of their religious tradition. By the first century, in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees would demand that people fast as much as twice-weekly. They were on the lookout for those who fasted and those who weren’t. They wanted themselves to be plainly identified as observers of the fast. They thought it gave them the appearance of being super-spiritual. Fasting became a religious activity focused on the display of man’s religious standing before other men. Here is the reason for the question to Jesus. Why don’t we see your disciples fast? Implied in that question is … Why don’t we see your disciples fast… like everyone sees that we do?
Fasting as an act of repentance is motivated by godly sorrow. Another faction of religious practitioners was found in the desert community of Qumran. The Essenes were the real deal when it came to fasting. Their fasting was not a public display of religion on parade. There was no parade in the desert. They were seriously seeking Messiah. Have you ever longed so much for someone’s presence that you did not eat? John the Baptist was criticized for his ascetic lifestyle where he lived on wild locusts and honey. Fasting was a part of his routine. His disciples followed in his tradition that seems similar to that of the Essenes. John’s disciples practiced fasting as it represented a denial of basic human desires such as food or drink. This denial demonstrated a desire beyond their physical hunger. They desired God more than they desired food. They mourned over their present condition of sorrow for their sin. Their Messiah was near. This was what John’s whole life purpose was about. He was to announce the Messiah’s arrival. They were living out the message to Repent, for the kingdom of God is near. This message is still relevant today. Repent. The kingdom of God is near. The person who desires to get close to God will never get there without repentance. People will never truly repent unless they experience godly sorrow. We often see God as some unfeeling, cold, and judgmental deity who is far removed from our existence. But know that our sin affects God. He is a Person. Sin offends Him. Are you sorrowful that your sin has hurt the heart of God? Repent. Change your direction. Turn from your way to God’s way. Mourn and weep over your sin. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. If I did not know God as my Savior, I would not want to eat until I had that assurance. A real relationship with the Living God is more valuable to the soul than food is to the body. We cannot live long without it.
Christ fasted miraculously in the wilderness. The Gospel accounts say He was there in the desert fasting for forty days and forty nights. Was He sorrowful over His sin? No, because He knew no sin. His mission lay before Him and He was tempted by the devil. He who knew no sin was to become sin for us. He fasted to demonstrate that He would not succumb to demonic temptation and turn the stones into bread, although He could have. He came to do the will of His Father, not the will of the tempter. He came to give Himself and deny Himself. Christ shows us that fasting can clarify our priorities. God-centered priorities can be clearly seen when we deny ourselves our basic desires.
Fasting cannot manipulate God. When fasting is ritualistic and legalistic, it leads to an empty expression of worship. God is not obligated to move on our behalf because we fast. Fasting should be done with purpose. One great purpose is to hear from the Lord as to matters of great consequence. Fasting should be purposeful and private. Fasting should be done discreetly. The whole world should not know we are fasting. It is between us and God. Self exaltation does not move the heart of God.
Fasting can be helpful as we learn to direct our focus on the Lord concerning His will. To know His will, we can look in His word. Fasting does not always have to be food-related. Fasting from wasteful activities can be a great way to discover God’s way of living in these frightening times. We can turn off the TV and open up the Word. The God of the Bible is not represented favorably from Hollywood productions. Biblical principles to guide our lives are found in the Bible.
II. NEW LIFE WITH JESUS IS REASON TO CELEBRATE. (18-20)
...Your disciples do not fast...So long as they have the bridegroom with them...
Men either rejoice, tremble, or ignore God when He is in their midst. Historically, man was created for communion with God. And it was an enjoyable thing. Then the fall of man brought shame and fear and men trembled when God revealed Himself. The most dangerous stage of the God-and-man relationship is when people began to take God for granted and no longer trembled. People ignored God and His word and were deceived to think He did not matter to them and His word was irrelevant for them. Their dead and lifeless religion became a ritual and a burden to those dying in their sin. So the Word of God became flesh and began to dwell and eat and teach and work and love among them. This was a different thing to the ones who were mourning and the ones who were pretending. Christ came to bring the joy of living back to men who were created in His image.
The absence of joy in the non-Christian betrays a lack of contentment in the ways of God. Why are your disciples doing things differently? Jesus was asked. The “why” question is a prevailing one. These days people are asking for explanations rather than answers. God does not owe us explanations as to why He does what He does in the ways that He does. From a self-centered perspective they ask, “Why didn’t He perform the way we expected?” It’s because God does not act for man’s primary benefit. He acts to demonstrate His glory. If you haven’t noticed, humans that don’t get their way can become dissatisfied and discontent. Non-Christians can suffer great disappointment with a God who does not meet their expectations. They do not enjoy joy. Don’t miss the contrast of joy and sorrow in this passage. Jesus draws this out using an illustration of a wedding that portrays life within God’s community.
Christ is the Bridegroom that everyone has been waiting for. Traditional wedding ceremonies in our Western culture find all the invited guests, along with the bridegroom, anxiously awaiting the entrance of the bride. At the first chords of the Bridal March, the guests rise to honor the bride and all eyes are fixed upon her. You can hear the hushed whispers, Isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t her dress gorgeous? But in the first century Oriental culture the bridegroom was the center of attention. As a general rule, the bridegroom would travel to the bridegroom’s home under the cover of darkness. His attendants would travel with him and he would dress like a King coming to claim His queen. The attendants of the bridegroom would no doubt be infected with His contagious joy as he anticipated union with His bride. Bridesmaids were usually waiting with the bride for the arrival of the entourage, which was led by the bridegroom. I honestly think this is one reason we are a little confused about who we are as the church in our culture today. We are the Bride of Christ. But we seem to think that the wedding is all about us. We think it’s about how we are dressed, and how beautiful we are. It’s not about the Bride. It’s all about Christ. All eyes are to be looking out for the Bridegroom. We can eagerly anticipate the Bridegroom’s arrival, no matter how dark it is around us and within us. Behold the Bridegroom comes! His arrival triggers a great celebration. Christ is the Bridegroom everyone’s been waiting for.
The joy of being with Christ should be a defining mark of the disciple of Christ. In our text the disciples of Jesus are not called Christians. They were called disciples. Disciples were students or followers. Disciples were first called Christians in the early church at Antioch, a few years into their future. Today many people call themselves Christians because they aren’t Muslims. They call themselves Christians because their parents were Christians. They call themselves Christians but they don’t follow Christ. And they are not disciples. A follower of Christ has learned that they can consider it all joy when they encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance, according to James 1. Many people who call themselves Christians today are living in fear and despair. They are anxious and panicked, distraught and angry, bitter and unforgiving. A different disciple that has learned to trust God with their lives. One who has joy in the midst of sorrow. One who has joy because they are in Christ and they know Christ is with them. Joy is like a spiritual tattoo. It marks us for identification for those with eyes to see.
Hope in the Bridegroom’s return overshadows the sorrow of His absence. The disciples of Jesus would indeed fast. In the wake of His death there would be days when fasting would be appropriate. Almost two thousand years since the day that our Lord was hung on a cross the church has had ample opportunities to fast and mourn in this sinsick world. But even in these days between His resurrection and His return, there have been days filled with the glorious hope of Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory. This day is one day closer to the Bridegroom’s arrival than it was yesterday. World events in the political realm are lining themselves up for the imminent Return of Christ. There are many technological advances that have set the stage for the day when according to Matthew 24, “…all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory…”. Take hope. God’s tribe, His church, His Bride will have hope on that Day. Behold, church, your King is coming! Hallelujah! There is a new day on our horizon. There is new life with Christ in our midst. We have reason to celebrate! Even when…and even though…
III. NEW LIFE CAN CONFLICT WITH OLD WAYS OF LIVING. (21)
...a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment...
God Himself has come to bring a new solution to an ancient problem. New life offered in Christ was a different picture than what people were used to seeing. This God was different than what the religious rituals had come to represent. Christ would not stay inside their boundaries. He did not fit their mold. Christ did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. Men were in bondage to the religious tradition. Fasting in the manner of the Pharisees was not commanded. It had become like many commandments of God. Through additions and alterations, the law became a great burden. Jesus came to change men’s lives that were enslaved to sin and bound in ritualistic religious activity. Religious ritual is one of the greatest tools of the devil. It helps us do right things wrong.
People want to believe in quick fix solutions and painless problem solving. If you asked people today whose lives are eroding before their very eyes if they would like to see their lives get better, you would probably get an enthusiastic and affirmative response. But better would be a relative term. Better than what? Sometimes our desire for the amount of change we want is just enough so we can become comfortable with our lives once again. We want a fast solution for an enduring problem. We want a painless patch job but sin’s damage cannot be patched and plastered over.
Christ does not patch the worn and torn; He brings new garments with Him.
The change that Christ was bringing into the first century world is just as radical as it is to us in our time. He comes with change that is the great exchange. He wants to exchange our ragged life for His righteous one. He doesn’t come with part of Him for part of us. The change is total. He wants all of your life. The authority He brings is the authority of God. He has paid for this exchange with the currency of His blood on the cross. His garments of righteousness are offered to cover our sin-wrecked lives. Will you exchange your rags of ruin for His robes of righteousness? Tired of being torn and worn?
The Christian is in the midst of a complete foundational renovation and not just a surface remodeling. Why doesn’t Christ just patch up our lives? Because what He is trying to do requires that He use different building materials. The holy cannot be joined to the unholy. Our lives are corrupt. We are fallen beyond repair. We are in need of complete renovation. God wants to get to the foundation. He is building something holy. Therefore, the foundation must be solid. If your foundation is not the confession that Jesus is Lord, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you will need a new foundation. Your man-centered life must be renovated to a God-centered one. You and I are like a house being built for eternity. A new coat of paint or a power washing of the siding just will not do. Are you honestly seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?
As a church, we can expect that growth can bring change and change can bring conflict. A new patch on an old garment is not only incompatible; it can be detrimental. For us to survive as the Body of Christ in the days to come, we will have to be vulnerable to one another and transparent. When we bump up against one another, there will undoubtedly be conflict and some will be offended. We will have to be diligent to seek peace with Christ and one another. We have come to the place where we cannot afford to treat conflict as irreconcilable or ignore it as if it does not exist. We must learn to treat it biblically. Ignoring conflict, rationalizing people’s sinful responses to it, or adopting new programs for solutions to old problems will be like placing a new patch on an old garment. The new will pull away from the old and a worse tear results. And I, for one, am a little weary about the Body of Christ being torn apart, aren’t you?
IV. LIFE ON THE INSIDE SHOWS UP ON THE OUTSIDE. (22)
...the wine will burst the skins...
