Freely, Freely, you have received.
Freely, Freely. Give.
Go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live.
But God required a man to step forward and voluntarily die for the rest of humanity. For God had declared earlier that sins had to be paid for by the shedding of blood. Jesus, a former carpenter, chose to be that man who would step forward and die in our place. He waited for guards to arrest Him, He endured a terrible beating and whipping, and He died, nailed to the cross.
And if we look at just that, out of context, we might say, “what difference did the death of another man make?” And ordinarily, that would be true.
But when we read the four Gospels, the books at the beginning of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – we get the entire story.
We find from Luke that Jesus’ birth was miraculous and there were angels sent by God.
We find from John that Jesus repeatedly claimed to be God or acted like God would act.
We find from Matthew that Jesus fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies, predictions made hundreds of years earlier.
And we find from Mark that Jesus performed miraculous healings.
And in all four of the Gospels, we read that Jesus died on the cross on Friday afternoon– and then came back alive early Sunday morning. Taken in context, we find that Jesus was not just a man, but was also God walking on the earth, a one-of-a-kind situation. This is why Jesus was called “the Son of God” or “God the Son”.
And so, Jesus was more than just a man – He was sent to be a living, breathing, walking messenger from God the Father. And His message was intrinsically tied up in the story of His birth, life, death, and resurrection. He lived on earth because God loves us and wants us to be close to God. All He asks is that respect be given to His Son – and by respecting God the Son, we respect God the Father.
Early in Jesus’ ministry, Mark tells us that Jesus went into a synagogue, a local Jewish house of worship. There was a man with a shriveled hand, which was very serious in that day when the vast majority of people were farmers who used hand tools to tend their gardens and fields. It meant that the man could barely work – his shriveled hand meant that he would soon have a body that shriveled up from starvation.
The day was the Sabbath, which meant it was Saturday morning, the Jewish day of worship. But the Law which Moses had brought down from God 1500 years earlier declared that no one was to work on the Sabbath. No one was to work from sundown Friday evening until after Sundown Saturday evening.
Jesus brought the man up front and asked the crowd. “Which is lawful ont eh Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But the crowd remained silent, afraid to say anything. Jesus grew angry at them because of their hearts. They had no compassion for the man. So Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand, which he did. The hand was now completely restored to its former strength. Jesus had healed it.
And Mark points us to the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders who were very strict followers of the Law. Mark says they began to plot how to kill Jesus. But crowds of ordinary people followed Jesus and He healed many people. And this is important: evil spirits came out of those who were possessed and cried out “You are the Son of God!” Soon after, Jesus appointed twelve of the men who followed Him to become students and eventually preachers.
And now we come to this week’s reading from Mark 3:20.
Jesus entered a house – such a large crowd gathered, Jesus and his disciples were not even able to eat. His family heard what Jesus was doing – preaching and healing people, no longer working as a carpenter, exorcising demons. And so His family decided to go to take charge of Him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
More Pharisees came down from Jerusalem and said that “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” And, on the face of things, this is a valid objection, for the ancients understood that there were demons, multiple demons and devils. These demons were said to have power just as the angels have power.
The source of Beelzebul is from 2 Kings 1, where the Philistines worshipped a god whose name was written as Baal zebub. Baal meant “Lord” or “Master”, and zebub meant flies. Baalzebul meant “Lord of the heavenly dwelling”, so many think this referred to the same Philistine god – but the writers of 2 Kings made a mistake to insult the Philistines, saying that, instead of worshiping a god that was the Lord of the heavenly dwelling, they worship a god of the flies.
By the time of Jesus, the words had changed slightly – and there had developed a popular idea that Beelzebul was one of the chief demons or devils, second only to Satan in power.
In any event, the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of being possessed by this demon, possibly because he broke the Sabbath law when he healed the man’s hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath. They said he had an “impure” or evil spirit. But instead, we know He had the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus responds with a logical argument. “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that house cannot stand…If Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.”
And then, Jesus speaks directly against the Pharisees. “Truly, I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
We have here a test of two supposed blasphemies. The Pharisees claimed that Jesus was blaspheming against God and was possessed by a demon. Jesus claimed that he was working by the Holy Spirit and the Pharisees were the blasphemers. Who was right? For many, the answer wasn’t resolved until Jesus was resurrected from the dead, proving that He had the endorsement of God.
Just as this argument was really getting hot, Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. The crowd relayed the message that his mother and brothers were there. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. He looked around at those sitting around Him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
It was a shocking statement, declaring that loyalty to God was more important than a blood relationship. But it is from this statement that we look at other people in the church as our brothers and sisters, at elderly wise women as our spiritual mothers, at elderly wise men as our spiritual fathers.
Let’s be honest. Almost all of us have relatives, sometimes close relatives that show little evidence of Christ or the Holy Spirit operating in their lives. And our hearts break for them. But we realize that it is other people in this room who grow close enough to us to know us better than our blood relatives.
