Mark 3:7-12

Mark 3:7-12  Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.  When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.  Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.  For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.  Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”  But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. 

Jesus commanded the demons not to announce that He was the Son of God.  He knew these demonic spirits understood who He really was because they were of the spirit world.  Jesus did not want them thwarting his mission on Earth by exposing him as the Son of God, for He first had to come as a son of the flesh.  Jesus had to taste of man's weaknesses and temptations before He could become the unblemished sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world.  To be the perfect acceptable sacrifice without sin or corruption, He had to live in the flesh by faith, listening to the Holy Spirit's words, relying on the Spirit's supernatural power, obeying the Father.  Jesus said, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  (John 6:37-38)  Jesus willingly laid aside his heavenly position and was born a man of the flesh, yet He was one with the Father.  Everything He did was according to God's will, for He always did what the Father told him to do.  He relied completely on God the Spirit to answer his prayers.  In today's passage, we see Jesus doing many wonderful acts to reveal God's grace and love to the people.  His ministry was so revelatory, dynamic and powerful that throngs of people gathered around him, seeking deliverance from their sicknesses and difficulties.  Many in this crowd sought healing; other wanted freedom from demon oppression.  Hungry souls gathered to hear Jesus' wisdom.  Many came just to watch this man of miracles, for no one from the beginning of time had done what Jesus was doing.  Regardless of why they were there, the pressure on Jesus from the crowd was so great that He asked the disciples to prepare a boat so He could escape the crowd, for He was mere man, and He wanted to keep the people from crowding him.  Of course, the people just followed him along the shore, for Jesus' works were so powerful and wonderful that the throngs of people followed him everywhere.  They looked for healings and miracles; they looked for signs and wonders. 

In these last days when knowledge is doubling every few years, people look for signs and wonders, but they do not look to God.  They look to man for the next invention, for the next breakthrough into cyberspace.  With unbelief taught throughout the world, we must have people full of the Holy Spirit to lead God's people, to tell them where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.  (See Romans 5:20)  With great darkness, there must be great light.  Without that light, this world will become darker and darker.  The elite of the world boldly champion unbelief as openly as they have ever done.  The world is as it was in the time of the tower of Babel when all people function under the auspices of one language: the computer language.  Man uses this language to discredit the idea of God, to laugh at the Neanderthals who still believe in the myth of a creator God who works in the lives of those who love him.  They want to bring down the very notion of a holy God who sent his Son to die for sinners.  Surely this new world would mock the calling to be a minister or a missionary to share the Good News with the world, saying such foolishness no longer belongs in modern culture.  But the Word says, When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.  (Isaiah 59:19)  As with the Tower of Babel, But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”  (Genesis 11:5-7)  Man's incessant drive to be God or Godlike is seemingly culminating in these last days.  Scientists everywhere seek to discover the essence of life, of matter, of time.  If man can find the foundational elements of life, matter, and even time, he can become a creator.  He can replace the Creator of all things.  He can sit on the throne of God.  This age-old desire to replace God still motivates man, for he has always been disgruntled with serving the holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Of course, the secular man laughs at such a conclusion, but do people really know the intents and purposes of their hearts and the spirit behind their drive to know all things and to erase God from every equation.  The Bible says the heart is deceitful and wicked.  Who can know it?  

What is the answer to darkness?  More light.  As Jesus walked the earth, He turned on the light in a dark and desperate world.  As He turned on the light, people flocked to hear his words and to see his deeds.  We need to turn on the light by fasting, praying, and answering Christ's call upon our lives.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)   People in the world look for a contrast with their lives.  We need fresh testimonies to share with them.  We need to be able to tell them about people healed of their sinful lives, people who are now clean and serving God because of the transforming light of Christ.  We need to be point to the lives of people who are physically, emotionally, and psychologically healed by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We cannot let darkness encase the church with unbelief as we yield power to a world that looks to the Internet for all its answers.  Instead, we need the lively work of the Holy Spirit evident in the lives of Christians.  We must let the Fruit of the Spirit reap a rich harvest in all believers of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)   Believers are not only to love those who love us: we are to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us.  Fighting and arguing with the world will not show God's love.  Self-sacrifice and servanthood show the image of God to the world.  Love breaks hardened hearts, isolates hate, and snuffs it out.  Love destroys loneliness, cares for the sick and dying, makes government work, and empowers people to do works of goodness.  Love breaks the backs of lawbreakers, brings children back to their parents, and brings true authority back into a society.  But God's love is always painful and will cost you something, usually something you don't want to do.  Discovering the essence of all things will not bring love to the world; only God will do this through Christ Jesus who illustrated true love on the cross.  As Jesus is the light of the world, we also must be lights in this dark world.  We must let the Day Star arise and shine, bringing God's love to his people.  