New wine communicated a Messianic message of dynamic spiritual change that cannot be contained. Prophetic messages such as Isaiah 25:6 and 55:1 claimed that the Living God would provide the best wine at a future banquet and without cost. Wine was an important part of Jewish culture and is significant in the first miracle of the Gospel of John. Remember the wine had run out at the wedding of Cana.. We are told intricate details about the water pots that held the water for ceremonial washing. When Jesus changed the water to wine He was demonstrating that man cannot make himself ceremonially clean before God. Only God can cleanse. The Messiah had come to the people. A new way of life was here. It was time to celebrate. New wine ferments with violent internal reaction. Change reactions in old wineskins cannot be hidden. Life on the inside spills over to the outside.
A problem that a non-Christian has in surrendering to Christ is that he is afraid Christ will change his life…and He will. Christ saves us to change us and He changes us to save us. The person who would rather have his self-centered sin-filled lifestyle is trading away the glory of God for the pleasures of sin. I talked to a man recently who has worked as an investment banker for years. Since the fall of last year it has been hard for him to make a living. He put it like this. Long term and short term thinking has changed. Long term is what will happen next week. Short term is what will happen before dark. For the person who does not know God today and the sign of the times, it’s going to be dark pretty soon. There is still time for Christ to change your life.
Christ is the ultimate change agent. Jesus came so that we may have abundant life. He came to change us to people who want that for themselves and their families. We will not be changed into these kinds of people without Him. We cannot change ourselves or kick our destructive habits. This is the gospel. Christ has come to do for us that which we are helpless to do for ourselves.
Disciples of Jesus Christ will often break the molds of religious institutions. Did you know that some of the most influential leaders in the church over the ages have been criticized by the religious establishment of their day? Peter, John, Stephen, Paul, Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Moody and Billy Graham are just a few. Will you be a disciple that breaks out of the mold of religious institution? Christ said that He will build His church. And the gates of hell will not stand against its assault. That’s a different kind of church from the one that withdraws into a fortress of institutional tradition. I want to be a different kind of disciple. Don't you?
Different Disciples will result in a different church. A church sign that I heard about this week reads “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving!” I would like to add something to that sign if it were on our sign. It would read, “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving! Looking For a Different Church? Come On In!” Some people are looking for churches that manifest life and are not monuments of death. Some people are looking to become different disciples. What are you looking for today? Christ in us makes us different disciples. Is He in you? Are you in Him?
So what is our so what today?
We will not enjoy Christ’s new way of living if we love our old ways of life too much.
The time of fasting is almost over for Disciples of Christ. The time of feasting is close at hand.
The Kingdom of God is near. Are you close to the King?
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
There is joy in the presence of the Lord. Do people see the joy of the Lord in you?
The religious people who were critical of Jesus and His authority in the Gospel of Mark knew absolutely nothing about Diet Coke and Mentos. But they knew change when they saw it coming. They knew what happened when someone came along and tampered with their tradition. They knew what might happen when disciples acted differently. It made an absolute mess of their institution. It threatened their way of life because things happened outside of their control. Disciples of Jesus were different from what people had been used to seeing. They did not always act in the ways of the Pharisaical tradition. And this caused no small amount of conflict among the practicing religionists of the day. This is the first century setting for today’s message, Different Discipleship. Let’s read the text before us from Mark’s Gospel.
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22)
Jesus brings new life that religious tradition cannot produce or keep contained.
I. FASTING OFTEN ACCOMPANIES ACTS OF REPENTANCE AND RELIGIOUS TRADITION. (18)
...John’s disciples were fasting…the Pharisees were fasting...
Fasting symbolized mourning and sorrow and over time it grew into man-centered activity. The origin of the fasting of God’s people has its roots in the Old Testament. As God's people progressively heard from Him, He commanded them to set aside one day a year that came to be known as the Day of Atonement where they were to “humble their souls” in repentance and seek God’s forgiveness. To humble the soul required self humiliation and self denial, expressing sorrow for the effect of sin. The practice of fasting became a practical act of self-denial, abstaining from the intake of food. Fasting was often a response that symbolized sorrow and grief. Consider someone who grieves the death of a loved one and their response is so sorrowful they do not eat for some time, often for days. People also fasted in biblical times while seeking God’s direction, answers to prayer, or desired a heightened awareness of God’s presence in their mission and ministry such as Moses and Elijah. God’s people often fasted in situations of loss such as in the Babylonian captivity, where the Jews had lost their home and some believed they had lost their heritage as well. In the aftermath of the exile, the Jewish people continued their practice of fasting even after they had returned to their land. At the close of the Old Testament era, a group called the Pharisees rose to power and called the people to return to the basics of their religious tradition. By the first century, in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees would demand that people fast as much as twice-weekly. They were on the lookout for those who fasted and those who weren’t. They wanted themselves to be plainly identified as observers of the fast. They thought it gave them the appearance of being super-spiritual. Fasting became a religious activity focused on the display of man’s religious standing before other men. Here is the reason for the question to Jesus. Why don’t we see your disciples fast? Implied in that question is … Why don’t we see your disciples fast… like everyone sees that we do?
Fasting as an act of repentance is motivated by godly sorrow. Another faction of religious practitioners was found in the desert community of Qumran. The Essenes were the real deal when it came to fasting. Their fasting was not a public display of religion on parade. There was no parade in the desert. They were seriously seeking Messiah. Have you ever longed so much for someone’s presence that you did not eat? John the Baptist was criticized for his ascetic lifestyle where he lived on wild locusts and honey. Fasting was a part of his routine. His disciples followed in his tradition that seems similar to that of the Essenes. John’s disciples practiced fasting as it represented a denial of basic human desires such as food or drink. This denial demonstrated a desire beyond their physical hunger. They desired God more than they desired food. They mourned over their present condition of sorrow for their sin. Their Messiah was near. This was what John’s whole life purpose was about. He was to announce the Messiah’s arrival. They were living out the message to Repent, for the kingdom of God is near. This message is still relevant today. Repent. The kingdom of God is near. The person who desires to get close to God will never get there without repentance. People will never truly repent unless they experience godly sorrow. We often see God as some unfeeling, cold, and judgmental deity who is far removed from our existence. But know that our sin affects God. He is a Person. Sin offends Him. Are you sorrowful that your sin has hurt the heart of God? Repent. Change your direction. Turn from your way to God’s way. Mourn and weep over your sin. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. If I did not know God as my Savior, I would not want to eat until I had that assurance. A real relationship with the Living God is more valuable to the soul than food is to the body. We cannot live long without it.
Christ fasted miraculously in the wilderness. The Gospel accounts say He was there in the desert fasting for forty days and forty nights. Was He sorrowful over His sin? No, because He knew no sin. His mission lay before Him and He was tempted by the devil. He who knew no sin was to become sin for us. He fasted to demonstrate that He would not succumb to demonic temptation and turn the stones into bread, although He could have. He came to do the will of His Father, not the will of the tempter. He came to give Himself and deny Himself. Christ shows us that fasting can clarify our priorities. God-centered priorities can be clearly seen when we deny ourselves our basic desires.
Fasting cannot manipulate God. When fasting is ritualistic and legalistic, it leads to an empty expression of worship. God is not obligated to move on our behalf because we fast. Fasting should be done with purpose. One great purpose is to hear from the Lord as to matters of great consequence. Fasting should be purposeful and private. Fasting should be done discreetly. The whole world should not know we are fasting. It is between us and God. Self exaltation does not move the heart of God.
Fasting can be helpful as we learn to direct our focus on the Lord concerning His will. To know His will, we can look in His word. Fasting does not always have to be food-related. Fasting from wasteful activities can be a great way to discover God’s way of living in these frightening times. We can turn off the TV and open up the Word. The God of the Bible is not represented favorably from Hollywood productions. Biblical principles to guide our lives are found in the Bible.
II. NEW LIFE WITH JESUS IS REASON TO CELEBRATE. (18-20)
...Your disciples do not fast...So long as they have the bridegroom with them...
Men either rejoice, tremble, or ignore God when He is in their midst. Historically, man was created for communion with God. And it was an enjoyable thing. Then the fall of man brought shame and fear and men trembled when God revealed Himself. The most dangerous stage of the God-and-man relationship is when people began to take God for granted and no longer trembled. People ignored God and His word and were deceived to think He did not matter to them and His word was irrelevant for them. Their dead and lifeless religion became a ritual and a burden to those dying in their sin. So the Word of God became flesh and began to dwell and eat and teach and work and love among them. This was a different thing to the ones who were mourning and the ones who were pretending. Christ came to bring the joy of living back to men who were created in His image.
The absence of joy in the non-Christian betrays a lack of contentment in the ways of God. Why are your disciples doing things differently? Jesus was asked. The “why” question is a prevailing one. These days people are asking for explanations rather than answers. God does not owe us explanations as to why He does what He does in the ways that He does. From a self-centered perspective they ask, “Why didn’t He perform the way we expected?” It’s because God does not act for man’s primary benefit. He acts to demonstrate His glory. If you haven’t noticed, humans that don’t get their way can become dissatisfied and discontent. Non-Christians can suffer great disappointment with a God who does not meet their expectations. They do not enjoy joy. Don’t miss the contrast of joy and sorrow in this passage. Jesus draws this out using an illustration of a wedding that portrays life within God’s community.
Christ is the Bridegroom that everyone has been waiting for. Traditional wedding ceremonies in our Western culture find all the invited guests, along with the bridegroom, anxiously awaiting the entrance of the bride. At the first chords of the Bridal March, the guests rise to honor the bride and all eyes are fixed upon her. You can hear the hushed whispers, Isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t her dress gorgeous? But in the first century Oriental culture the bridegroom was the center of attention. As a general rule, the bridegroom would travel to the bridegroom’s home under the cover of darkness. His attendants would travel with him and he would dress like a King coming to claim His queen. The attendants of the bridegroom would no doubt be infected with His contagious joy as he anticipated union with His bride. Bridesmaids were usually waiting with the bride for the arrival of the entourage, which was led by the bridegroom. I honestly think this is one reason we are a little confused about who we are as the church in our culture today. We are the Bride of Christ. But we seem to think that the wedding is all about us. We think it’s about how we are dressed, and how beautiful we are. It’s not about the Bride. It’s all about Christ. All eyes are to be looking out for the Bridegroom. We can eagerly anticipate the Bridegroom’s arrival, no matter how dark it is around us and within us. Behold the Bridegroom comes! His arrival triggers a great celebration. Christ is the Bridegroom everyone’s been waiting for.
The joy of being with Christ should be a defining mark of the disciple of Christ. In our text the disciples of Jesus are not called Christians. They were called disciples. Disciples were students or followers. Disciples were first called Christians in the early church at Antioch, a few years into their future. Today many people call themselves Christians because they aren’t Muslims. They call themselves Christians because their parents were Christians. They call themselves Christians but they don’t follow Christ. And they are not disciples. A follower of Christ has learned that they can consider it all joy when they encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance, according to James 1. Many people who call themselves Christians today are living in fear and despair. They are anxious and panicked, distraught and angry, bitter and unforgiving. A different disciple that has learned to trust God with their lives. One who has joy in the midst of sorrow. One who has joy because they are in Christ and they know Christ is with them. Joy is like a spiritual tattoo. It marks us for identification for those with eyes to see.
