Faithful Endurance (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Jesus was busier than us and encountered more serious pressures, yet He remained faithful to His purpose; we should do likewise.
SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:32-39
32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
I am always humbled to be able to preach God’s Word. Services like this are especially humbling. Celebrating 186 years of God’s movement in this place is an amazing blessing. And, as I said last year, it also means there have likely been 184 better Homecoming messages preached than this one will be☺. Nonetheless, as we think about Homecoming and all God has done, it is important to see why this has happened and how we can continue to be God’s people, in His place, fulfilling His purpose.
It’s an awesome testimony to God’s sovereignty that the passage we’re coming to this morning in our study of Mark addresses exactly that. Jesus’ life should be our model. We should persevere as He persevered, and His priorities and purposes should be ours. We see that clearly in this passage. Again, here’s the GIST: Jesus was busier than us and encountered more serious pressures, yet He remained faithful to His purpose; we should do likewise.
- JESUS WAS BUSIER THAN US (32-34, and See 14-31)
This resonates with me personally. Time is a precious commodity; and we do not have much of it. This lack of time is probably not only one of the biggest challenges in many of our lives, but also one of our most frequently cited excuses. We cannot do __________ because we simply do not have enough time. This is no less the case when it comes to spiritual matters. We’ll get more active in our serving of Jesus when we have more time. Jesus takes away that excuse.
This passage hit home with me a few years ago, and as I’ve read it over the past several weeks, it continues to do so. Let’s just look at Jesus’ day described here. It’s the Sabbath, the day of rest and worship. Jesus isn’t doing a lot of resting though.
Day: Though Mark’s gospel is not strictly chronological, we are given a day-segment here. His day seems to have started with preaching in the synagogue (the calling of the disciples in verse 16 would likely have been a previous day since they were working when He called them, so it was likely not the Sabbath yet). While preaching, He not only blows away His listeners by preaching like no one ever had--with authority--but is also directly confronted by a demon-possessed man. He promptly casts out the demon, and then goes back to Peter’s house where his mother-in-law is very ill, so Jesus heals her. Now, we don’t see anything that happens in the interim of these two points, but it is safe to assume He’s not just taking leisurely strolls and napping. He’s always being questioned and called upon. But even if nothing else happened, just the combination of teaching, casting out a demon, and healing Peter’s mother-in-law would have unarguably been a full day. But, the day’s not over yet.
Evening: Then when the sun sets and it is no longer officially the Sabbath, which means the Law would permit healing and work, people come and swarmed Jesus at Peter’s house. In fact, the verse says the whole city came out. From what I’ve read, the population of the town at the time was probably at least 1,500 people. Even if not everyone came out, we’re still looking at a massive crowd. That’s about the number of people at the high school where I teach. I have seen all of them together in one place several times. I can’t imagine being swarmed by all of them at once wanting something from me. But that’s exactly what happened. They wanted healing. The passage tells us that He heals many and casts out many demons. This is not to say that there were many healed, but some not. Instead this word is just emphasizing the multitude. A large crowd came, so a lot were healed and a lot of demons were cast out.
Even if you cut out the morning and afternoon activities, this evening picture is more than we deal with. And this is just one day...
- AND ENCOUNTERED MORE SERIOUS DISTRACTIONS & PRESSURES (32-34, 36-37)
Not only was He busy, but He faced pressures and distractions unique to Him. Let’s just look at the ones we see in this passage.
Healing. People came to Him wanting to be healed of their various maladies. Why? Because He could heal them. We saw this with Peter’s mother-in-law; we saw this with the leper. We’ll continue to see this all throughout the gospel account. People who were completely without hope physically, could be healed by Jesus. This got around. People knew this, so they came to Him. We see it happening in this evening account. Then at the end of this chapter, after the leper goes and tells everyone that he was healed by Jesus, we’re told that this becomes the norm. Jesus literally could not enter a town without being nearly trampled by people wanting to be healed by Him.
I know I have to wrap my mind around this, which requires me to modify the pictures I have in my head of Jesus’ ministry. I don’t want to trash children’s Sunday School materials because they have done so much good. Nonetheless, growing up on those pictures, when I think about Jesus preaching, I can’t help but picture Him sitting on a solitary rock with a sleeping lamb in His lap surrounded by lush green pastures with a couple people sitting in front of Him listening intently while children frolic in the background. It’s a nice picture. It’s just not how it would have been. Not even talking about the many hostile religious leaders who followed Him around, Jesus would have been constantly pressed upon by mobs of people broken with sickness and disease crying out for healing. And again, this is because He can. We don’t encounter this kind of pressure because we don’t have this kind of power. Only Jesus can heal like this.
