Mark 1:35-39

Mark 1:35-39  Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”  Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.”  So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Jesus came to the world to implement God's plan of reconciliation: to preach the Father's salvation message, to die on the cross, to arise from the dead, to defeat the consequences of sin, which is death.  His daily mission consisted of speaking the words of God, casting out demons, comforting the poor, and healing the sick.  Jesus was compelled to do God's will.  After healing a blind man, Jesus told his disciples, As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.  (John 9:4)  In today's passage, He tells the disciples, Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.  Jesus understood his calling and his mission, his purpose for living.  He could not waste time satisfying every request of every community.  He needed to move on, for there were throngs of people who needed to see the works of God and to hear the words Jesus came to speak to a fallen people.  At all times He had to be about his Father's business, his Father's will, not his own.  The same heart that beat in the boy of twelve who remained in the temple when his parents started back home beat ever more strongly in the body of Jesus now fully committed to his earthly ministry.  When his parents questioned him about causing them concern, He answered, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  (Luke 2:49)  Just as He expected his parents to understand, He now looks for understanding from his closest friends.  Did they not know every unction of the Spirit was his command to implement the perfect plan of God within a short period of time?  His Father had scripted his life with every step directed by the Holy Spirit.  Had they not heard words such as these: For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  (John 6:38)  All else, was mundane, unimportant, irrelevant to who He was and to his mission.  

As we view the life of our Lord and Savior, believers must ask ourselves, What has scripted our lives?  What drives our daily existence?  The answer to these questions remains vital to our spiritual wellbeing if we are to live lives with an eternal purpose.  The Bible says, people in general behave as wayward sheep.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.  (Isaiah 53:6)  We wander about without a plan, without a purpose, without a shepherd.  We live self-willed, self-absorbed lives, rarely asking the Lord where He wants us to be and what He wants us to accomplish for him and his kingdom.  We wander where our fleshly lusts and desires take us; we do what seems natural or enjoyable to us.  But there is a better way to live our lives, more systematic, more purposeful, more authentic, more satisfying.  Christ described a better foundation for living.  Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”  Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  (John 6:28-29)  In this scripture, Jesus focussed on the reason for our existence: to do the will of God, which entails putting our total trust in Jesus Christ and his works.  Later, as James relates so well, we put feet and action to our foundational belief.  Every day, we live purposely the life of faith God has implanted in our souls through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We put our trust in the fact that we are IN CHRIST and HE IS IN US.  Living no longer as slaves to sin and death; we are now free to do the will of the Father.  We do not go out in our own strength because we know that Jesus said, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  (Acts 1:8)  Not only do we have this power, God gifts us with many spiritual blessings.  Jesus also promised: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  (John 14:27)  We live as sheep planted by still waters and feeding in green pastures.  We know our reason for existence; we are at peace with life, strengthen by our Lord, the Great Shepherd of the sheep.

When Dad questions God about his reason for living, he always hears the same thing in his spirit: "I have work for you to do."  Of course, our friends in Christ, He  has work for each of us to do.  Jesus summed up his life by saying He had work to do and He had to be on the move.  He said, "That is why I have come.”  Recently, Mom felt the Holy Spirit spoke to her, "Be ready."  She thought this meant she should be alert for what God wanted to do in her life, ready for opportunities to share her faith, ready for unexpected happenings, ready to listen to what God might speak to her heart.  Dear friends, what does God want you to be ready to do for him?  What work does He have planned for you to do?  Is the Spirit saying to you, Let us go somewhere else; we must hurry and obey the Father's voice?  I am sure this voice is deep within you.  Christ has a purpose for your lives, and it is probably much more than you have envisioned for yourselves.  Get up, disciples, move, we must be about our Father's business.  God bless you for your willing hearts and your listening ears.  May He greatly bless your efforts today.  The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  (Luke 10:2)     

Mark 1:27-34

Mark 1:27-34  The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this?  A new teaching — and with authority!  He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”  News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.  As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.  Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.  So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up.  The fever left her and she began to wait on them.  That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.  He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. 