Hope in the Bridegroom’s return overshadows the sorrow of His absence. The disciples of Jesus would indeed fast. In the wake of His death there would be days when fasting would be appropriate. Almost two thousand years since the day that our Lord was hung on a cross the church has had ample opportunities to fast and mourn in this sinsick world. But even in these days between His resurrection and His return, there have been days filled with the glorious hope of Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory. This day is one day closer to the Bridegroom’s arrival than it was yesterday. World events in the political realm are lining themselves up for the imminent Return of Christ. There are many technological advances that have set the stage for the day when according to Matthew 24, “…all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory…”. Take hope. God’s tribe, His church, His Bride will have hope on that Day. Behold, church, your King is coming! Hallelujah! There is a new day on our horizon. There is new life with Christ in our midst. We have reason to celebrate! Even when…and even though…
III. NEW LIFE CAN CONFLICT WITH OLD WAYS OF LIVING. (21)
...a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment...
God Himself has come to bring a new solution to an ancient problem. New life offered in Christ was a different picture than what people were used to seeing. This God was different than what the religious rituals had come to represent. Christ would not stay inside their boundaries. He did not fit their mold. Christ did not come to abolish the Law. He came to fulfill it. Men were in bondage to the religious tradition. Fasting in the manner of the Pharisees was not commanded. It had become like many commandments of God. Through additions and alterations, the law became a great burden. Jesus came to change men’s lives that were enslaved to sin and bound in ritualistic religious activity. Religious ritual is one of the greatest tools of the devil. It helps us do right things wrong.
People want to believe in quick fix solutions and painless problem solving. If you asked people today whose lives are eroding before their very eyes if they would like to see their lives get better, you would probably get an enthusiastic and affirmative response. But better would be a relative term. Better than what? Sometimes our desire for the amount of change we want is just enough so we can become comfortable with our lives once again. We want a fast solution for an enduring problem. We want a painless patch job but sin’s damage cannot be patched and plastered over.
Christ does not patch the worn and torn; He brings new garments with Him.
The change that Christ was bringing into the first century world is just as radical as it is to us in our time. He comes with change that is the great exchange. He wants to exchange our ragged life for His righteous one. He doesn’t come with part of Him for part of us. The change is total. He wants all of your life. The authority He brings is the authority of God. He has paid for this exchange with the currency of His blood on the cross. His garments of righteousness are offered to cover our sin-wrecked lives. Will you exchange your rags of ruin for His robes of righteousness? Tired of being torn and worn?
The Christian is in the midst of a complete foundational renovation and not just a surface remodeling. Why doesn’t Christ just patch up our lives? Because what He is trying to do requires that He use different building materials. The holy cannot be joined to the unholy. Our lives are corrupt. We are fallen beyond repair. We are in need of complete renovation. God wants to get to the foundation. He is building something holy. Therefore, the foundation must be solid. If your foundation is not the confession that Jesus is Lord, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you will need a new foundation. Your man-centered life must be renovated to a God-centered one. You and I are like a house being built for eternity. A new coat of paint or a power washing of the siding just will not do. Are you honestly seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?
As a church, we can expect that growth can bring change and change can bring conflict. A new patch on an old garment is not only incompatible; it can be detrimental. For us to survive as the Body of Christ in the days to come, we will have to be vulnerable to one another and transparent. When we bump up against one another, there will undoubtedly be conflict and some will be offended. We will have to be diligent to seek peace with Christ and one another. We have come to the place where we cannot afford to treat conflict as irreconcilable or ignore it as if it does not exist. We must learn to treat it biblically. Ignoring conflict, rationalizing people’s sinful responses to it, or adopting new programs for solutions to old problems will be like placing a new patch on an old garment. The new will pull away from the old and a worse tear results. And I, for one, am a little weary about the Body of Christ being torn apart, aren’t you?
IV. LIFE ON THE INSIDE SHOWS UP ON THE OUTSIDE. (22)
...the wine will burst the skins...
New wine communicated a Messianic message of dynamic spiritual change that cannot be contained. Prophetic messages such as Isaiah 25:6 and 55:1 claimed that the Living God would provide the best wine at a future banquet and without cost. Wine was an important part of Jewish culture and is significant in the first miracle of the Gospel of John. Remember the wine had run out at the wedding of Cana.. We are told intricate details about the water pots that held the water for ceremonial washing. When Jesus changed the water to wine He was demonstrating that man cannot make himself ceremonially clean before God. Only God can cleanse. The Messiah had come to the people. A new way of life was here. It was time to celebrate. New wine ferments with violent internal reaction. Change reactions in old wineskins cannot be hidden. Life on the inside spills over to the outside.
A problem that a non-Christian has in surrendering to Christ is that he is afraid Christ will change his life…and He will. Christ saves us to change us and He changes us to save us. The person who would rather have his self-centered sin-filled lifestyle is trading away the glory of God for the pleasures of sin. I talked to a man recently who has worked as an investment banker for years. Since the fall of last year it has been hard for him to make a living. He put it like this. Long term and short term thinking has changed. Long term is what will happen next week. Short term is what will happen before dark. For the person who does not know God today and the sign of the times, it’s going to be dark pretty soon. There is still time for Christ to change your life.
Christ is the ultimate change agent. Jesus came so that we may have abundant life. He came to change us to people who want that for themselves and their families. We will not be changed into these kinds of people without Him. We cannot change ourselves or kick our destructive habits. This is the gospel. Christ has come to do for us that which we are helpless to do for ourselves.
Disciples of Jesus Christ will often break the molds of religious institutions. Did you know that some of the most influential leaders in the church over the ages have been criticized by the religious establishment of their day? Peter, John, Stephen, Paul, Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Moody and Billy Graham are just a few. Will you be a disciple that breaks out of the mold of religious institution? Christ said that He will build His church. And the gates of hell will not stand against its assault. That’s a different kind of church from the one that withdraws into a fortress of institutional tradition. I want to be a different kind of disciple. Don't you?
Different Disciples will result in a different church. A church sign that I heard about this week reads “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving!” I would like to add something to that sign if it were on our sign. It would read, “Looking For a Dead Church? Keep on Driving! Looking For a Different Church? Come On In!” Some people are looking for churches that manifest life and are not monuments of death. Some people are looking to become different disciples. What are you looking for today? Christ in us makes us different disciples. Is He in you? Are you in Him?
So what is our so what today?
We will not enjoy Christ’s new way of living if we love our old ways of life too much.
The time of fasting is almost over for Disciples of Christ. The time of feasting is close at hand.
The Kingdom of God is near. Are you close to the King?
Repent and believe in the Gospel.
There is joy in the presence of the Lord. Do people see the joy of the Lord in you?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Right Way To Keep The Wrong Company
One enduring question in my youth was one from my parents or someone else who felt as though they could speak into my life. It went something like this: Who did I see you with? Some old sayings were usually added to the question when I was keeping company with people who were of low reputation, such as You are known by the company you keep, Birds of a feather flock together, and You lie down with dogs, you’ll wake up with fleas. These were some of the more memorable ones. There was wisdom communicated to be sure, along with some misunderstandings and misjudgments as well. Some things I listened to and some I wish that I had. So is there a right way to keep the wrong company? We’ll try to answer that question as we look into the Word of God and may find it looking into us.
And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
JESUS CAME TO CALL SINNERS.
I. JESUS CALLS US OUT OF SINFUL LIFESTYLES. (14)
He was teaching...as He passed by...He saw... He said...and he rose and followed Him.
Jesus sees us in our environment and loves us enough to call us out of it. A son of Abraham needed to be restored to his place with God. Jews who were tax collectors were generally despised and treated with contempt. He was like an IRS agent on steroids, working for commission and collecting for an occupying government. Why is salvation coming to this man? Because he is one of the people that God had set His heart upon. Consider Zaccheus. His story is preserved for us in Luke 19. Remember he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. The biblical account tells us he was a man of such small physical stature he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. The Bible says that when Jesus passed by, He looked up and invited Himself to the house of Zaccheus. When we are up a tree and out on a limb, God knows who His people are and where they are. He has been hunting them down for ages and calls them down and calls them out wherever He finds them.
Levi was called out of his workplace and he obediently left his lifestyle behind to follow Jesus. We cannot go with Jesus and remain where we are. Jesus gets close enough to our lives that we can hear His call. Levi, or Matthew, had to leave his place to follow Him. Was he an honest tax collector? We don’t know. As a class, the tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews. They were classified generally as “sinners”, probably because they were allowed to gather more than the government required and pocket the excess amount. Was he a sinner? Certainly, since all of humanity has fallen short of God’s standard of perfection. Was he beyond the reach of Jesus? Absolutely not. As the Pharisees were the respectable and outwardly religious class, so the tax collectors were the vile and degraded. Abhorred by all others, it was a new thing to them to find the Holy One coming close enough to call them to follow. By His attitude toward the tax collectors, Jesus showed that God’s covenant of grace extends to all people-not simply the righteous who observed the Law. Jesus came to call sinners.
The call of Christ is irresistible because it is all of grace. Matthew chose to obey this gracious call. The mission of Jesus was to bring sinners, people like the tax collectors of His day, into God’s presence. Is there ever really a choice to the call of Christ? Consider that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We will answer His call. It is not a matter of if we will obey…it’s a matter of when and where. It can be here and now. Or it can be in the Day of Judgment. Our only choice is when. Now is a good time to come and follow Christ. Many say they believe. But they do not follow. If we truly believe, we will truly follow.
Christians are called out of the world and into the Word. Have you heard His call to follow and remained in your place? Matthew followed the Word of God Incarnate. He was not only teaching them His characteristics. The Word of God was teaching the Word of God so disciples of all ages can follow the Word of God. We do not follow in His footsteps in first century Palestine. We cannot see the tracks of His sandals in the sand, but we can be disciples of our day following in His steps, so to speak. The world needs to see us walking with the Word and living in the Word.
The church can cultivate an environment of teaching from which sinners are called. The context of the narrative once again is found in the teaching of Jesus. Here is where sinners were called to follow Him. This applies to our day and our church. No matter what activity we use to attract new believers, unless we are teaching what it means to follow the Lord, the method will not be effective. Does this mean we are not to have outreach events? Not at all. We should reach out to those who are on the outside of the church. But unless we can bring them into an encounter with the teaching and/or preaching of the Word of God, men will not come to Christ and grow in His word.
So how do we do this? Let us commit to engaging someone we do not know. Ask God to show you some people this week that needs Jesus. Commit to engage them in a loving way. Spend enough time with them to invite them to our monthly fellowship meal. This may take several encounters. It may take several months. But the precedent applies. Jesus ate with sinners. He called them to the table. They mattered to him. They should matter to us because we are sinners as well.
