Scripture: Mark 3:20 - 27 (reading Mark 3:7 - 27) Call to worship - Psalm 138
Theme: "You are the Son of God"
This sermon focuses on two main points 1. The Supernatural is Real 2. Jesus Is the Stronger Man (Messiah - Son of God)
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son - Jesus Christ - Our Savior and LORD who came to take away all of our sins!
Have you ever been so busy that you forgot to take lunch? Or else you have been so busy that there was not any time for lunch? I think we all have had such times. We have been at work and we got so caught up in finishing a project or working with a customer that before we knew it lunch time had already come and gone. Or else, we found ourselves having to finish something that we decided that today we would just skip lunch and perhaps get a snack at a later time.
After healing the man with the Withered hand the news of Jesus' ability to teach and to heal started spreading throughout the area. People began talking about what they had seen and heard. And why wouldn't they? When great miracles of God start happening people start talking. They invite others to come and be in on all the action. There is a basic human desire to see something unusual and supernatural happening; especially if that something is people getting freed from the bondages of sin and disease.
Verse 7 and verse 20 tell us that people were coming from everywhere to see Jesus. They either wanted to receive their own healing, a healing for a family member or friend or they wanted to hear Jesus share the Good News. There was something different about Jesus. He spoke differently than the Pharisees and the scribes. There was a supernatural authority in his voice and his words spoke deep into the hearts, minds and souls of those who heard him.
It was in the mist of all of this happening that Jesus began to organize his ministry team. We see in verses 13 - 19 how Jesus began to put this team together. St. Luke tells us that prior to all of this Jesus had a team meeting with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. After a night of prayer, Jesus gathered up his followers and chose 12 of them to be His Apostles (Luke 6:12). He gave these 12 disciples the power and mission to preach the Good News and to cast out demons. We also know later on that Jesus gave them the power to heal as well (Luke 9:1 - 6). These were not the only ones that Jesus would give such power but these were the ones that Jesus gave the calling of being an Apostle.
Jesus' ministry team was now set. He and the 12 would travel around the land of Israel, preaching the Gospel, healing people and casting out demons. The time for God's people to be rescued and redeemed was now a reality. God in flesh was walking among His creation, living with His people, teaching and freeing them from the penalty and powers of evil. The plan of salvation that began back in Genesis chapter three was now being realized. The power and presence of God through Jesus and His Holy Spirit was now in full swing.
Verse 20 tells us that even when Jesus went back to his own house the crowds kept following him. He and his disciples were kept so busy teaching, healing and casting out evil spirits that they barely had time to eat. St. Mark has this amazing way of sharing Jesus' story with us that includes these little tidbits of information. Jesus' ministry was not just going well, it was going so well that there was hardly time to take care of the simple things like lunch.
But all of this wonderful news did not go unnoticed by either those who humanly opposed Jesus or the Prince of Evil - Satan himself. When Jesus started healing people, casting out demons and pulling together a discipleship team, Satan knew that he and his kingdom were in trouble. That is part of the message that Mark shares with us here. It is a reminder to anyone who reads the Bible and who does their best to follow Jesus and Share the Good News that it is also very likely that they too will have to face some battles. Satan, the one that the scribes call Beelzebul was not give up without a fight.
St. Mark shares this passage to teach us some important truths this morning.
I. Jesus reminds us that we are dealing in the realm of the Supernatural
Jesus' extraordinary healing powers were clearly operating on a supernatural level. These healings and casting out of demons were something that was way beyond the ordinary events that happen in our physical world. Jesus was doing something that went way beyond physical science and medical treatment both in that day and in ours as well.
Some of the people that Jesus was helping were not merely suffering from some minor physical and/or mental conditions. While Jesus was healing broken bones, high fevers and the like there were other situations that went beyond the common diseases and illness of his day and even ours.