Jesus validated his messiahship by healing many people of their sicknesses and by driving demons from the possessed.  The Bible indicates Jesus did that which no man from the beginning of time had done.  Along with his miraculous deeds, He taught as a man of authority, as one who knew God in reality.  Jesus' ministry impressed the Galileans by his deeds and by his words.  They followed Jesus everywhere.  In the above text, they gathered at Peter's mother-in-law's door, beseeching Jesus to meet their needs.  Jesus, as God's hands, did meet many of their needs, and many of them became his followers because of his powerful ministry to them.  However, there is a difference between being a follower and a born-again believer.  The latter requires faith in Jesus Christ's vicarious work on the cross; the former follows Jesus for the fishes and loaves, what they can receive from him.  People who want something will walk many miles with Jesus as long as they believe they will benefit from doing so.  Jesus knew many people wanted only what He could give them.  In one instance, He said: I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.  Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.  (John 6:26-27)  The Bible says, only faith in Jesus Christ's saving works opens the door to God's domain, to his eternal blessings.  This transforming faith is not based on what we can get or on what we perceive around us: saving faith is based on believing that GOD IS and that He is a giver of eternal life through his Son.  This kind of faith is not based on our natural senses or on our knowledge of the world around us.  Faith in God through Jesus Christ is not based on empirical knowledge or evidence.  We believe God because we have a personal relationship with him through Jesus Christ.  

Notice, how Jesus would not let the demons respond.  They knew who Jesus was, understood his identity.  Their reaction to Jesus was based on their empirical knowledge of the spirit world: they knew Jesus was the Son of God, the creator of all things.  Of course, we humans are not like the demons; for they have been present with God in the spirit world and know God through observation and experience, and we have not had that experience.  God's plan for adding new members into his intimate family comes through the door of faith, blind trust in Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind.  The demons knew Jesus empirically, but that knowledge doesn't open the door to God's heart; only unmitigated faith in Jesus accomplishes that reality.  Jesus would not let the demons talk, for they would spoil God's plan by convincing people of the reality of God through knowledge.  Surely, the demons could have convinced many of God's true existence if they would have been allowed to babble.  But Jesus wanted to usher in God's plan: unadulterated faith in Jesus Christ's birth, death, and resurrection without the empirical evidence to back it up.  The demons' understanding of God would never open the door to God's holy family, never lead to eternal life with Father God.   Only the beloved of God, washed in the blood of Jesus, children of faith, have that privilege and inheritance.  We read in the Word that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  We also learn that without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.  (Hebrews 11:1 & 6 KJV)  This is the faith of the children of God, a persevering, steadfast belief that never fails. 

Therefore, breakfast companions, how should we live?  We should live as those who know they have attained this privileged and blessed position with God.  As his children, we should reflect the family spirit of God, the likeness of Jesus, who came to reveal the Father.  Because God is good, we also should reveal his goodness in an evil world.  He is longsuffering, patient, generous, and kind.  The world should see his attributes in us.  The Holy Spirit should reap a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  We cannot ignore scriptures that tell us clearly how to live: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  (1 John 4:7-11)   This is the love of the Father to love completely and unconditionally.  God's love in us translates into a life of godliness and servanthood.  But we cannot love as God loved or serve sacrificially as Christ served on our own, through our own strength.  We love and serve through the power, strength, and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Faith makes us willing to put the flesh down and to lift Christ up.  We must recognize our flesh wants preeminence and will lead us into darkness, but when we allow the Holy Spirit to lift up Christ in our lives, He brings us into his glorious presence and fills our lives with his light and his love.  We read in the gospel of Matthew the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah: the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.  (Matthew 4:16)  That same great light has shined on every believer to this very day who has accepted Christ as Lord and has come out of the darkness into the light.  Therefore, we should strive to bring his image, his goodness, and his words, into our plans, our conversations, and our actions.  Yes, we are born with the nature of Adam, but we have been born again as new creatures through Christ Jesus into the family of God with the Holy Spirit abiding within us.  We break Adam's stranglehold on our lives by serving others, by loving the unlovely, by forgiving our enemies, by praising God forevermore. The more we love others, the less we will battle our self-nature.  We have the victory through Christ in us our hope of Glory.  Glory to God in the highest.  Peace, good will to all people!  