II. SINNERS CALLED BY JESUS ARE IN GOOD COMPANY. (15)
…for there were many of them, and they were following Him.
Jesus came to bring the best of God to the worst of men. God gives us a picture of how He has pursued sinful man all through the story of salvation history. He has revealed Himself to the descendants of Abraham in marvelous ways. The time of the Judges is a fascinating study of the habitual cycle of God’s people and how they behaved through the centuries. They would abandon the covenant God of the Bible and begin to worship idols until they were subjected to oppression by foreign powers. They would cry out to God for deliverance and God would send them a judge, or deliverer to lead His people. These judges were often a type of the Savior, who came to deliver His people from sin. The day had now arrived where God’s true Savior had come. He is contrasted with the Judges, in that they were flawed in their humanity. Jesus was perfect in His humanity and His deity. God sent His best. He sent Himself. And He came to the worst of men. The sinners of that day were no different than the sinners of our day. We are the worst of men. Jesus has come. And many still follow Him.
Authentic caring relationships can be attractive to those who have been shunned and rejected. Have you ever been abused and mistreated by people? Remember when you were hurt and humiliated and you longed to be loved and accepted? This is the plight of humanity. We are a lonely people, even in a crowd. Because we are alienated from God, the best of our relationships still leaves us longing for more. The crowd that followed Jesus was a detail that Mark continues to give us. It was a significant group of people. Why would they follow Him? He loved them. And it was authentic. People can tell if love is only a farce. And they know when love is real. Real relationships in caring communities are what the non-Christian world is hungry for.
Christ has a huge table for hungry disciples. Sometimes if you come to our home, we have to get creative in our eating arrangements. Our dining area is too small for the table and the table is too small for those who share our meal. The good news is that Christ has set a huge table for hungry disciples. Following Christ makes one hungry for His word. Walking with Him creates an appetite for His teaching. Wherever the Bread of Life is broken, there is room at the table. And we need to invite more sinners to eat with us sinners.
Disciples cannot be used to call sinners if we don’t get close enough to know any. A community food bank I am familiar with used to get many calls within a certain community during the year to help people who were struggling to make ends meet and feed their families. It was interesting to see that as Thanksgiving approached, some of the local churches would call and want to know if they could volunteer and help feed some families during the holiday. One of the church pastors actually stated that his church did not know of any families hungry in their congregation or in their community for that matter. Is it any wonder that the hungry people did not make themselves known? Sometimes we don’t seem to see the needy among us…because we probably don’t spend a lot of time looking around. Sinners look a lot like us.
It is humbling to know we share a common table with the common sinner; the church is full of sinners! If this statement is offensive to you, then you are in the company of those who thought it appalling to see Jesus eat with the tax collectors and sinners. I would rather that Jesus see us as appealing. He found the company of sinners appealing over the company of the self-righteous.
III. JESUS WAS CRITICIZED FOR KEEPING THE WRONG COMPANY. (16)
Why is He eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?
Jesus offended religious elitists by boldly demonstrating the grace of God. The grace of God is provocative. Jealousy, envy and covetousness are among the ugliest things that humanity has to offer. Very early in human history we see sinful conflict run its course of death and destruction in the story of Cain and Abel. These two sons of Adam brought offerings in worship to God. Cain’s offering was rejected and Abel’s was accepted. Cain envied Abel’s favor with God and sought to even the score. Any time we humans sit in judgment of one another based on our idea of fairness it will be a disaster. We do not know how to be just. We are sinners. The grace of God is demonstrated to this murderous brother just like it was shown to Cain’s father and mother. He covered the shame and sin of Adam and Eve and He banished Cain as well. He did not carry out an immediate death sentence. God gave them better than they deserved.
To follow Jesus requires a healthy sense of one’s unworthiness to receive this gift of grace. These folks that followed Jesus knew who they were. They knew their lives were so far from God’s standard of holiness they were unworthy to come to Him on their own merit. Here is grace in action. God came to them. They followed. When He called, they came. They wanted what God offered. Do you want what God has to offer? Or do you think you deserve His favor?
Christ is often maligned the most by those who communicate with Him the least. Pay attention to questions that religious people ask about Jesus. In the previous passage about the forgiveness of the paralytic they ask, Why does this man speak this way? The implied question is, Who does He think He is? In our text today the scribes of the Pharisees ask, Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners? Implied in that question is Who does He think they are? The prevalent thinking of that day was These people were not worthy of human contact, much less a candidate for communion with God’s people. The better question that would have been the right question is, Why is Jesus not spending time with us?
Being used to call sinners is the right reason for keeping the wrong company. God uses instruments to grace to show grace. We are instruments of grace because we have received it. We are trophies of grace, forgiven people, and restored people that God is pleased to show as models of what a human can be when used by God. When I want to know about good food to eat, I ask someone who knows where to go get it. When people begin to ask questions about God, who better to ask than someone who knows God? If you have the privilege of being asked about God, you are one sinner telling another sinner where to find the Christ who calls. Listen for spiritual questions. It is not an accident or coincidence that people ask you these things. It is God’s planned encounter.
The church needs to engage the public with answers for questions they are asking. Too often we are giving answers to questions no one is asking. The church must be relevant to the culture. We must be thinking about answers that people are seeking. Do you know who we can trust with our families, with our money, with our souls? Can you give a credible testimony that you are trusting Christ in our day?
IV. DENIAL OF DISEASE HINDERS OUR HEALING. (17)
I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Jesus came to give His life to those who knew they were dying. I heard it said the other day that we all know that everyone will die. But we don’t really believe it will be us. The realization of the certainty of death is one that we will put off as long as we can. We deny its reality and pretend that we are not in a terminal condition. If I asked you the question, would every one who is dying please come to the altar would you come? Sinners are dying people. They have been from the beginning. God said so. But some still deny the illness of sinsickness and thinking they can escape the death that it brings.
Someone who is truly suffering from a terminal illness needs to know the danger of their condition. Are there doctors who hide a patient’s terminal condition from them? Possibly so. But the best doctors do not hide this condition. This would often be cruel, even when we think it is kinder and gentler. A dying man needs to know he is dying. There are priorities to reassess and reorder. Some things won’t matter anymore. And some things have eternal ramifications. The most dangerous position for a dying person to be in is in a place of ignorance. They need the truth. If you are lost today without hope of heaven, you know that your good works cannot get you there. You know that the fact that you have gone to church all your life is not enough. You know that even being baptized without being born again is insufficient. I have good news for you. You are a candidate for God’s salvation solution.
Christ did not come for those who believe they are good enough for God. God is so holy that we cannot approach Him. Holy people do not become holy by their own self-help efforts, no matter what we want to believe. Holy people are not self-made people. They are made by God. Christ came so unholy people can become holy through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Christ did not come for people who think the Holy Spirit is finished with them in their lives. I am not God. But even I can see that God is not finished with every Christian I encounter.
Christians have a trusted family doctor who is continuously treating our sinsickness. Like some cancer patients, the sin of sinners undergoes an aggressive treatment. The cross is not a passive treatment of sin. The cross is where the Son of God became sin for us so God could kill it!! Our sin can be forgiven, all past, present and future stages of its contamination. But we must desire to be treated aggressively by God. When sin is exposed, it must be killed. Amputated. Confessed. Repented of. Our sin may be in remission, but never totally eradicated as long as my earthly life lasts.
Does our community see the church as sick and in need of Jesus or do we come across as hypocrites? The best way is to ask them. What would I hear in the community if I asked, “What do you think about Mount Olivet Baptist Church?” Some would be outright hostile. Some might be oblivious to our existence. Some might be curious enough to come so they can form an opinion. As we come to a close in the message, consider what some people have determined about the relevance of the life of a church in the life of a community from the book Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson.
We know that Jesus came to seek and save people who are lost—He told us that in Luke’s Gospel. He told three stories in Luke 15 that demonstrate how passionate He is about this. And the question for us is: Are we really willing to love those pagans, those heathens, those lost people who are often not very lovable? Actually, the issue probably comes down to the fact that we often want God “clean them” before we “catch them.” The need to reach them in whatever condition we find them often requires us to make changes in the way we do things. We have to find ways to love lost people the way they are, and that is hard work.
Think about what Jesus did when He picked Zaccheus out of that crowd in Luke 19. Old Zack was not exactly the most popular guy around town. Jesus not only spoke to him. He also asked to visit his house. You can almost hear the collective gasp. How could Jesus go over to the house of someone like Zaccheus, much less talk to him? As the Scripture says, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’”(NIV) Are we making people mutter about the lost people that are being reached in our churches? If so, rejoice! You are in good company…
…Vibrant faith and strategic prayer, which connect with the power of God, have often resulted in practical acts of Christian grace and love. When believers obey the Scriptures and truly forgive others who have offended them, unbelievers are influenced to receive Christ. When churches lovingly serve the communities around them, the unchurched very often are motivated to come to Christ. (Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches, 62, 64)
We have a lot of work to do. But we do it with the One who came to call sinners. Let’s continually answer His call, remembering who we were, knowing who we are, and believing who we will be.
Our So What for today is:
The treatment for our lives with Christ is a daily regimen of Christ’s righteousness.
Our sinsickness is not treated by denial of our condition and self help therapy.
JESUS HAS AUTHORITY OVER THE LIVES OF SINNERS.
Jesus came to call sinners to Him.
That’s our hope. Aren’t you glad of that? Repentant sinners can hear His call to follow.
And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
JESUS CAME TO CALL SINNERS.
I. JESUS CALLS US OUT OF SINFUL LIFESTYLES. (14)
He was teaching...as He passed by...He saw... He said...and he rose and followed Him.
Jesus sees us in our environment and loves us enough to call us out of it. A son of Abraham needed to be restored to his place with God. Jews who were tax collectors were generally despised and treated with contempt. He was like an IRS agent on steroids, working for commission and collecting for an occupying government. Why is salvation coming to this man? Because he is one of the people that God had set His heart upon. Consider Zaccheus. His story is preserved for us in Luke 19. Remember he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. The biblical account tells us he was a man of such small physical stature he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. The Bible says that when Jesus passed by, He looked up and invited Himself to the house of Zaccheus. When we are up a tree and out on a limb, God knows who His people are and where they are. He has been hunting them down for ages and calls them down and calls them out wherever He finds them.
Levi was called out of his workplace and he obediently left his lifestyle behind to follow Jesus. We cannot go with Jesus and remain where we are. Jesus gets close enough to our lives that we can hear His call. Levi, or Matthew, had to leave his place to follow Him. Was he an honest tax collector? We don’t know. As a class, the tax collectors were despised by their fellow Jews. They were classified generally as “sinners”, probably because they were allowed to gather more than the government required and pocket the excess amount. Was he a sinner? Certainly, since all of humanity has fallen short of God’s standard of perfection. Was he beyond the reach of Jesus? Absolutely not. As the Pharisees were the respectable and outwardly religious class, so the tax collectors were the vile and degraded. Abhorred by all others, it was a new thing to them to find the Holy One coming close enough to call them to follow. By His attitude toward the tax collectors, Jesus showed that God’s covenant of grace extends to all people-not simply the righteous who observed the Law. Jesus came to call sinners.