Part of what this encounter was about was the question of whether or not Jesus was sane or crazy, operating for God or the devil. Each person must make up his or her own mind about this. In fact, we have a limited number of possibilities that arise when we read the Four Gospels.
First, Jesus claimed to be our Lord, worthy of being followed completely, rewarding us with eternal life, defeating death for all people who choose to follow Him.
Second, Jesus could have been crazy, even demon-possessed. But a look at his miracles shows that they always affirmed life – and never destroyed life. His miracles were about healing instead of demonstrating destructive power. And His resurrection proves that God endorsed Him.
Third, Jesus could have been a liar, claiming to be God’s Son, but just able to put forth a good lie. But then, we have to deal with the miracles and the Resurrection.
Fourth, Jesus could have been an excellent teacher, a wise man. But reading the Four Gospels shows us that there was much more to Him that just His teaching. We have to look at the miracles, the passions of the crowd about Him, and His Resurrection.
It is easy to dismiss Jesus when we don’t know the entire story. And so most people who reject Jesus are those who have not seriously read the Four Gospels. If you reject Jesus, let me ask you – have you seriously read the Four Gospels? Have you asked for a professional, experienced pastor to explain and answer questions you find when reading them? Or have you taken the lazy way out, depending upon what you’ve seen or heard on television or the movies, or taken the answers your friend gives you?
Imagine that you want to learn how to be a good golfer. You have a choice of teachers, your best friend from high school who once shot par at the local course – or a guy who lives in the next town over called “Tiger Woods”. After six weeks with your best friend teaching you, you will probably be able to get through a course and only shoot 10 over par. With Tiger Woods teaching you, you’ll probably beat your best friend and hit par or better every time. Find a Christian pro, not just a new, young Christian. Learn from the best you can find. But begin to learn soon so you can become strong.
It is an unusual facet of life that after age 23 or 24, our body gradually weakens. After we turn 30, we begin to be aware of this fact – after we turn 50, it is obvious to everyone. And many people think this is also true of our mind.
But this is not true of our spiritual condition – if we exercise our spirit and continue to study the will of God. The Apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4, says “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” In other words, our bodies grow weaker, but our souls are being renewed every day. We become stronger every day.
And it is not just something that happens. Paul continues and tells us the cause of our renewal. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
To Paul, our troubles are “light and momentary troubles”. And Paul understood troubles. He was beaten repeatedly for his preaching and left for dead. After dark, he would pull himself up and walk to another town. He was shipwrecked – remember that during your next auto accident. That evening a poisonous snake came out of the firewood and bit Paul. He survived – remember that when black snakes and copperheads crawl onto your porch. For years, he walked with a pain in his side – there were no wheelchairs - those of you with bad knees or hips should remember this. He worked for years to make and sell tents in the open-air marketplace – hard, work, using hand looms and hand sewing – remember that when your hobby sewing machine acts up or you have troubles in your air conditioned workplace.
Paul’s advice to us? “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed [meaning our body], we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
Our body is temporary like a tent. Our resurrected body is eternal, like a building built by God.
Why do we believe this?
According to Paul, “Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself.” We believe because we share a spirit of faith in Jesus Christ.
God raises us because; “All of this is for our benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. “ God’s grace – God’s free choice to give us the gift of eternal life is reaching more and more people every day, around the world, so thanksgiving will overflow to the glory of God.
Freely, Freely, you have received.
Freely, Freely. Give.
Go in my name and because you believe, others will know that I live.
The difference between those who follow Jesus and those who follow their own way is not very noticeable when we are young. But as we grow older and our bodies weaken, you will notice that some people’s character begins to shrink into fear and desperation – while other people’s character grows stronger, wiser, and more giving to others. It comes with practice – either of following Jesus and learning His ways – or following our own ways over the years.
And so, there is almost always a real difference in people by the time they reach their 70’s and 80’s. We can feel the difference when we meet them. And we have to remember that all people who claim to be Christian are not following Christ. For some falsely claim to be Christian, yet follow their own way – and give followers of Christ a bad name. These are the people who never found a Christian pro to teach them. These are the people who walked their own way – and so they rarely shoot par.
Find the Christian pros and learn from them. Take private lessons. And become a Christian pro. Even if you are in your 80’s, it isn’t too late to start becoming spiritually strong. And if you are in your 20’s or 30’s – you have time to become a Christian pro yourself, with a strong character, a strong soul and spirit, an understanding that will get you through the “light and momentary” troubles of life.
Part of that strengthening happens when we receive Holy Communion. The bread, which is the body of Christ, and the juice, which is the blood of Christ, combine with the Holy Spirit of Christ to strengthen us spiritually. And so, we will sing:
Post-Sermon Song: Come Sinner to the Gospel Feast 616
Holy Communion
Song: I come with Joy 617
Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit fill you and guide you this week, that you may do the will of God. Be blessed!
Closing Song – There is a Fountain 622
Go and Praise God all week long!
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