There were diseases, brokenness and problems that had a supernatural underlying nature. There was another force at work in these people's lives that was causing them problems and issues. This force was very dark, sinister and evil. It was doing its best to oppress and even possess these individuals. It was a power whose sole mission was to confuse, create chaos, enslave and eventually lead them to self-destruct physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The Bible tells us that these evil powers at work were non-physical powers. In other words they were demonic in essence. They originated from an demonic spiritual realm designed to destroy the physical lives of these people. Their basic nature was evil to the core. It was not their intention to bring new life, abundant life or newness to these people. It was their sole intent to break them and to make them behave in ways that are untrue to them being children of God and genuine human beings.
We have to understand this morning that humankind has an enemy whether that enemy is recognized or not. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve it was not to merely get them to rebel. Satan wanted to do more than confuse God's plan. Satan's intention from the very beginning was to destroy God's Good Creation. Satan's intention from the very beginning was to destroy mankind. It is Satan's desire to enslave men, women, boys and girls and cause them to live a life of suffering, pain, chaos, bondage, sickness and death.
Satan doesn't want to be our friend. He doesn't want to bring us enlightenment. Satan only seeks to harm us, to enslave us and to destroy us from the inside out. Satan's only goal for the earth is to turn it into Hell. Satan wants to make our planet His Hell - where the Presence of God is absent and where human beings and all of creation are on the pathway of total destruction.
I know that is harsh language and may make us feel uncomfortable. However, we need to fully understand that if Satan has his way then every man, woman and child on this planet would be enslaved to some addiction, they would suffer from some wretched disease and their lives would be utter Hell. And not just human kind, Satan would have the same thing happen to all of creation - every tree, every animal, bird, fish in the sea and creature that lives on our earth. Satan's sole intent is to turn God's Good Creation into a literally nightmare. That is how much Satan hates God, hates mankind and hates God's Good Creation.
Satan is not some philosophical idea created by Dante or by some ancient scholar living in a desert. Satan is the "prince of the air". Satan is Abaddon, the destroyer. Satan is the Father of All Lies. Satan is the Accuser of God's People. Satan is the ultimate consummation of all that is Evil. Satan is a fallen angel who has power over a legion of demons and does his best to enslave and torture human beings.
However, just being open to that way of thinking causes some people to recoil and reject passages like the one we read this morning. Their minds cannot conceive of a world in which supernatural events take place. Their minds can only see so called scientific facts and data. They can only conceive of what they can understand with their finite minds and physical senses. They want to deny the supernatural, the existence of a Good God of creation along with any idea of a Satan or a personification of evil.
And yet, we all know that there exists something that is sinister and dark in our world. We may want to deny it but when we hear about the vulgarity and viciousness of certain crimes we know that there must be something more than just man's depravity involved. We know it when we see the destruction that happens in the human body. We know that there must be more than just the aging process or the deterioration of human tissues and organs. We know it when we see the massive evils of greed, malice, hatred, perversion and the like. We know that there is something or someone lurking in the background pulling the strings and manipulating people. We may not want to say out loud what it is but the Bible doesn't hesitate. The Bible tells us plainly from the earliest chapters of Genesis to the last chapters of Revelation that this evil force is Satan and his legion of unclean spirits/demons.
We must understand that these evil spirits do not doubt their own existence. While we may think they do not exist, they know otherwise. They are also fully aware that they are working mischief and mayhem in our world. They are fully aware that they are doing their best to ruin mankind and God's Good Creation. They know their power but they also know what happens when they encounter the Son of God - Jesus of Nazareth - The Messiah - Our Savior and LORD!
Go back to verses 11 - 12. The Bible tells us that they were fully aware that Jesus - God in Flesh was on the planet. They recognized that Jesus was more than a man who could channel the power of God Almighty. They recognized that Jesus was in fact the One and Only Son of God. They were not strangers to Jesus. After all, they had once inhabited heaven where God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit reign and rule. They knew what it meant to at one time to worship Jesus with all their being. They knew what it meant to bow down before Him in honor and glory. But that was long ago. They are no longer those same angels. They have taken on the form of demons who hate Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. They hate anything that speaks of holiness, love and purity. And they hate God's Good Creation which includes all of us this morning.