The call of Christ is irresistible because it is all of grace. Matthew chose to obey this gracious call. The mission of Jesus was to bring sinners, people like the tax collectors of His day, into God’s presence. Is there ever really a choice to the call of Christ? Consider that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We will answer His call. It is not a matter of if we will obey…it’s a matter of when and where. It can be here and now. Or it can be in the Day of Judgment. Our only choice is when. Now is a good time to come and follow Christ. Many say they believe. But they do not follow. If we truly believe, we will truly follow.
Christians are called out of the world and into the Word. Have you heard His call to follow and remained in your place? Matthew followed the Word of God Incarnate. He was not only teaching them His characteristics. The Word of God was teaching the Word of God so disciples of all ages can follow the Word of God. We do not follow in His footsteps in first century Palestine. We cannot see the tracks of His sandals in the sand, but we can be disciples of our day following in His steps, so to speak. The world needs to see us walking with the Word and living in the Word.
The church can cultivate an environment of teaching from which sinners are called. The context of the narrative once again is found in the teaching of Jesus. Here is where sinners were called to follow Him. This applies to our day and our church. No matter what activity we use to attract new believers, unless we are teaching what it means to follow the Lord, the method will not be effective. Does this mean we are not to have outreach events? Not at all. We should reach out to those who are on the outside of the church. But unless we can bring them into an encounter with the teaching and/or preaching of the Word of God, men will not come to Christ and grow in His word.
So how do we do this? Let us commit to engaging someone we do not know. Ask God to show you some people this week that needs Jesus. Commit to engage them in a loving way. Spend enough time with them to invite them to our monthly fellowship meal. This may take several encounters. It may take several months. But the precedent applies. Jesus ate with sinners. He called them to the table. They mattered to him. They should matter to us because we are sinners as well.
II. SINNERS CALLED BY JESUS ARE IN GOOD COMPANY. (15)
…for there were many of them, and they were following Him.
Jesus came to bring the best of God to the worst of men. God gives us a picture of how He has pursued sinful man all through the story of salvation history. He has revealed Himself to the descendants of Abraham in marvelous ways. The time of the Judges is a fascinating study of the habitual cycle of God’s people and how they behaved through the centuries. They would abandon the covenant God of the Bible and begin to worship idols until they were subjected to oppression by foreign powers. They would cry out to God for deliverance and God would send them a judge, or deliverer to lead His people. These judges were often a type of the Savior, who came to deliver His people from sin. The day had now arrived where God’s true Savior had come. He is contrasted with the Judges, in that they were flawed in their humanity. Jesus was perfect in His humanity and His deity. God sent His best. He sent Himself. And He came to the worst of men. The sinners of that day were no different than the sinners of our day. We are the worst of men. Jesus has come. And many still follow Him.
Authentic caring relationships can be attractive to those who have been shunned and rejected. Have you ever been abused and mistreated by people? Remember when you were hurt and humiliated and you longed to be loved and accepted? This is the plight of humanity. We are a lonely people, even in a crowd. Because we are alienated from God, the best of our relationships still leaves us longing for more. The crowd that followed Jesus was a detail that Mark continues to give us. It was a significant group of people. Why would they follow Him? He loved them. And it was authentic. People can tell if love is only a farce. And they know when love is real. Real relationships in caring communities are what the non-Christian world is hungry for.
Christ has a huge table for hungry disciples. Sometimes if you come to our home, we have to get creative in our eating arrangements. Our dining area is too small for the table and the table is too small for those who share our meal. The good news is that Christ has set a huge table for hungry disciples. Following Christ makes one hungry for His word. Walking with Him creates an appetite for His teaching. Wherever the Bread of Life is broken, there is room at the table. And we need to invite more sinners to eat with us sinners.
Disciples cannot be used to call sinners if we don’t get close enough to know any. A community food bank I am familiar with used to get many calls within a certain community during the year to help people who were struggling to make ends meet and feed their families. It was interesting to see that as Thanksgiving approached, some of the local churches would call and want to know if they could volunteer and help feed some families during the holiday. One of the church pastors actually stated that his church did not know of any families hungry in their congregation or in their community for that matter. Is it any wonder that the hungry people did not make themselves known? Sometimes we don’t seem to see the needy among us…because we probably don’t spend a lot of time looking around. Sinners look a lot like us.
It is humbling to know we share a common table with the common sinner; the church is full of sinners! If this statement is offensive to you, then you are in the company of those who thought it appalling to see Jesus eat with the tax collectors and sinners. I would rather that Jesus see us as appealing. He found the company of sinners appealing over the company of the self-righteous.
III. JESUS WAS CRITICIZED FOR KEEPING THE WRONG COMPANY. (16)
Why is He eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?
Jesus offended religious elitists by boldly demonstrating the grace of God. The grace of God is provocative. Jealousy, envy and covetousness are among the ugliest things that humanity has to offer. Very early in human history we see sinful conflict run its course of death and destruction in the story of Cain and Abel. These two sons of Adam brought offerings in worship to God. Cain’s offering was rejected and Abel’s was accepted. Cain envied Abel’s favor with God and sought to even the score. Any time we humans sit in judgment of one another based on our idea of fairness it will be a disaster. We do not know how to be just. We are sinners. The grace of God is demonstrated to this murderous brother just like it was shown to Cain’s father and mother. He covered the shame and sin of Adam and Eve and He banished Cain as well. He did not carry out an immediate death sentence. God gave them better than they deserved.
To follow Jesus requires a healthy sense of one’s unworthiness to receive this gift of grace. These folks that followed Jesus knew who they were. They knew their lives were so far from God’s standard of holiness they were unworthy to come to Him on their own merit. Here is grace in action. God came to them. They followed. When He called, they came. They wanted what God offered. Do you want what God has to offer? Or do you think you deserve His favor?
Christ is often maligned the most by those who communicate with Him the least. Pay attention to questions that religious people ask about Jesus. In the previous passage about the forgiveness of the paralytic they ask, Why does this man speak this way? The implied question is, Who does He think He is? In our text today the scribes of the Pharisees ask, Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners? Implied in that question is Who does He think they are? The prevalent thinking of that day was These people were not worthy of human contact, much less a candidate for communion with God’s people. The better question that would have been the right question is, Why is Jesus not spending time with us?
Being used to call sinners is the right reason for keeping the wrong company. God uses instruments to grace to show grace. We are instruments of grace because we have received it. We are trophies of grace, forgiven people, and restored people that God is pleased to show as models of what a human can be when used by God. When I want to know about good food to eat, I ask someone who knows where to go get it. When people begin to ask questions about God, who better to ask than someone who knows God? If you have the privilege of being asked about God, you are one sinner telling another sinner where to find the Christ who calls. Listen for spiritual questions. It is not an accident or coincidence that people ask you these things. It is God’s planned encounter.
The church needs to engage the public with answers for questions they are asking. Too often we are giving answers to questions no one is asking. The church must be relevant to the culture. We must be thinking about answers that people are seeking. Do you know who we can trust with our families, with our money, with our souls? Can you give a credible testimony that you are trusting Christ in our day?
IV. DENIAL OF DISEASE HINDERS OUR HEALING. (17)
I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Jesus came to give His life to those who knew they were dying. I heard it said the other day that we all know that everyone will die. But we don’t really believe it will be us. The realization of the certainty of death is one that we will put off as long as we can. We deny its reality and pretend that we are not in a terminal condition. If I asked you the question, would every one who is dying please come to the altar would you come? Sinners are dying people. They have been from the beginning. God said so. But some still deny the illness of sinsickness and thinking they can escape the death that it brings.
Someone who is truly suffering from a terminal illness needs to know the danger of their condition. Are there doctors who hide a patient’s terminal condition from them? Possibly so. But the best doctors do not hide this condition. This would often be cruel, even when we think it is kinder and gentler. A dying man needs to know he is dying. There are priorities to reassess and reorder. Some things won’t matter anymore. And some things have eternal ramifications. The most dangerous position for a dying person to be in is in a place of ignorance. They need the truth. If you are lost today without hope of heaven, you know that your good works cannot get you there. You know that the fact that you have gone to church all your life is not enough. You know that even being baptized without being born again is insufficient. I have good news for you. You are a candidate for God’s salvation solution.
Christ did not come for those who believe they are good enough for God. God is so holy that we cannot approach Him. Holy people do not become holy by their own self-help efforts, no matter what we want to believe. Holy people are not self-made people. They are made by God. Christ came so unholy people can become holy through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Christ did not come for people who think the Holy Spirit is finished with them in their lives. I am not God. But even I can see that God is not finished with every Christian I encounter.
Christians have a trusted family doctor who is continuously treating our sinsickness. Like some cancer patients, the sin of sinners undergoes an aggressive treatment. The cross is not a passive treatment of sin. The cross is where the Son of God became sin for us so God could kill it!! Our sin can be forgiven, all past, present and future stages of its contamination. But we must desire to be treated aggressively by God. When sin is exposed, it must be killed. Amputated. Confessed. Repented of. Our sin may be in remission, but never totally eradicated as long as my earthly life lasts.
Does our community see the church as sick and in need of Jesus or do we come across as hypocrites? The best way is to ask them. What would I hear in the community if I asked, “What do you think about Mount Olivet Baptist Church?” Some would be outright hostile. Some might be oblivious to our existence. Some might be curious enough to come so they can form an opinion. As we come to a close in the message, consider what some people have determined about the relevance of the life of a church in the life of a community from the book Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson.
We know that Jesus came to seek and save people who are lost—He told us that in Luke’s Gospel. He told three stories in Luke 15 that demonstrate how passionate He is about this. And the question for us is: Are we really willing to love those pagans, those heathens, those lost people who are often not very lovable? Actually, the issue probably comes down to the fact that we often want God “clean them” before we “catch them.” The need to reach them in whatever condition we find them often requires us to make changes in the way we do things. We have to find ways to love lost people the way they are, and that is hard work.
Think about what Jesus did when He picked Zaccheus out of that crowd in Luke 19. Old Zack was not exactly the most popular guy around town. Jesus not only spoke to him. He also asked to visit his house. You can almost hear the collective gasp. How could Jesus go over to the house of someone like Zaccheus, much less talk to him? As the Scripture says, “All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’”(NIV) Are we making people mutter about the lost people that are being reached in our churches? If so, rejoice! You are in good company…
…Vibrant faith and strategic prayer, which connect with the power of God, have often resulted in practical acts of Christian grace and love. When believers obey the Scriptures and truly forgive others who have offended them, unbelievers are influenced to receive Christ. When churches lovingly serve the communities around them, the unchurched very often are motivated to come to Christ. (Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, Comeback Churches, 62, 64)
We have a lot of work to do. But we do it with the One who came to call sinners. Let’s continually answer His call, remembering who we were, knowing who we are, and believing who we will be.