Mark 3:1-6

Mark 3:1-6  Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.  Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.  Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”  Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”  But they remained silent.  He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.  Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

When evil men do not get their way, they are completely vicious, looking for ways to retaliate, to get even with their enemies.  In the above passage, we see the Pharisees once again attempting to bring Jesus down in the eyes of the people.  We see them complaining about Jesus healing on the Sabbath.  They were complaining not because Jesus was doing good but because Jesus was violating the Sabbath, the rules of order in their religious world.  If Jesus could get away with violating the Sabbath, He could bring down their whole world of religion, which might mean their place of prominence in society would be lost.  The Pharisees could not tolerate his success as a healer or his popularity among the people, for they would lose not only their status but their livelihood if he drew away their followers.  They would lose their position of command, their place in front of the congregation, their special seats in every celebration.  The Pharisees could not allow this man Jesus to do something good on the Sabbath, for eventually such actions could mean death to their way of life.  Rather than looking at the man with the shriveled hand as a person in need and Jesus as a healer who could help him, the Pharisees looked at this situation as a possible opportunity to accuse Jesus of breaking the law if He were to meet this man's need on the day of rest.  They saw this as a chance to attack Jesus. 

Jesus was not concerned with the Pharisees' way of life, for He knew them to be hypocrites, pretending to care about God's laws when they were corrupt from the inside out.  Speaking of the Pharisees, Jesus once said, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  (Matthew 23:27-28)  Any integrity in their way of serving God had passed.  They had nothing to give to the people but a system of rules and law, lacking purity and goodness of heart and mind.  The Pharisees themselves had placed a heavy burden on the people with their customs and laws that they themselves did not follow completely, and when they did, their hearts were not right with God, for they satisfied the laws and regulations but they did not have a contrite and humble heart before the Creator of all things.  They were hypocrites, serving God for show and power, but not in spirit and truth.  They had lost their love for God and man.  As Jesus said, Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.  You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.  (Luke 11:42)  When the holiness of God came into their presence in human form, they were concerned, deeply concerned because Jesus threatened their way of life, and their only answer was to continually plot on how to remove this threat. In this instance, the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. 

The attitude of the Pharisees always stirred up anger within Jesus, for He knew their hearts, their fleshly ways, and their lack of dependence on God.  Jesus knew their lack of allegiance to God indicated they were full of themselves, full of pride, envy, and greed.  He knew they ruled the people with an iron hand, not out of service to God, but for their own needs: money, housing, and food.  This self-serving attitude often corrupts the religions of mankind.  People tend to serve God to get something from Him.  They do not serve God primarily because He deserves to be served: they serve him oftentimes to obtain a better, more secure life.  They will serve him as long as God adds something more to their lives: helps them get a better job, makes them healthier, provides them more peace, helps in making a happier family, and so on.  They serve him to avoid going to hell.  In this state of mind, they serve God only as long as everything in their lives goes well and in their favor, but as soon as rough spots occur in the journey, they will start to complain and blame God for the problems.  "Why did He allow me to get in this car wreck?  Why are my children sick?  Why did He not help me keep my job?  Why doesn't He make my wife or husband more agreeable?"  As with the Pharisees in the above passage, man's self-interest overrides the fact that we are to serve God regardless of our circumstances because this world is not our home.  The Pharisees were afraid Jesus was going to bring down their position in the Jewish society, but had they truly loved and trusted God, they would have rejoiced in Jesus doing good on the Sabbath.  They would have praised the Lord for healing the man's hand.  But because of the evil in their hearts, they plotted to kill Jesus, so they might maintain their position and authority in the Jewish community.  But Jesus knew their hearts, and He rightly judged their intentions.  Today each of us will have opportunities to share the love of Jesus.  Jesus said, The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.  (Luke 6:45)  May the overflow of our hearts spread the Good News: Christ Lives To Save!  

Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:23-28  One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat.  And he also gave some to his companions.”  Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

In the Bible, the Sabbath is the day of rest, as described fully in the Law of Moses: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (Exodus 20:8-11)  On this day people set aside their work to meditate on the Creator of all things.  They yield to God all the normal activities of life that require any labor.  In the Old Testament disobedience to the rules of the Sabbath brought death to the violator.  No tolerance was given to anyone who would dare to corrupt the day of rest.  In today's text from Mark, we see Jesus defending the actions of his disciples who had picked some heads of grain on the Sabbath by pointing to David's violation of the temple of God when he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread intended only for the priests.  Not only did David violate God's commandment himself, he brazenly gave some to his companions, causing them to sin.  David, a man after God's own heart  (See 1 Samuel 13), might be considered close enough to God to get away with such desecration but surely not his companions.  Jesus points out his own authority and position with God.  David was God's man of authority, chosen over stronger men in the natural at the time of his selection.  Because of his unique position, he could allow his companions to violate the temple rules by eating the consecrated bread.  How much more could the Son of Man allow his disciples the freedom to eat grain on the Sabbath for He is Lord even of the Sabbath.  

Yet in pointing to David before going on to speak of the Sabbath itself, Jesus is setting up the idea that God is interested in people: consequently, Jesus cares for the needs of people every day, even on the Sabbath, which is an ongoing issue with the Pharisees.  When Jesus healed the paralytic, rather than rejoicing in such an amazing miracle, the teachers of the law engage in an argument because Jesus said his sins were forgiven.  Even now, they look for something to trip up Jesus and his companions, something they can use to bring judgment down upon the heads of this man who seems to have special powers and insights.  But rather than arguing with these men with evil in their hearts and minds, Jesus boldly breaks new ground by declaring: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.  In this brief statement, He explains that people matter more that rules and regulations.  If someone is hungry, let him eat.  God made the Sabbath, his holy day of rest, and He created this day for his creation.  Even more importantly, the Lord of all creation stands before you now, the Son of Man.  I am He: Lord of the Sabbath.  He did not fear the censure or the judgment of humankind; He surely did not fear the censure or the judgment of his beloved Father in heaven.  Jesus, the bread of life, stood there in human form, holding out the love of God to a fallen creation; while those present worried about a few grains of wheat.  He must have grown weary at times in carrying out his mission, for He knew the heart of the Father and the salvation plan prepared for this people.  This same Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the Prophets: "They will all be taught by God." Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.  No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.  I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  (John 6:43-51)

Each of us must ask ourselves what we have been eating and drinking.  We have the bread of heaven.  We read in Revelation: the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  (Revelation 7:17)  Yet so often we try to satisfy ourselves with food and drink that will never satisfy: worldly refreshments that look so wonderful but lack any nourishment or refreshing for our souls.  Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven.  He says, If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  He also said, Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  (John 7:38)  The Bible goes on to say, He was speaking of the Holy Spirit.  Yet we take a small serving of the Lord on Sunday morning, hoping our spiritual experience will last all week.  For the next six days, we eat at many tables, like a bar hopper, feeding on the things of this world, wondering why we feel so dissatisfied, so parched and hungry.  When will we realize Jesus is our Sabbath rest, our daily rest, our abiding place?  The main reason his disciples could pick those grains of wheat was that they were with Jesus, in his presence, free from the law of sin and death, free from the bondage to doubt and fear.  They were under his protection and his provision.  We live beneath our privileges when we live outside of the Sabbath rest of Jesus.  Many scriptures come to mind when we think of rest, but one of our favorites is found in Matthew.  Jesus is speaking, and we believe He is speaking to each of us today: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)  It's a weary life, walking the journey alone outside of the Sabbath rest of Jesus.  You carry a heavy burden when you stop walking close to Jesus, no longer casting all your cares on him.  Today is the day to call upon him, to run to him.  He is waiting close at hand.  Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  (John 4:14)  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  

Mark 2:18-22

Mark 2:18-22  Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.  Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”  Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?  They cannot, so long as they have him with them.  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.  “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.  If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.  If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.”