What was happening here in this whole passage was Mark unveiling the reality of a spiritual war. A war for the restoration of God's People. Jesus laid down the gauntlet by appointing those 12 Apostles. They were to be the leaders of a New Movement - A New Exodus. A New Exodus that would free God's People from sin, death and hell. A New Exodus that would lead them to living out a New Life in Christ Jesus through being Born Again and being Infilled with God's Holy Spirit.
This supernatural war would culminate on the Cross of Calvary and Easter Sunday Morning. It was there that Paul tells us in Colossians 2 (2:13 - 15) that Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them. It was on the Cross that Jesus defeated sin, death and Hell itself.
We need to understand this morning that we too are involved in a spiritual battle. One that does involve God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the powers of evil. We need to understand that today some 2,000 years later that Satan, although defeated, will still do all he can to stop the Kingdom of God being fulfilled on our earth. Satan does not want the message of Salvation to be preached or received. Satan does not want our earth to become like heaven. His worst nightmare is for the Church of Jesus Christ to grow.
This morning, we need to understand that the tactics that Satan tried to use back then he still attempts to use today as well.
+Satan attempts to use a person's family and close friends to voice concerns over a person's mental condition if they line up too closely to Jesus
This very thing happened a few months ago to Vice President Pence when one of the co-hosts of the ABC daytime talk show "THE VIEW" cracked that the Vice President must be mentally ill if he thinks Jesus is talking to him. "It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you." (Joy Behar). "That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct. Hearing voices."
In our passage, Jesus was being targeted by his family and friends. They couldn't get it in their heads that Jesus was no longer a blue collar construction worker and was now a rabbi who was preaching, healing and casting out demons. It was just too much for them to grasp.
They couldn't understand why Jesus would give up his job as a carpenter, his home and want to go around preaching. After all, that's the job for a priest or a scribe. That is not the job of a man who has for the past twenty years or more been a construction worker. What about a wife and some grandchildren for Mary?
They couldn't understand why he chose such an odd team as well. His followers were fishermen, tax collectors and zealots. They were just common ordinary people. They were not elites, rich or powerful. What did Jesus hope to do with such a strange allotment of followers?
They couldn't understand why Jesus wanted to take on the Pharisees, the scribes and the religious rulers. Wouldn't it be best to leave them alone? These were powerful people Jesus was having major disagreements with. They knew what they were doing and they didn't like it when people messed with their little world. Jesus' family and friends had already seen the trouble John the Baptist had gotten into and they knew that if Jesus continued then he might get into the same kind of trouble himself.
Besides all of that, they couldn't understand all this healing and casting out of demons stuff. I mean when you start fooling around with the supernatural you better know what you are doing. People have been attacked by demons for messing with their kingdom. It's best to just leave them alone. Jesus was stirring up a hornet's nest. One that could not only destroy him but affect his family as well.
And so, perhaps more out of their own protection they decided that Jesus had to be crazy. Since they couldn't understand what was going on they either had to dismiss it or put it in the "He's got to be going crazy" basket. After all, they couldn't be blamed for what Jesus said or was going to do if they right up front told everyone - "Jesus is Crazy!"
Satan is no dummy. He knows that if he can get the people closest to us to get us to doubt our call, our faith or even our minds then it won't be long until we either quit or at least stop talking. The Devil tried to raise the stakes by getting Jesus' family to get him to quit all this religious business and go back to sawing wood and laying blocks.
Satan had lost the battle in the wilderness a few months back and now he comes with a new line of attack. If the family can't stop Jesus at least they can discredit him. After all, if Jesus is seen as mad by his family then how can he gain anything of a reputation and a following. Who follows a mad man? Especially, one that is being discredited by his family.
+Satan will also attempt to use those who should be at your side - your peers
When the family attack didn't stop Jesus, Satan used another attack. He got the scribes to be on his side.