Our So What for today is:
The treatment for our lives with Christ is a daily regimen of Christ’s righteousness.
Our sinsickness is not treated by denial of our condition and self help therapy.
JESUS HAS AUTHORITY OVER THE LIVES OF SINNERS.
Jesus came to call sinners to Him.
That’s our hope. Aren’t you glad of that? Repentant sinners can hear His call to follow.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
What's the Rush?
Haste makes waste. So says the old proverb. I don't know the origin of this pithy saying. But it makes a lot of sense to me...especially after yesterday. A couple of things happened that I've been musing about. Not that they were amusing in nature but by their nature caused me to stop and think about life...and death.
I was asked to assist in a funeral service yesterday. As the service ended, I was struck with a contrast in procedural protocol as a pastor. A customary position for a pastor in a wedding is to follow the couple out of the building after the ceremony. But in a funeral, the pastor leads the way, even preceding the casket, carried along by the pallbearers. The service was at one location and the burial was in another, a few miles away. So a funeral procession was necessary. As a pastor in a funeral procession, it is customary to travel ahead of the hearse. I don't pretend to know all the symbolism that may be behind it all. But I've been pondering about the significance of these things and the contrast between hustling and bustling and taking time to enjoy life and experience death. In the procession, law enforcement officials led the way, their emergency lights flashing, stopping traffic at intersections to allow the procession to flow unhindered and uninterrupted to the graveside. As I was traveling yesterday, through a sparsely inhabited countryside, I asked the question to myself, "What's the rush? Where are we going in such a hurry?"
Follow my mind back to the wedding scene. Now that's a scary thought! Not the wedding, but following my mind. We could get very lost very fast! The young couple is leaving the building with the pastor following. They will begin to move into a season of life where it won't take them long to get caught up running to and fro and life will press in on them with added expectations and new responsibilities and soon they can find themselves running on empty. They'll get there faster than they realize and wonder how they got to where they are. And it will usually be in the middle of a mess or waylaid in a wreck. And the pastor has been following all the while, trying to catch them, trying to help them, trying to teach them God's word for wise living. But they've been too busy. So they run until one day they have run far enough. I think some movie character said that. Where are they going in such a hurry? What's the rush?
The second thing happened later last night. My wife and I were going on a date. We started doing that on a regular basis a few years ago. We started asking these questions of ourselves. What's the rush? Where are we going in such a hurry? It changed the way we viewed our lives together. It didn't change our life. It changed the way we respond to it. Our life is our life. And our death is coming. We were waiting on a red traffic light to green up and the person on our left received his left turn arrow. These signals, or symbols, are supposed to be protected. You should be able to turn safely. As he entered the intersection, a large car barrelled into the intersection, narrowly missing my left turn neighbor, but colliding with the one who was turning left from across the intersection. As we sat there stunned, I thought, "What was the rush? Where was he going? Didn't he see the stop light? Didn't he read the symbol? Didn't he see the sign? That driver has wrecked another driver with a wreck!
Isn't that what can happen? We wreck others with our wrecks. Sometimes we can't help it. We are wrecked in nature. But often it is because we are running too fast to know how fast we are going. Here is wisdom.
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." (James 4:14-15)
As I think back on the first thing I was thinking about, it's a fast trip to the grave. Whether you're seven or seventy. They'll even stop traffic for you. At that point, you won't be in hurry. So tell me, friend, what's the rush?
Blessings to you,
Sam
I was asked to assist in a funeral service yesterday. As the service ended, I was struck with a contrast in procedural protocol as a pastor. A customary position for a pastor in a wedding is to follow the couple out of the building after the ceremony. But in a funeral, the pastor leads the way, even preceding the casket, carried along by the pallbearers. The service was at one location and the burial was in another, a few miles away. So a funeral procession was necessary. As a pastor in a funeral procession, it is customary to travel ahead of the hearse. I don't pretend to know all the symbolism that may be behind it all. But I've been pondering about the significance of these things and the contrast between hustling and bustling and taking time to enjoy life and experience death. In the procession, law enforcement officials led the way, their emergency lights flashing, stopping traffic at intersections to allow the procession to flow unhindered and uninterrupted to the graveside. As I was traveling yesterday, through a sparsely inhabited countryside, I asked the question to myself, "What's the rush? Where are we going in such a hurry?"
Follow my mind back to the wedding scene. Now that's a scary thought! Not the wedding, but following my mind. We could get very lost very fast! The young couple is leaving the building with the pastor following. They will begin to move into a season of life where it won't take them long to get caught up running to and fro and life will press in on them with added expectations and new responsibilities and soon they can find themselves running on empty. They'll get there faster than they realize and wonder how they got to where they are. And it will usually be in the middle of a mess or waylaid in a wreck. And the pastor has been following all the while, trying to catch them, trying to help them, trying to teach them God's word for wise living. But they've been too busy. So they run until one day they have run far enough. I think some movie character said that. Where are they going in such a hurry? What's the rush?
The second thing happened later last night. My wife and I were going on a date. We started doing that on a regular basis a few years ago. We started asking these questions of ourselves. What's the rush? Where are we going in such a hurry? It changed the way we viewed our lives together. It didn't change our life. It changed the way we respond to it. Our life is our life. And our death is coming. We were waiting on a red traffic light to green up and the person on our left received his left turn arrow. These signals, or symbols, are supposed to be protected. You should be able to turn safely. As he entered the intersection, a large car barrelled into the intersection, narrowly missing my left turn neighbor, but colliding with the one who was turning left from across the intersection. As we sat there stunned, I thought, "What was the rush? Where was he going? Didn't he see the stop light? Didn't he read the symbol? Didn't he see the sign? That driver has wrecked another driver with a wreck!
Isn't that what can happen? We wreck others with our wrecks. Sometimes we can't help it. We are wrecked in nature. But often it is because we are running too fast to know how fast we are going. Here is wisdom.
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." (James 4:14-15)
As I think back on the first thing I was thinking about, it's a fast trip to the grave. Whether you're seven or seventy. They'll even stop traffic for you. At that point, you won't be in hurry. So tell me, friend, what's the rush?
Blessings to you,
Sam
Sunday, February 15, 2009
I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up
I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T GET UP - Mark 2:1-12
In the late 1980’s a television commercial for a company named LifeCall depicted an elderly woman falling in her bathroom. A pendant around her neck had a button that she pushed and she was immediately contacted with an emergency dispatcher. She desperately cried, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!?” and help was on the way. A lot of people made fun of that lady and that commercial, maybe because it seemed like a low budget production that lacked a lot of sophistication. But it did communicate a message that any one of us can fall and need help outside of our own ability to rise again.
Now anyone who has ever taken a serious fall or known someone who has suffered like that knows that it is anything but funny. A lady I was privileged to know fell and broke her hip when she was 99 years old. She told me that it was the first time in her life that she could ever remember not being able to walk. Oh, she knew that she was dependent upon others when she was a baby. But she couldn’t remember that experience. And she wasn't looking forward to being that dependent on others again.
This week as we turn to the Gospel of Mark we are once again considering the authority of Jesus as it was demonstrated to the people of that day. The familiar narrative is about a helpless paralytic that encountered Christ and the resulting challenge of the religious scribes in regard to the authority of Christ. Both the paralytic, the scribes, and the people who witnessed the encounter experienced God in a very unexpected way. It is my prayer as we hear the Word of God read and preached that we come into a fuller understanding of the authority of Christ over our lives and the relevance it has for the people of God in our day. Hear the Word of the Lord.
When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”--He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2:1-12)
JESUS HAS AUTHORITY OVER SINSICKNESS.
I. ACTIVE FAITH BRINGS PEOPLE CLOSE TO GOD. (1-5)
... Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic…
The Word of God overcomes barriers of time and space. Christ is in the midst of men and speaking His word to people. This transcends the separation between God and man. God transcends time and space. He had become man and was communicating in a type of language that could be understood. Jesus was in the house, teaching the Word. It was not the healing that was attracting attention. It was the speaking of the Word. God’s word connects when it is proclaimed publicly. This is transcendental truth. People still hunger for that. But sometimes they are too sick to feed on His word.
People can be so sinsick that they need help coming to Jesus. In my zeal as a pastor, I once believed that if I could only get some sinsick person to come to the worship service that I could preach this person into the kingdom of God, healed and whole. I would have some advance knowledge that a certain person would be in the congregation on a certain Sunday. I would prepare a sermon with that person in mind. The sad part is that this sinsick person was often oblivious to the message or they were absent from the service. They weren’t hungry enough for God. Their sinsickness had curbed their godly appetite. Sinsickness creates an appetite for ungodly things. This paralytic needed help coming to Jesus. I believe he was hungry for the nourishment of the word. I believe he came there to be in the presence of God. The paralytic was dependent upon others for his very survival. He was dependent on others to bring him to Jesus. How much more was he dependent upon Jesus for his eternal destiny?
Christ “sees” the faith of the men and speaks to the one most in need. What does faith look like to God? It’s when someone acts on their desire to draw near to God, believing that God is, and believing what God says is beneficial. Faith at work is people working their faith. Faith in God is acting on God’s promise. God had promised that a Messiah would come. I believe that we sometimes give all the credit to the four men for their faith. But I think the paralytic had faith as well. Jesus tells him his sins are forgiven. Someone without faith can never receive this forgiveness that God offers. Faith is a gift from God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
Risk is involved when people desire to get close to God. The paralytic took a risk to ask others to become their burden. Someone had to give up their time to help him get to Jesus. The four men took a risk in the whole event. Wouldn’t you have liked to been in the crowd? They must have created a scene publicly, becoming a spectacle themselves, risking offending all who were present. They also took a risk to offend the owner of the house when they tore up his roof! It took a pretty big hole to lower him down, bed and all.
The four men not only let the paralytic down, they carried him up! One of the most fascinating details of this account is hidden from us. How did they get him up on the roof in the first place? Our application as Christians is to ask a question. My question is not are we willing to tear up the roof and let the ones we are burdened with down, but are we willing to carry them up? I don’t want to spiritualize this too much, but do we carry some burdensome person up to God in prayer? Do we labor on their behalf? Do we bring their case before our loving Father in Heaven? As a practical understanding, do we pay the price to be heavily involved in the lives of suffering, sinsick people? They are all around us. Sometimes right in our midst.
II. SINSICKNESS IS THE GREAT CRIPPLER OF HUMANITY. (5-11)
Son, your sins are forgiven...get up, pick up your pallet and go home...
