This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 1st February 2015; St Oswalds is a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
Welcome:
Today we continue in our Gospel readings, from Marks Gospel, and the theme for today starts with the Great Authority of Jesus, ... but as we get into it, you will notice that this authority did not come without suffering; ... and suffering is something we can all relate to; ... and Jesus too, he suffered while living in the earth, ... and that is why we can take our pain straight to the Lord, and ask him for help as he knows what we are talking about.
Todays readings are: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 and MARK 1:21-28
“Please be seated, and join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. Amen. (Psalms. 19:14)
Introduction.
There is a powerful quotation in a book called "The Invincible Christ" by a man named Massey Mott Heltzel with reads, ...
"Someone anonymous, once poignantly said something very profound about Jesus and it is this: "I am far within the mark when I say that all armies that ever marched, ... and all the navies that were ever built, ... and all the parliaments that ever sat, ... and all the kings that ever reigned, ... all put together, ... have not affected the life of mankind on this earth, as powerfully, … as that One Solitary Life".
That is some quote! We can think of many dictators or prophets in the past who had created un-imaginary powers; but this power was severely limited, and only to the countries under their authority, ... that is, while they remained in power, and were still alive.
Jesus on the other hand, ... nothing can compare. His power endures through every nation on earth; ... even within countries who openly oppose him, have little bases hidden where he is worshipped. And Jesus is also not limited by time or space either, ... as according to Luke 1:33 "he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and … of his kingdom there shall be no end", Amen.
Jesus Christ is Lord of all! Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". The authority of men is severely limited, but the authority of Jesus our God will never ends; … he even has the power to save us from our sin, … sin which leads ultimately to death.
The Wee Hitler
Now the world, regardless of what country we belong, governs us by laws and regulations; ... and when these laws fail, they create other laws; and within these laws, people invent unwritten laws, … laws that we can only find out what they are, by breaking them. But such unwritten laws are not there to help others, … no they are there to promote power in individuals. And we all know, that there has been many a wee Hitler walking about Maybole in the past telling people exactly what laws they have broken laws, ... laws that some how give the wee Hitler's types power. Yes.
Fortunately for us, Jesus would have none of this. Jesus was against these self promoting laws, laws that hindered God’s grace, … and Jesus upset anyone, or anything who came between him and God. This then is the basis of 1Corinthians 2:12 which says, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, ... but the spirit which is of God; ... that we might know the things that are freely given to us from God".
And as he spoke, Jesus did not end his statements with, "Thus saith the Lord", like some pious wee neaff; ... who compare themselves with the Old Testament prophets of old whose message was given to them by God. No when Jesus spoke, ... he spoke with authority from God, ... he was God's son. Verse 22 of today's reading says "And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and … not as the scribes".
I like that, ... Jesus obviously spoke with authority that the scribes seemed to lack. Who were the scribes? Well they must have been someone qualified with man made "authority", ... authority they probably earned within the Jewish system, ... but authority without out real power, as according to Jesus, they did not know what they were taking about, ... and with authority that did not satisfy the spiritual hunger the people were looking for.
Jesus therefore must have answered the peoples questions, ... and Jesus demonstrated these answers using the power of the Holy Spirit, ... by doing miracles and the likes, in proper context; … that way, the people received God’s grace; ... ... and as so, the true Gospel was preached, ... the broken hearted were healed, ... the captives to evil spirits were delivered, the blind received sight, and the captives were set free.
Faith comes by hearing
Jesus had been prepared, and anointed to preach the gospel, ... and so we can conclude that to teach the Gospel properly, like this, Jesus must have lived on this earth as we do, ... and Jesus must have suffered on this earth as we have suffered, in order know what exactly humanity needs hear. Jesus needed to teach the Gospel in a manner that would be clearly understood and welcomed, … with authority and conviction, and with power.
And it wasn't until I put this sermon together that I suddenly realised just how much Jesus was a man who lived in this world. … Yes we have all heard how the Holy Spirit guided him, ... and we have all heard that he led a sinless life, ... but we know little of his early life, if anything at all: ... because he was sinless, that does not mean he had no problems of his own. ...
So we can also conclude that Jesus had his share of troubles, of his own, just the same as the rest of us; ... because there is no way he could be an effective preacher of the Gospel, without truly relating to the people, and understanding their needs.
Jesus must have suffered as we have suffered, ... and if he has suffered like us, ... then through the Holy Spirit, he found a way of overcoming that suffering, and pain, ... and that is in essential what he is trying to pass on to us, ... the true message of his Gospel; ... to overcome this world, and to live for the next.
What a Lord, he did not keep this for himself, he did not try to market it and sell it, as they do nowadays, ... (Just send me £60 and I will show you how to get into heaven, for £80 I will free you from your sin)! No Jesus shared his secrets, or teachings with those who would believe, because Jesus came from all the glory of heaven, to come and live with us, ... as one of us, ... God in human flesh.
We have become righteousness in God's eyes.
And it is through our belief in his gospel, … we become adopted sons and daughters of God the father in heaven. Through Jesus we have become righteousness in God's eyes, … as Jesus exchanged his life for us on the cross, ... taking our sins and deceitfulness upon himself straight into hell where they were destroyed by the fires of hell themselves.
