How To Raise Your Children From The Dead

HOW TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN FROM THE DEAD

MARK 5:21-43

INTRODUCTION… Bill Cosby on Father’s Day (http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/fathers_day.htm)

Two humorous observations from Bill Cosby’s book, Fatherhood. He writes: Now that my father is a grandfather, he just can’t wait to give money to my kids. But when I was his kid and I asked him for fifty cents, he would tell me the story of his life. How he got up at 5 A.M. when he was seven years old and walked twenty-three miles to milk ninety cows. And the farmer for whom he worked had no bucket, so he had to squirt the milk into his little hand and then walk eight miles to the nearest can. All for 5 cents a month. The result was that I never got my 50 cents.

But now he tells my children every time he comes into the house: “Well, lets see how much money old Granddad has got for his wonderful kids.” And the minute they take money out of his hands I call them over to me and I snatch it away from them. Because that is MY money.

The other story that Cosby tells that I like is the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He insists that Mother’s Day is a much bigger deal because Mothers are more organized. Mothers say to their children: Now here is a list of what I want. Go get the money from your father and you surprise me on Mother’s Day. You do that for me.

For Father’s Day I give each of my five kids $20 so that they can go out and by me a present——a total of $100. They go to the store and buy two packages of underwear, each of which costs $5 and contains three shorts. They tear them open and each kid wraps up one pair, the sixth going to the Salvation Army. Therefore, on Father’s Day I am walking around with new underwear and my kid’s are walking around with $90 worth of my change in their pockets.

Being Father’s Day, I would like us to focus on a miracle of Jesus that also has to deal with a father. We will read from Mark chapter 5 today.

READ MARK 5:21-43

At the peak of His popularity, Jesus began ministering in Capernaum. There He met huge crowds of people pressing in on Him from every side. Jesus always had crowds around Him because He was quite popular with the people and his reputation was getting around. People were hearing about all the miracles and healings and demons being cast out. Even without CNN, people heard about Jesus! From among the crowds, Jarius came to Jesus with an urgent request concerning his daughter. "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

It is interesting to note that Mark chapter 5 actually mentions two daughters and one father: Jarius’ daughter, and the woman with the issue of bleeding is also called ‘daughter.’ Each is a daughter and each has a mention of the number twelve: the woman had been subject to bleeding for twelve years and the little girl is twelve years old. The father that is mentioned is Jairus. It is Jairus that I would like us to focus on today.

I. JAIRUS WAS A LEADER (VERSE 22)

How in the world do we know that Jairus was a leader? Well, verse 22 tells us two very important things about Jairus that inform us of his leadership. First, verse 22 tells us that he was a ruler of the synagogue. This meant that he has the courage and ability to be a leader among people. And yet, that is really not the leadership that I noticed in the verse. Being a synagogue ruler meant that you were a person of influence, wealth, and stature. Who did Jairus send when it came to the health of his daughter? Who did Jairus send when it came to asking Jesus of Nazareth to heal his little girl? Did he send a secretary? Did he send his servant? No, Jairus went himself. Jairus showed his leadership in his home by going to Jesus himself.

Men need to assume their proper roles of leadership both in the House of God as well as in their own homes. Notice that when Jesus entered Jarius’ home he surrendered his leadership to Jesus. This is the

Biblical model of Christian leadership both in Church and at home. A man’s visible role as a spiritual leader has a tangible impact particularly on his own children.

II. JAIRUS WAS A WORSHIPPER (VERSE 22)

How do we know that Jairus was a worshipper? Verse 22 also tells us that when Jairus came to Jesus he fell at his feet and created a humble atmosphere around him. This was a man who was a leader in his community and probably one of the more wealthy people around. He should not be on the ground, but he was and he meant to be.