Now, who were these scribes? Think for a moment of the Old Testament scribe Ezra. Ezra was seen as a man esteemed for his wisdom, for his ability to know the scriptures and for his close and intimate relationship with God Himself.
In the New Testament the scribes were people who spent their entire lives studying the Bible (Torah/Writings/Prophets). They were responsible for making sure that any new copy of the Bible was done with great precision and complete accuracy. Most of the scribes were Levites who served not only as Bible scholars but Temple priests as well. Scribes possessed great authority and if one was going to do anything in the spiritual realm then you had to have the backing of the scribes.
Who better to attack Jesus than the religious scholars of his day? The scribes didn't like Jesus. His mere existence was a threat. What would happen if the common people started to believe that God could use anyone to speak to them? What would happen if the common people came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God? What would happen if Jesus continued to heal and cast our demons? What would happen to them if this carpenter turned preacher got a real following?
After all, Jesus didn't have any college or religious degrees. He was not a part of their Religious Inner Circle. He had not spent years and years at their feet listening to their opinions and philosophies. Jesus had not bowed the knee to them and declared that they were the real mouthpieces of God.
And so, the attacked him. They lied about Jesus. They said that he was not a real man of God but the exact opposite. He was a charlatan. He was in fact a person who was himself full of the Devil. They told those around them that the only way Jesus could do all these healings, miracles and exorcisms was that he was in league with Satan - with the prince of Demons they called Beelzebul. Beelzebul was a demon that was seen as the most foul of all demons.
That was it. That was what was going on. Ask the scribes. They could explain it. Jesus was not only a fake, he was a devil. The scribes felt it was their job to contain him, confine him and stop him. After all, they saw themselves as the true spiritual light of Israel. In their minds there was no way that Jesus could be the Son of God. Therefore, he had to be the tool of Satan.
Notice how Jesus responds. He doesn't lash back at these scribes. Instead, he takes the time to show them their foolishness. If Satan were to cast out his own demons then he would be committing civil war and in the end his forces were be defeated that much quicker. When members of the same team start fighting with one another, it's the end of the team.
So, if Jesus is a tool of Satan then why in the world is Jesus casting out demons, healing people and preaching the message that the Good God of Creation is the Only God? Why is Jesus preaching that the Good God of Creation wants to rescue them, redeem them and enable them to be filled with His Holy Spirit? It makes no sense on the physical or the spiritual plane of existence. No one attacks his own troops and hopes in the end to win the war.
All of this leads us to understand Mark's Main Point -
II. Jesus reminds us that He is the Stronger One - He is More Powerful than Satan or any Demon.
Jesus takes this opportunity to not just discredit all the lies that are being shared about Him but to reveal once again His true identity. Jesus is not in league with Satan. The truth is the exact opposite. Jesus is the Stronger One that has been prophesied about since the fall of man. Jesus is the One who will defeat Satan and start the New Exodus for God's People. Jesus is the New Adam who will not only resist the temptations of Satan but will defeat Satan on the Cross.
Jesus is the One who will enable God's People to experience a true heart change. Jesus is the One who has come to bring New Life - Life from Above - Life that means that we get to live as our Heavenly Father has always wanted us to live.
Jesus' healings and particularly his ability to cast out demons were direct signs that God's Kingdom was arriving. What Israel had been looking for since the time of the Fall was now happening right in their midst. True freedom was now for the asking. It would not come through the Temple nor through the scribes or the Pharisees. It would come through God's Son - God in Flesh - Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
That same message is true today. The evils and the problems that plague our nation and our world today do not come from God, from Jesus or from the Holy Spirit. They do not even come from the hearts and minds of people. The evils and the problems that plague our nation are devised and planned by Satan and his horde of demons. While mankind willingly joins in league with Satan the truth is Satan is in the background doing all he can to bring chaos, confusion and death.
The only power to stop Satan and evil is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way for mankind to create a world full of peace, grace and unity. It will not happen through the United Nations or through democracy or through any other human institution. It will not happen through education, science or technology.