And we know that Jesus escaped the fires of Hell, … and so will we, because Matthew 19 verses 28 and 29 bluntly says “Verily verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, YOU also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life”.
Only the son of God could say that, ... but only after living and suffering on this earth. You see a thing that puzzled me for years was that I related the suffering of Jesus to the cross, and only to the cross, ... but now I understand that Jesus must have lived as we have lived, … and the suffering that is referred, is not only to the cross, but to the suffering that we all receive in the course of normal life.
And this all makes sense, ... that is why God can see us as clean, and pure and righteous, … because his son Jesus suffered in exactly the same way that we have.
And remember, God the Father absolutely hates sin and sinful people, but he loves his son Jesus who died for us, and so God can now see us a pure and clean and sinless because he can only see us through the eyes of Jesus; ... who suffered just as we have suffered.
I do hope you can see and understand the logic in this, because I have never heard it taught in this way before.
No-one can give us salvation.
Our salvation only comes through Jesus and the cross; ... Acts 4:12 says "Neither is there salvation in any other: … for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved". … No king or kingdom, ruler or dictator, government, organization or individual can ever give us salvation with God, … no one but God can truly help us. … No one else has conquered sin and death, … and you could also add, the fear of death! God gave this authority to Jesus, and only Jesus, … making us powerless without him. That is why John 15:5 says, "for without ME you can do nothing".
And this is where we pick up our story this morning, remember that, Mark 1 verse 23 " And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out saying, … Let us alone; ... what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God".
Clearly this evil spirit was afraid, ... why, because it knew who Jesus was, and what power and authority he had; ... and it also knew Jesus had come to dispel it. … It funny how all the Angels of heaven know who Jesus is, ... and all the evil spirits of demonic realm in Hell know who Jesus is, ... but man in his great wisdom knows better: ... "well I am not sure who Jesus really is, .. or was".
Anyway, until now, this evil spirits had completely possessed this man, ... and completely overtaken his life; ... then as it feared: ... Verse 25, ... "Jesus rebuked it, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, ... it came out of him".
Can you imagine this, ... nobody had ever seen such authority before, ... authority to send an evil spirit back to hell, and deliver that man. Verse 27 "And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is this? ... For with authority he commanded even the unclean spirits, and they did obey him".
And for that, Jesus received a lot of publicity and notoriety. Verse 28: ... "And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout the entire region round about Galilee". Amen
Demonology.
And by the way, I have heard many people say, I do not believe the demonic realm and evil spirits and all that mumbo jumbo; well Jesus did, and Jesus set many a captive free; in fact it has been estimated that in Jesus’ ministry, 20% of his miracles were about casting out demons. That is all I am going to say about demonology and deliverance today.
William Wilberforce
To close, to bring this in for a landing, ... Jesus makes us strong in spite of our weakness, ... when we use his name. A great man of history for me was William Wilberforce, the man who abolished the salve trade. ... I personally have no idea how he achieved it, ... and add to this great fact, … he was a man low in stature, and under constant medical care, in fact he needed medicine just to keep him on his feet, ... yet in the name of Jesus, the Emancipation Bill was passed, and slave trading came to the end in the West Indies in 1833.
Jesus makes us strong in spite of our weaknesses, and keeps us going regardless. I love Philippians 4:13 which simply says: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me".
So in Jesus name we too can to all things, ... and so it makes sense then to end our prayers in Jesus name. Jesus is our Lord, he is our source, ... and through him we have the strength to keep on going when things get tough, ... we keep on going regardless; ... for His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.
Amen, let us pray.
Let us pray,
Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he is our salvation and that he is leading us to glory.
Father we thank you too, that Jesus suffered on this earth as we have suffered, and we thank you that through him you understand our anguish, our pain, our worries, our frustrations, … and our fear.
Father we bring our problems before you, we list them knowing you hear us, and understand ..., …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …,
Father we seek your help. ..., ..., ....
We seek your presence, ..., …, …, …, …, …, …, …, ….
We seek Jesus to thank him for giving us hope, … through his pain of this earth.
Father we also take this opportunity to pray for John Williams iii and his congregation, whose inspiration helped me start and complete this complex sermon.
Father, we humbly ask that you strengthen us, in Jesus name,
Amen.
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed by this sermon, or any of my sermons, I would be greatly honoured to receive an e-mail from you saying so; I like so many others need encouragement.
I often feel that to deliver a sermon one time to my congregation is such a waste; where as many more could be blessed by its message, after all, it is not for my glory but for his. I would therefore like my sermons to bless more people, preferably internationally and not only in a small part, of a small country called Scotland.
Simply let me know where you are in the world … and any other information you may want to share or be prayed for. I would also take it as a compliment for you to use my sermons in order to bless others in his almighty name. I do not even need acknowledged, but he does, and I will receive a blessing directly from him.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and I wish you "all the best" as we say in Scotland … and I pray that your endeavours in the Lord are equally blessed. Yours in Christ, Gordon McCulloch, Scotland.
Compiled By: Gordon McCulloch (Worship Leader),
St Oswalds Episcopal Church,
Maybole. Ayrshire.
Scotland. UK KA19 8KF
E-Mail: gccmcculloch @ aol.com or through Sermon Central