God’s word is curative for sinsickness. As God progressively revealed Himself to the generations, there was a priesthood installed who stood before men on God’s behalf. The priest was a type of God Himself. Religious tradition through the ages has allowed for a priest to grant forgiveness. But only an absolute God can grant absolution. One God alone has that authority. Only He knows our darkest secrets and only He knows our deepest need. Sinsickness is a total epidemic. All of humanity is infected with it and affected by it. It has a 100% mortality rate. All humans are born in sin and die as a result of it. Some of our physical afflictions have their root in sinsickness. For someone to have authority to heal these symptomatic afflictions they must also have the ability to cure them at their root cause. Christ’s word has absolute authority over the power of sin in the life of a human. If we do not hear God’s curative word, we will die. Eternal life with God is our greatest need. Sinsickness is our greatest affliction. God’s word contains the cure.
The man’s need to be forgiven was greater than his need to walk. Jesus was there to meet the greatest need. The non-Christian may think his or her affliction or addiction is their biggest problem. Their greatest need is to be forgiven of sin. The condition of unforgiveness paralyzes all of human existence and poisons our relationships. Man needs a Savior from sin and deliverance from this condition. Sinsickness manifested in the public arena is masked with human justification. When we are told we are products of our environment, or economically deprived, or genetically predisposed to our addictions and afflictions, it is just human attempts to cover our sin and explain it away. After all, we’re only human, huh? We are either faulty or perfect. We cannot be both. The humanist cannot have it both ways. Believing these things cause us to avoid taking responsibility for our behavior, claiming our behavior is someone else’s fault and continuously making excuses for our fallen humanity, attempting to exalt our humanity to godlike status. I have heard it said that an excuse is a lie disguised as a reason. What would be the result if some of the most powerful people in public life would humble themselves and take responsibility for their sinful actions? It would bring radical change.
Christ sent the forgiven man back home. A radically changed man went back to what would be a radically changed home. He was a restored man. Home would be a new place. His family and friends would have a new experience with this healed man. Things are different when Christ changes our lives. Do you want a changed home environment? Learn to practice biblical forgiveness.
Practicing forgiveness in our Christian homes overcomes paralyzed relationships. Unforgiveness in our Christian homes turns joyful service into tedious duty. This is what happened in the elder son’s heart when the prodigal son returned in Luke 15. The elder son was a dutiful son. He resented the prodigal wasting his father’s wealth while he slaved away at home. All those years dwelling on his duty and thinking of his brother’s frivolity hardened his heart. Forgiveness was alien to him and his heart was far from his father. Perhaps Christians don’t really know how to practice forgiveness. For example, one person says, “I was wrong. I sinned against God and against you. I have no excuse for my behavior. Will you forgive me?” Then the other person says “Yes, I forgive you. I will not hold this against you. I will not allow my mind to dwell on the sin. I will not speak about this occasion again to you or gossip about it to others.” When forgiveness is practiced, it humbles all parties involved, gives the Holy Spirit room to work in the heart, and binds us to God and one another. Whether you are the offender or the offended, you can make a choice to practice forgiveness. But didn’t I just hear you say that only God can forgive?, you may be asking. Yes. God forgives. And God in us forgives. And because His forgiving nature abides in us, we have the ability to forgive and for the child of God, forgiveness is required. It is not an option. Any unforgiveness in the heart of the Christian is rebellion against God. Sin cripples the Christian.
Mount Olivet will be a radically changed church if we continue to practice forgiveness. In our journey together, there has been conflict. There is bound to be more. Forgiveness has been practiced. And there is room to practice it more. We can resolve to resolve our conflicts by seeking and granting forgiveness or we can be afflicted in our walk with God, and restricted in what God will do through us. Let’s choose to grant and seek forgiveness. Let’s take up our pallet and walk.
III. THE DEITY OF JESUS IS PROVOCATIVE. (5-11)
Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming...who can forgive sins, but God alone?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…
God asks the questions for which He already knows the answers. Adam, where are you? Jonah, do you have good reason to be angry? Who do men say that I am? These are some of the questions God asks in His word. Here the God-man asks a question about a question that was never even asked out loud. He heard the heart of the scribes. That is awesome. That’s the God with whom we have to deal. He hears our heart. He knows our mind. If the scribes were concerned at all about the paralytic, they would have made room for him to get to Jesus. His friends would not have had to climb up on the roof! But self-righteous religious people never make it easy for the sinsick to get to Jesus. Their unconcern for their fellow man reveals their heart condition and exposes the reason they were there…not to gain wisdom, but to guard their tradition. Their concern was a biblical one. God was the only one authorized to forgive sins. It was in their prophetic writings. So were the prophecies of Messiah. Their religious philosophy did not include a Messiah like this. Their Messiah must be a man made in their image. One like them. But here was One like the Son of Man. They missed that prophecy. God revealed Himself to mankind in His word. Jesus was the revelation of the Old Testament prophecy. We can read the Word of God and totally miss its interpretation. God is always revealing Himself. We may be too self-focused to notice Christ in plain sight.
The Son of Man is a term associated with judgment. This is a favorite term that Jesus often used for Himself. Some think that he classified Himself this way because it tied Him to His humanity. I think it was all about authority. We read about this in Daniel’s vision:
I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
This prophecy gives great comfort to the Christian. God is in authority. My judge is Jesus. And He is also my Savior. How can He judge against the work of salvation that He has done in me? He cannot. But the non-Christian is in another category. The Son of Man has absolute authority and dominion in an everlasting kingdom. The non-Christian abides under the wrath of God. He or she is judged already. What their greatest need is mercy and forgiveness. They need to know their need. We have already seen that Jesus knows what is in the heart of a man. He can rightly judge because He has all the evidence to do so. If I did not know Christ as my Savior today, I would plead for mercy until I was judged forgiven and in right standing with God. The Son of Man was there to judge the sinner, of which the scribes and the paralytic fell into that category. One Judgment Day happened at the cross. All of humanity was judged guilty of sin. The Last Judgment Day is coming where all of humanity will be sentenced. Our Judge is the Honorable Jesus Christ.
Secular humanists do not care what you believe about Christ…just don’t go public with it. The new mantra today for public consumption is, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” These words are spoken by secular humanists and minimal Christians who claim that the worse sin in any of us in intolerance of another’s views and lifestyles. Never mind that they take these words of Jesus out of context and in any other argument would discredit the words of Christ as irrelevant. Our challenge as Christian disciples is to live out our public lives as students of Christ. Our witness about Christ will always be public, whether we are speaking or silent. Our silent witness speaks volumes.
The Christian should be provoked to defend the honor of the name of Jesus; is the name of God. I have tried to temper my temper when it comes to the assault on the name of Christ. When His name is brought down to the level of swear words, I try to remain calm. One of my favorite tactics when I hear someone exclaim, “Jesus Christ!” is to ask “Where?” very excitedly. Then I get to see the look of disdain on the face of some folks while I comment, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for His return and the day when we hear the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! That will be the day we’ll be alright! I thought that day was this day!”
In the church we must constantly be on guard to exalt the deity of Jesus. Beware that some things you can buy in the Christian book store do not magnify the deity of Jesus. Now the name of God may be on almost every page of some books, but the deity of Jesus hard to find in the purpose of the author’s writing. Why do you think this could be so? Could it be the spiritual, as well as the secular, marketplace is being targeted? Jesus does not sell so well in the world. The problem is that we see that attitude oozing into the Christian church. We will be tempted to adopt the non-offensive marketing approach to attract new church members. Exalting Jesus and acknowledging Him as God may not draw a huge crowd, but it will be the basis for making disciples. This is our strategy.
His word is curative, His deity is provocative, and His forgiveness is restorative.
IV. FORGIVENESS OF SIN RESTORES MEN’S LIVES AND GLORIFIES GOD. (12)
...they were all amazed and were glorifying God...
The healing of the paralytic was not God’s primary way to display His glory.
Paralysis was only a symptom of the man’s sinsick condition. Jesus demonstrated that the healing of the paralytic was symbolic of His authority to heal the greatest affliction. The issue was authority. He said the easier thing while He was doing the harder thing. The scribes were right. Some things only God can do.
When God is working through His word, we cannot manage it or explain it. We can only marvel at it, and praise Him for it. Do you marvel at what Christ has done with your sinsick heart? Are you more aware of your need for His authority to heal your sinsickness?
At Mount Olivet we can answer the call to surrender to the authority of Christ over our sinsickness. Rise, take up our pallet and walk.
Here’s our “so what” for today's message:
We are all sinners who have fallen and can’t get up.
Our greatest need is forgiveness and restoration.
Our marvelous God glorifies Himself in our changed lives.
The practice of faith in our public and private lives is on display before God and man.
Faith takes a walk with God. Don’t be paralyzed in the journey by unforgiveness.
In the late 1980’s a television commercial for a company named LifeCall depicted an elderly woman falling in her bathroom. A pendant around her neck had a button that she pushed and she was immediately contacted with an emergency dispatcher. She desperately cried, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!?” and help was on the way. A lot of people made fun of that lady and that commercial, maybe because it seemed like a low budget production that lacked a lot of sophistication. But it did communicate a message that any one of us can fall and need help outside of our own ability to rise again.
Now anyone who has ever taken a serious fall or known someone who has suffered like that knows that it is anything but funny. A lady I was privileged to know fell and broke her hip when she was 99 years old. She told me that it was the first time in her life that she could ever remember not being able to walk. Oh, she knew that she was dependent upon others when she was a baby. But she couldn’t remember that experience. And she wasn't looking forward to being that dependent on others again.
This week as we turn to the Gospel of Mark we are once again considering the authority of Jesus as it was demonstrated to the people of that day. The familiar narrative is about a helpless paralytic that encountered Christ and the resulting challenge of the religious scribes in regard to the authority of Christ. Both the paralytic, the scribes, and the people who witnessed the encounter experienced God in a very unexpected way. It is my prayer as we hear the Word of God read and preached that we come into a fuller understanding of the authority of Christ over our lives and the relevance it has for the people of God in our day. Hear the Word of the Lord.
When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”--He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” (Mark 2:1-12)
JESUS HAS AUTHORITY OVER SINSICKNESS.
I. ACTIVE FAITH BRINGS PEOPLE CLOSE TO GOD. (1-5)
... Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic…
The Word of God overcomes barriers of time and space. Christ is in the midst of men and speaking His word to people. This transcends the separation between God and man. God transcends time and space. He had become man and was communicating in a type of language that could be understood. Jesus was in the house, teaching the Word. It was not the healing that was attracting attention. It was the speaking of the Word. God’s word connects when it is proclaimed publicly. This is transcendental truth. People still hunger for that. But sometimes they are too sick to feed on His word.