Demons. I won’t belabor this point, but Jesus’ interactions with demons is also unique. Everywhere He goes, He is directly confronted by them. This probably hasn’t happened to you this week... The demons knew who He was and why He came, so when they saw Him, they were terrified and yelled out. In all of Scripture, we only see this kind of demonic activity happening around Jesus. In fact, in the New Testament, there are only two accounts of a demonic confrontation after Jesus ascends into Heaven. Now, that doesn’t mean demons just suddenly appeared when Jesus was here, but rather they were exposed by His coming. Not being seen is advantageous to their cause. Yet, when confronted with Jesus, they cried out in fear. (See John MacArthur on demons in Jesus’ time.)
Again, this adds a dynamic to that Sunday School picture I mentioned earlier.
Confused Followers. On top of this, those He called to follow Him, don’t understand why He’s here. In just a second, we’re going to look at Jesus going off by Himself to pray. When He does, Peter and the likely the other disciples come looking for Him. The word here actually means they come hunting Him down or pursuing Him. This isn’t a casual looking. They are desperate to find Him. Why? There are more people at the door! Remember, they don’t really understand who Jesus is yet. So, they see the result of His healing ministry--this explosion of popularity--and they’re thinking, “We need to strike while the iron is hot. Why are you out here? Come to where the action is!” Actually, their misunderstanding of why He came is similar to how Satan tries to tempt Jesus. And we’ll see this again in the gospel accounts. Jesus is given many opportunities for fame and earthly power or prestige, but that’s not why He came.
Many of you here can probably relate at one level to this kind of pressure--people wanting much from you. Typically, however, I’m not confronted with people wanting to make me king or have me eradicate sickness from the entire world. Ironically, the reason He came was actually far more pressing! And that’s what we’ll see in this last point.
- YET HE REMAINED FAITHFUL TO HIS PRIORITIES & PURPOSE (35, 38-39)
Jesus has had a busy day, and a long one at that. It was already evening when this multitude came. We have no record of when they left, but know many were healed, so I think it’s safe to assume this gathering lasted for some time. Still yet, we see Jesus getting up very early in the morning, while it is still dark. Why? Because despite the busyness of His day, He was faithful to His purpose.
Prayer. He got up in the morning to pray. We don’t know the content of His prayers here, but we do see the priority He places on them. Here we have a picture of the complexity of the trinity. God communing with Himself. So important is this, that though His night was long and His day would be full, He takes time to pray, to spend time with God the Father. I’ll come back to this, but just let that sink in. Is this a priority for you?
Preaching. Then, Peter shows up and tells Him everyone is looking for Him. How does He respond? “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” Imagine Peter’s reaction to that! The physical needs of people were important to Jesus. We constantly see His great deeds of compassion, but they weren’t primary. More than needing physical healing, people needed the truth; they needed to hear how they could be saved from sin and Hell. Proclaiming and embodying this message is why He came. It was more important than anything else He did. Again, is it our priority?
Notice also, He says He’s going to do it...then He does...and it’s not easy. He still encounters these same pressures. He’s still casting out demons; He’s still healing the sick, but remains faithful to His purpose.
TAKEAWAYS:
For 186 years, God has used this local body. We want to see that continue until He returns, so-->
We should do likewise...
- Don’t allow your busyness to interfere with your service and personal walk.
We are busy people. However, our busyness should never get in the way of us growing closer to Jesus in our personal lives and serving Him in our public ones. How do you know if you’re too busy? Is everything you feel you must get done taking priority over Jesus? If so, the distractions need to be set aside. “34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:34-36
- Make His priorities and purpose yours.
We see here that He prioritized prayer and His purpose was to preach the good news. I want to make this practical, but know because admonitions like this are so familiar they can be easily sounded out. All of us here, including myself, need to fight that temptation. Jesus, GOD IN FLESH, was diligent about setting aside special time to talk with God the Father. We need to spend quality time daily in prayer and Bible study. Does it have to be early in the morning? No. Just give Him your best time. Your most undistracted time.
Also, make a point to share His good news. We come to church every Sunday, and every week we talk about the importance of telling people about Jesus. We’ll say, “Amen!” Then, we’ll go to work on Monday and talk about profits, and data, and sports, and the daily grind. Then, we’ll come to church on Sunday and we’ll talk about the importance of telling people about Jesus. We’ll say, “Amen!” Then, we’ll go to work on Monday and talk about weekend plans, and books we’re reading, or shows we’re watching. Then we’ll come to church on Sunday… I think you see the point.
Here’s a challenge for this week. 1-Pray daily for opportunities to tell people about Jesus. 2-Try to deliberately talk to someone about Jesus at least once this week (However, I think you’ll find if you’re doing the first, you’ll have more opportunities than one though…) 3- And I really need to do this too, keep track of those opportunities and continue to pray for those people.
This might seem like a general admonition. But, it truly will change everything. You want to see your relationships mended? You want to see this body of Christ of more use to God? “33 ... seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not saying “On top of everything else you do, add Jesus.” I’m saying, “Everything you do should be for Jesus.”
- Be encouraged when you do.
If this is His purpose, which it is, then you can be assured of His provision when you pursue it.
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