Mark 1:21-26

Mark 1:21-26  They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.  The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.  Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are — the Holy One of God!”   “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”  The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 

Jesus taught them as one who had authority not as the teachers of the law.  The teachers of the law taught about material they learned.  Jesus taught from his inner being, from his essence, from his intimate experiences and relationship with his Father, God.  Jesus tells Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.  I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man.  (John 3:11-13)  Later on in the third chapter of John, we see John the Baptist instructing his disciples about Jesus: “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth.  The one who comes from heaven is above all.  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.  (John 3:31-32)  Jesus not only taught differently from the teachers of the law, He revealed his power and authority through his miracles.  No wonder the demons everywhere in Judea recognized him as the Holy One of God!  They knew He had all power to control all things, and that their existence was literally in the hands of the Son of God.  Jesus came in the authority of the Father to do his will and to complete his plans.  From the time we hear Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray when He says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, (Matthew 6:9-10) until we see his agony in the garden when He prays, My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done, (Matthew 26:42) we know Christ came to do the perfect will of God.  We know He will not waver; He will not turn off the pathway to the cross.  He came to die for our sins.

Today, believers sometimes get confused about spiritual authority, placing their trust in people who dress in a way that indicates holiness or authority in this world, or individuals who speak dynamically or with biblical knowledge, or people who perform amazing healings, or performers who play instruments or write music or sing in an "anointed way."  Believers oftentimes behave as sheep without a shepherd.  They look for the latest book, speaker, or revival meeting in a far off place to support their spiritual lives.  "If I could just go to Florida, then I could receive special prayer and financial blessing."  "I hear there is an evangelist in Southern California with a special gift.  I know God would touch me in his services."  People look for something outside of their natural environment--something different or out of the ordinary.  People even attend large churches, believing God's authority must be there or the congregation would not be so large.   Surely, God's authority must rest more in a church of six thousand parishioners than a church of sixty.  But, all of these considerations or evaluations are generally based on fleshly ideas, self-centered ideas.  We read a report recently that the head of one of the large healing ministries on TV when questioned by an investigator was not able to document even one healing with medical records of a person's physical status before and after the so-called healing.  Yet this person influences people's lives all over the world, telling them he has a special anointing and claiming people are healed of various diseases in his services.  The spotlight is on him, people flock to receive his touch.  

Jesus knew who He was, but He depended on the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  He knew the voice of God in the flesh because He had emptied himself and had become as we are.  The gospel of John says, The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. . . (John 1:14)  As fleshly human beings, we must also have the same awareness of the Spirit or we are like Nicodemus and the other teachers of the law, saying what we learned and not what the Spirit is saying to us in a contemporary, extemporaneous way.  We will be like actors playing out a script, repeating what has been written for us rather than what the Spirit has revealed to our innermost beings.  The experience of Christianity confounds the most rational and wise among us, for Christianity is based on faith alone.  Christianity must be a foundational reality in our thinking processes, in our spiritual DNA.  The Bible calls us a new creature, created in Christ.  Our faith cannot be a mere longing or a desire to go to heaven based fear of death.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.  (Hebrews 11:1)  

Yes, Jesus performed miracles, but his homilies were often confusing, for He spoke in parables, in metaphors: become fishers of men, drink of my blood, eat of my flesh.  His sermons often were misunderstood by his disciples.  His words sometimes confused his own followers.  The miracles were fine and wonderful, but they were not sufficient for the apostles when they would face their own violent deaths.  They were not able to comprehend what Christ had done in the miracles.  Following the miracle of feeding thousands of people with a few fish and seven loaves of bread, the disciples are in a boat with Jesus and they think Jesus is upset because they have only one loaf of bread.  Jesus says, Why are you talking about having no bread?  Do you still not see or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?  Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?  (Mark 8:17-18)  They needed something more than just information they had learned in the temple or inspired words they had heard.  They needed something more than the miracles they had witnessed.  They needed the still, small voice of the Spirit that abode with Christ through his whole ministry.  They needed the authority that resides in each believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Each of us will wander and fail without this authority in our lives: God's living Word as the Holy Spirit gives unction and power.  No other life will suffice; no other substitute will anchor our souls.  No church, no song, no word, no book, no person, no holy man: only the still, small voice of the heavenly dove will lead God's children along.  When the soldiers were paid to lie and say that the disciples had come in the night and taken Christ's body away from the tomb, the eleven went to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them for ministry.  And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.  (Matthew 28:17-20 )  Go in his name and his authority!