People can be so sinsick that they need help coming to Jesus. In my zeal as a pastor, I once believed that if I could only get some sinsick person to come to the worship service that I could preach this person into the kingdom of God, healed and whole. I would have some advance knowledge that a certain person would be in the congregation on a certain Sunday. I would prepare a sermon with that person in mind. The sad part is that this sinsick person was often oblivious to the message or they were absent from the service. They weren’t hungry enough for God. Their sinsickness had curbed their godly appetite. Sinsickness creates an appetite for ungodly things. This paralytic needed help coming to Jesus. I believe he was hungry for the nourishment of the word. I believe he came there to be in the presence of God. The paralytic was dependent upon others for his very survival. He was dependent on others to bring him to Jesus. How much more was he dependent upon Jesus for his eternal destiny?
Christ “sees” the faith of the men and speaks to the one most in need. What does faith look like to God? It’s when someone acts on their desire to draw near to God, believing that God is, and believing what God says is beneficial. Faith at work is people working their faith. Faith in God is acting on God’s promise. God had promised that a Messiah would come. I believe that we sometimes give all the credit to the four men for their faith. But I think the paralytic had faith as well. Jesus tells him his sins are forgiven. Someone without faith can never receive this forgiveness that God offers. Faith is a gift from God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
Risk is involved when people desire to get close to God. The paralytic took a risk to ask others to become their burden. Someone had to give up their time to help him get to Jesus. The four men took a risk in the whole event. Wouldn’t you have liked to been in the crowd? They must have created a scene publicly, becoming a spectacle themselves, risking offending all who were present. They also took a risk to offend the owner of the house when they tore up his roof! It took a pretty big hole to lower him down, bed and all.
The four men not only let the paralytic down, they carried him up! One of the most fascinating details of this account is hidden from us. How did they get him up on the roof in the first place? Our application as Christians is to ask a question. My question is not are we willing to tear up the roof and let the ones we are burdened with down, but are we willing to carry them up? I don’t want to spiritualize this too much, but do we carry some burdensome person up to God in prayer? Do we labor on their behalf? Do we bring their case before our loving Father in Heaven? As a practical understanding, do we pay the price to be heavily involved in the lives of suffering, sinsick people? They are all around us. Sometimes right in our midst.
II. SINSICKNESS IS THE GREAT CRIPPLER OF HUMANITY. (5-11)
Son, your sins are forgiven...get up, pick up your pallet and go home...
God’s word is curative for sinsickness. As God progressively revealed Himself to the generations, there was a priesthood installed who stood before men on God’s behalf. The priest was a type of God Himself. Religious tradition through the ages has allowed for a priest to grant forgiveness. But only an absolute God can grant absolution. One God alone has that authority. Only He knows our darkest secrets and only He knows our deepest need. Sinsickness is a total epidemic. All of humanity is infected with it and affected by it. It has a 100% mortality rate. All humans are born in sin and die as a result of it. Some of our physical afflictions have their root in sinsickness. For someone to have authority to heal these symptomatic afflictions they must also have the ability to cure them at their root cause. Christ’s word has absolute authority over the power of sin in the life of a human. If we do not hear God’s curative word, we will die. Eternal life with God is our greatest need. Sinsickness is our greatest affliction. God’s word contains the cure.
The man’s need to be forgiven was greater than his need to walk. Jesus was there to meet the greatest need. The non-Christian may think his or her affliction or addiction is their biggest problem. Their greatest need is to be forgiven of sin. The condition of unforgiveness paralyzes all of human existence and poisons our relationships. Man needs a Savior from sin and deliverance from this condition. Sinsickness manifested in the public arena is masked with human justification. When we are told we are products of our environment, or economically deprived, or genetically predisposed to our addictions and afflictions, it is just human attempts to cover our sin and explain it away. After all, we’re only human, huh? We are either faulty or perfect. We cannot be both. The humanist cannot have it both ways. Believing these things cause us to avoid taking responsibility for our behavior, claiming our behavior is someone else’s fault and continuously making excuses for our fallen humanity, attempting to exalt our humanity to godlike status. I have heard it said that an excuse is a lie disguised as a reason. What would be the result if some of the most powerful people in public life would humble themselves and take responsibility for their sinful actions? It would bring radical change.
Christ sent the forgiven man back home. A radically changed man went back to what would be a radically changed home. He was a restored man. Home would be a new place. His family and friends would have a new experience with this healed man. Things are different when Christ changes our lives. Do you want a changed home environment? Learn to practice biblical forgiveness.
Practicing forgiveness in our Christian homes overcomes paralyzed relationships. Unforgiveness in our Christian homes turns joyful service into tedious duty. This is what happened in the elder son’s heart when the prodigal son returned in Luke 15. The elder son was a dutiful son. He resented the prodigal wasting his father’s wealth while he slaved away at home. All those years dwelling on his duty and thinking of his brother’s frivolity hardened his heart. Forgiveness was alien to him and his heart was far from his father. Perhaps Christians don’t really know how to practice forgiveness. For example, one person says, “I was wrong. I sinned against God and against you. I have no excuse for my behavior. Will you forgive me?” Then the other person says “Yes, I forgive you. I will not hold this against you. I will not allow my mind to dwell on the sin. I will not speak about this occasion again to you or gossip about it to others.” When forgiveness is practiced, it humbles all parties involved, gives the Holy Spirit room to work in the heart, and binds us to God and one another. Whether you are the offender or the offended, you can make a choice to practice forgiveness. But didn’t I just hear you say that only God can forgive?, you may be asking. Yes. God forgives. And God in us forgives. And because His forgiving nature abides in us, we have the ability to forgive and for the child of God, forgiveness is required. It is not an option. Any unforgiveness in the heart of the Christian is rebellion against God. Sin cripples the Christian.
Mount Olivet will be a radically changed church if we continue to practice forgiveness. In our journey together, there has been conflict. There is bound to be more. Forgiveness has been practiced. And there is room to practice it more. We can resolve to resolve our conflicts by seeking and granting forgiveness or we can be afflicted in our walk with God, and restricted in what God will do through us. Let’s choose to grant and seek forgiveness. Let’s take up our pallet and walk.
III. THE DEITY OF JESUS IS PROVOCATIVE. (5-11)
Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming...who can forgive sins, but God alone?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…
God asks the questions for which He already knows the answers. Adam, where are you? Jonah, do you have good reason to be angry? Who do men say that I am? These are some of the questions God asks in His word. Here the God-man asks a question about a question that was never even asked out loud. He heard the heart of the scribes. That is awesome. That’s the God with whom we have to deal. He hears our heart. He knows our mind. If the scribes were concerned at all about the paralytic, they would have made room for him to get to Jesus. His friends would not have had to climb up on the roof! But self-righteous religious people never make it easy for the sinsick to get to Jesus. Their unconcern for their fellow man reveals their heart condition and exposes the reason they were there…not to gain wisdom, but to guard their tradition. Their concern was a biblical one. God was the only one authorized to forgive sins. It was in their prophetic writings. So were the prophecies of Messiah. Their religious philosophy did not include a Messiah like this. Their Messiah must be a man made in their image. One like them. But here was One like the Son of Man. They missed that prophecy. God revealed Himself to mankind in His word. Jesus was the revelation of the Old Testament prophecy. We can read the Word of God and totally miss its interpretation. God is always revealing Himself. We may be too self-focused to notice Christ in plain sight.
The Son of Man is a term associated with judgment. This is a favorite term that Jesus often used for Himself. Some think that he classified Himself this way because it tied Him to His humanity. I think it was all about authority. We read about this in Daniel’s vision:
I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
This prophecy gives great comfort to the Christian. God is in authority. My judge is Jesus. And He is also my Savior. How can He judge against the work of salvation that He has done in me? He cannot. But the non-Christian is in another category. The Son of Man has absolute authority and dominion in an everlasting kingdom. The non-Christian abides under the wrath of God. He or she is judged already. What their greatest need is mercy and forgiveness. They need to know their need. We have already seen that Jesus knows what is in the heart of a man. He can rightly judge because He has all the evidence to do so. If I did not know Christ as my Savior today, I would plead for mercy until I was judged forgiven and in right standing with God. The Son of Man was there to judge the sinner, of which the scribes and the paralytic fell into that category. One Judgment Day happened at the cross. All of humanity was judged guilty of sin. The Last Judgment Day is coming where all of humanity will be sentenced. Our Judge is the Honorable Jesus Christ.
Secular humanists do not care what you believe about Christ…just don’t go public with it. The new mantra today for public consumption is, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” These words are spoken by secular humanists and minimal Christians who claim that the worse sin in any of us in intolerance of another’s views and lifestyles. Never mind that they take these words of Jesus out of context and in any other argument would discredit the words of Christ as irrelevant. Our challenge as Christian disciples is to live out our public lives as students of Christ. Our witness about Christ will always be public, whether we are speaking or silent. Our silent witness speaks volumes.
The Christian should be provoked to defend the honor of the name of Jesus; is the name of God. I have tried to temper my temper when it comes to the assault on the name of Christ. When His name is brought down to the level of swear words, I try to remain calm. One of my favorite tactics when I hear someone exclaim, “Jesus Christ!” is to ask “Where?” very excitedly. Then I get to see the look of disdain on the face of some folks while I comment, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for His return and the day when we hear the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! That will be the day we’ll be alright! I thought that day was this day!”
In the church we must constantly be on guard to exalt the deity of Jesus. Beware that some things you can buy in the Christian book store do not magnify the deity of Jesus. Now the name of God may be on almost every page of some books, but the deity of Jesus hard to find in the purpose of the author’s writing. Why do you think this could be so? Could it be the spiritual, as well as the secular, marketplace is being targeted? Jesus does not sell so well in the world. The problem is that we see that attitude oozing into the Christian church. We will be tempted to adopt the non-offensive marketing approach to attract new church members. Exalting Jesus and acknowledging Him as God may not draw a huge crowd, but it will be the basis for making disciples. This is our strategy.
His word is curative, His deity is provocative, and His forgiveness is restorative.
IV. FORGIVENESS OF SIN RESTORES MEN’S LIVES AND GLORIFIES GOD. (12)
...they were all amazed and were glorifying God...
The healing of the paralytic was not God’s primary way to display His glory.
Paralysis was only a symptom of the man’s sinsick condition. Jesus demonstrated that the healing of the paralytic was symbolic of His authority to heal the greatest affliction. The issue was authority. He said the easier thing while He was doing the harder thing. The scribes were right. Some things only God can do.
When God is working through His word, we cannot manage it or explain it. We can only marvel at it, and praise Him for it. Do you marvel at what Christ has done with your sinsick heart? Are you more aware of your need for His authority to heal your sinsickness?
At Mount Olivet we can answer the call to surrender to the authority of Christ over our sinsickness. Rise, take up our pallet and walk.
Here’s our “so what” for today's message:
We are all sinners who have fallen and can’t get up.
Our greatest need is forgiveness and restoration.
Our marvelous God glorifies Himself in our changed lives.
The practice of faith in our public and private lives is on display before God and man.
Faith takes a walk with God. Don’t be paralyzed in the journey by unforgiveness.
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