In fact, what we have seen over the years is how easy the Devil uses each of those things to make our world worse than it was before. Rather than mankind building a better world we are in fact destroying our world through greed, war and sexual immorality. The more we turn away from Jesus in our nation the worse it becomes.
The Devil even today is doing his best to discredit Jesus. Satan is busy trying to get our nation and our world to see that what is really wrong with everything is these "Jesus followers". They are the ones who hate, who divide and who don't want people to have a good time. They are the ones who don't want people to enjoy a life of prosperity, open sexuality and individual freedom.
All at the same time Satan's lies and manipulation are creating chaos, confusion, destruction and death all over our nation and planet. We are not better off without the Bible in our schools. We are not better off without prayer in our schools, our courthouses, our offices and places of commerce. We are not better off when people keep silent about their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and LORD.
We are better off when we announce to the world that Jesus Christ is King - that Jesus is the Savior and LORD of All. We are better off when we pray together. We are better off when we study the Bible together. We are better off when we stand up for Jesus. We are better off when we surrender our hearts, minds and souls to Jesus. When we do that we discover that we have a new freedom and a new joy. We discover that no longer do we have to bow to the will of evil or to Satan. We discover that in Jesus we can find true and complete freedom.
Today, we are seeing a small resurgence of the Church in America. People all around are waking up to the fact that our nation needs help. Help that cannot come from the government, from an influx of cash or from education. People are gathering in groups to pray, to intercede and they are beginning to share their faith. For years the number of churches closing outpaced the number of new churches opening. A couple of years ago a new trend started - there were more churches started than closed. Let me say that again - in the last few years there are more churches opening than there are churches closing.
Our Lord Jesus is far more powerful than the strong man spoken about in this passage. The one who enters into the strong man's house, ties him up and plunder's his goods is Jesus. He is the Stronger Man. Jesus is much more powerful than Satan. It is not even a contest.
When Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness - who won? Jesus!
When Jesus faced demons who were hurting people, causing them harm and enslaving them who won? - Jesus!
When Satan tried his best to destroy Jesus on the Cross - who won? Jesus!
Jesus walked out of that tomb - not a defeated foe but as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And it is at the name of Jesus that every knee on earth, under the earth and in heaven will bow.
This passage reminds us this morning that when we are on Jesus' side we are on the winning side. Sure, there will be battles. Paul tells us that in Ephesians 6 that we need to put on the whole Armor of God. We need to realize this morning that we are and will be in a battle for Christ. Jesus needs each and every one of us this morning.
+He needs us to tell the truth about Him, His Father and the Holy Spirit
+He needs us to surrender ourselves to Him and allow His Holy Spirit to cleanse us, renew us and continually infill us and lead us
+He needs us to be prayer warriors for our family, friends, for the lost and the unchurched
+He needs us to gather together to worship and praise Him like the angels do in heaven
+He needs us to live as "salt" and "light" for all those around us at work, at school, at home and everywhere we go
+He needs us to take the "church" outside the doors and reach out to the needy, those who are enslaved to sin and those who are being marginalized and rejected
+He needs us to tell our world that it can be free of sin - from addictions, from brokenness
+He needs us to enjoy living the life of a saved and sanctified person - growing more and more like Jesus every day
+He needs us to live an abundant life - for when we live like Jesus and for Jesus then we are the best witness possible for the Kingdom of God
This morning, as we close we do so in prayer. We come together to lift our hearts, our voices and our spirits to the LORD. We proclaim Jesus as our Savior and King. We pray for renewed strength, wisdom and knowledge. We pray together against the temptations and attacks of Satan. We pray together for salvation and for the infilling presence of God's Holy Spirit.
This morning as we close in prayer - allow Christ to come into your heart and live and forgive you of any sin. Allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse you and to pour His Spirit into your spirit giving you the power you need to live a godly life. Allow His Spirit to make all of us holy and unified today.
This morning as we close in prayer let us go to the One who can save us, sanctify us and renew us today!
Prayer Time/Benediction - Or Open Communion