Fasting is the practice of abstaining from certain activities that the body is in need of or desires.  Most often a fasting person abstains from food entirely for a specific period of time.  However, fasting can relate to abstaining from a category of food such as not eating desserts or from any activity that we find ourselves regularly doing such as giving up something we particularly enjoy as a sacrifice to God to discipline ourselves.  In the Old Testament, fasting was usually associated with repenting and turning back to God.  Sack cloth and ashes were often associated with the activity of fasting as a sign of humility and contrition.  Jesus said his disciples would fast when He was gone from them, and Christians down through the ages have carried forth that command.  When fasting, Christians should always be cognizant that the Spirit is present with them.  When Jesus taught his disciples about prayer, He also talked to them about fasting.  He said they should not make a show of their fasting because it was between them and God.  He said, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  (Matthew 6:16-18)  Christians do not need to call God down from heaven; they need merely to open their ears to the voice and the message of the Holy Spirit within them.  Fasting is a good time to reconnect to the Spirit's voice speaking God's message within us.  Many people say they cannot hear God's voice.  When we feel disconnected from God, that is the time to fast, to put away a certain activity, freeing time to concentrate on the will of God in our lives.  We must always be aware that our flesh usually wants to hear what we want to hear and not what God wants us to hear.  In those circumstances we tend to think God is silent, but He is always speaking to us.  We must learn to listen carefully.  A time of fasting might be necessary for us to open our ears to God's voice and his perfect will.    

After explaining his disciples will fast when He is taken away, Jesus speaks of our new life in the Spirit by talking about two subjects they would understand: one does not sew a patch of new cloth on an old garment; neither does one pour new wine into old wineskins.  Such errors would cause a worse tear in the garment, and the old wineskin would burst from the pressure of the wine.  Likewise, God is looking for people who are renewed in spirit and truth to receive the Holy Spirit.  We do not pour the Holy Spirit into our old ways of doing things or our old ways of worship.  When we fast, we are not fasting to repent; we are fasting to rejoice in God's presence, to yield our lives to our Lord and Savior.  We are seeking more of God, not trying to find God.  We are saved by grace and cannot win his favor by our good deeds.  God's Spirit is described as living water, flowing from the innermost parts of our beings.  Otherwise, He is an active presence in our spirits.  He is not waiting to ferment: He is flowing, He is active.  He is needed to satiate the needs of the community, the living body of Christ, the church of God.  Fasting is a process of knowing God better, knowing his will.  Fasting is opening up our lives to his activity, to his purposes.  Often, when we feel spiritually stagnated, we are not aligned with God's purposes in our lives.  We are starting to live by knowledge rather than by faith.  The Bible indicates God desires people of faith, for only faith pleases God.  Faith is for new garment people, new body people.  Faith is a reaching out to do God's will.  When our vision ceases, we need fasting and prayer; for faith is fading; God's voice is fading from our ears.  He has not stopped speaking, but worldly voices are crowding out his still small voice.  Jesus said, they will fast, and his disciples did fast and pray, seeking the Holy Spirit's leading and God's direction.  When they went into new territory they fasted.  They wanted God's voice to lead them, not their own.  They wanted God's vision, not their own.  Fasting is a process of reconnecting to God's will in our lives.  It is a time for his work in our lives.  When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus about the armor of God, he said, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  After fully describing their sufficiency in Christ, he ended by saying, And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-11 & 18)  Prayer in the Spirit holds everything together for believers.

Now, we often fast in our lives.  When we set aside a certain amount of time for God, we are fasting our time.  When you sit through that long sermon and your flesh desires to do something else or be someplace else you are fasting.  You have set that time aside to hear from God.  When you turn off the television and pick up the Bible to hear God's voice you are fasting.  When kneeling at your bedside to pray, you are fasting.  When you talk to a friend on the phone about God rather than doing your own thing, you are fasting.  When you write an email to a relative or friend about the goodness of God, you are fasting.  A Christian's life is full of fasting.  Paul said that we should be praying always.  He told his Christian brethren that he prayed for them always.  We should be meditating always, thinking upon the goodness of the Lord, thanking him for his blessings, praising him for answers to prayer and for the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We should be thinking about God continually.  All of these activities are setting aside our lives for the life of God.  We are dying to our wishes and needs for the purpose of fulfilling God's plan for our lives.  We are in a constant mode of fasting.  Jesus said his disciples WILL FAST.  We too WILL FAST if we follow the will of God for our lives.  And yes, there should be times when we give up something purposefully unto the Lord.  We should fast for a day, or fast a meal and spend that time praying for others or listening for God's direction in our lives.  We are a privileged people, a chosen people, most blessed.  No wonder Paul said,  Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:4-7)  Bless you today dear friends!  

Mark 2: 13-17

Mark 2: 13-17  Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.  As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.  While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

All of us who partake of this breakfast fall under the label the Pharisees used to describe Jesus' dinner companions as "sinners" and tax collectors.   However, we do not draw back from this appraisal, for we praise the Lord Most High that He found us in this category and lifted us up through the shed blood of his precious Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.  For Jesus came for us: the sick, the needy, the broken of heart and spirit, those bound by sin and shame.  However, He came not only for us but for the whole world.  The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Therefore, all of mankind needs THE DOCTOR from heaven for all are terminally sick with the disease of sin; but God in his mercy sent us Jesus, the Savior, the BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR, THE LIGHT OF WORLD, to be the propitiation for all of mankind's sin.  Because of Jesus and his work on the cross, we can all come into harmony with the creator God and receive his grace gifts.  He makes saints out of sinners.  He makes orphans his children.  But without Christ, we are still sinners without hope.  No man can come to the Lord in his own sufficiency, through his own good deeds, by his own righteousness.  The Bible's primary message to all of mankind is that we humans need a Savior to be in right relationship with God, and God made a salvation plan from the beginning of time.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.  (John 3:16-21)

God is perfect, and He demands perfection from everything and everyone.  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:48)  We know we are not perfect, neither is everything in the world perfect, for the sin of all mankind has entered into the world, bringing corruption and death.  But still we who are human must be perfect if we are to see God.  We know heaven and Earth will pass away someday, but the Word of God will still abide.  The Word of God will still be present in the amorphous ethereal.  The Word is and was and ever shall be.  We will exist with God for eternity as long if we are perfect.  Each on of us must realize our perfection rests with God and his Son, Jesus Christ through the divine unction of the Holy Spirit.  In the triune God we abide: we live and breathe perfection for we are like them.  At this time, on this earthly journey, just as Jesus called Levi, we are asked by Jesus Christ himself, “Follow me.”  Following Jesus means yielding to him completely, trusting in his perfect will, knowing his plans are best for us.  When we walk in the light of the Lord we have no fear of the past because we have put our past under the blood of Jesus.  We do not fear today because today we are walking by faith and not by sight.  We may face trials, sorrows, disappointments, and the like; but hidden with Christ in God we look to our Savior, keeping our eyes on our high calling in Christ Jesus.  We remember who we are: sinners saved by grace and who He is: Lord of All!  We remember what Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.  (Matthew 16:24-27)    

We know when Jesus called the tax collector, Levi, the epitome of unjustness and corruption, Levi did not question why Jesus called him or where he was going.  Levi simple got up and followed him.  We sinners around this table this morning receive a daily command of "follow me."  Others might wonder where we are going or why we hang around with such a bunch as we are with this morning.  But we know the commands of our Lord are always for our best interests.  We know that we have inherited the riches of God's kingdom and we look to life eternal with him.  The Bible says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  (Romans 8:14-17 KJV)  As dearly loved children, we belong to the family of God, the family that has created all things, for without the Father nothing has been created.  John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  (John 1:1-3)  IN AND THROUGH CHRIST we have inherited his righteousness, his likeness.  The Bible calls us saints, God's children, on many occasions.  We must always remember our calling:  I AM IN CHRIST JESUS WHO GIVES ME WISDOM, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION.  He has done the work that we could not do for ourselves.  Praise him forevermore!  To all that be [at this breakfast table], beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Romans 1:7)