The Spirit of Rejection

Mark 9:38-41.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 26, 2020.

The title of this sermon does not use the term “spirit” in the sense of a spiritual being, or demon.  Instead, I am using it in the sense of an attitude, a temperament, or a disposition that overwhelms a person.  How easy it is for us Christians to cop an attitude that is too quick to reject others.  This can go many directions, but we are going to see that such an attitude is not one that Jesus had.

Last week, we mentioned how this chapter hinges on the issues of acceptance and rejection.  The religious leaders were already in the middle of rejecting Jesus and would execute him because they did not want to surrender their leadership of Israel.  The disciples of Jesus did not understand that their desire to be the greatest of his followers was of the same “spirit” as the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Their desire to be great would keep them from treating other believers properly.  Jesus had told them that if they did not turn from such a path and become like little children then they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  This issue is clearly very important to Jesus.

The principle that Jesus laid down is this.  To receive the least person in his name is to receive him, which also means, to reject the least person in the name of Jesus is to actually reject Jesus and the Father who sent him.  In that passage, the least of believers in your own group is immediately what was in view.  However, today’s passage clarifies that Jesus intended the scope to be far greater.  There are many believers throughout this world and it is easier for us to recognize that God’s work on this earth is greater than any one group of Christians, be it a local church, a network of churches, or a denomination.  However, they did not have such divisions in their day and the Gospel was not so wide spread.  The disciples did have a clear understanding of who was in their group of 12 and the greater group of 70 that Jesus had given power to minister in Israel.  Today’s story is about a man who was not a part of this group of disciples.

Now, let me just say up front that there are those who pretend to be believers, but are false apostles and false teachers.  They should be rejected.  That is not what is happening in this story and it is not what Jesus is forbidding.  So, let’s learn the lesson our Lord has for us today.

Don’t reject Christians just because they are not from your group

If your Bible uses paragraph headings then it might label this section something like, “Jesus Forbids Sectarianism.”  I think the word “sectarianism” falls short of what Jesus is saying, and yet, I am hard pressed to come up with a better word.   So, I have described what Jesus is teaching in a longer form.  Don’t reject other believers simply because they are not from your group of believers.

Churches can be cliquish towards believers who are not a part of their church, denomination, or theological persuasion.  I purposefully used the word “just” in my description of this main point because Jesus is not teaching that everyone outside of their group is to be accepted.  Make sure you caught what I said in that last sentence.  There is nothing special about being other.  The problem is that we can reject people with a knee-jerk reaction that is typically self-serving, based on pride, and sometimes because we want to be great, mainly because they are other.

As Jesus is talking, John brings up a situation that they had run into when Jesus was not with them. They had run into a man who was successfully performing the miracle of casting out demons, or an exorcism.  It is important to recognize that the man was doing this “in the name of Jesus.”  This phrase is a direct connection to the previous story, which also employs this phrase, but we will come back to this.

John explains that they had told him to stop performing these miracles because, “he didn’t follow us.”  I believe that the “us” here includes Jesus.  They are not emphasizing themselves excluding Jesus.  Rather, they recognize that this is not a person who has been a part of the group of disciples who followed Jesus.  Now, we should not make a bad judgment either way, overly to the man’s good or to his bad.  It is a valid question to ask why this man who clearly believes that Jesus has power over demons isn’t actually following him.  He has clearly seen Jesus cast out demons and has probably heard some of his teachings.  Yet, he is seemingly off on his own doing his own thing.  John proclaims that their concern was his lack of following Jesus, but it is not clear why this is a problem. 

Why is that bad?  They may see him as a loose cannon who is not under the direct control of Jesus.  Or, perhaps this is simply a matter of pride.  He did not get an official authorization from Jesus like they did.  The truth is probably a mixture of many such motivations.  The disciples had been able to cast out demons when Jesus had sent them out in groups of two to the towns of Israel.  Yet, in verse 18 of this chapter, they had failed to cast out a particular demon that was more difficult.  I don’t know if that failure happened before or after their interaction with this man.  If it happened before then maybe their pride is injured and they are taking out on this man.  If it happened afterwards then maybe God is trying to help them see that their pride is not good.  Regardless, we should recognize that when it comes to religious issues, Christians and Christian leaders do not always have pure motives behind what they do.  This is just as true for me as it is for others.  We must work hard to restrain our quick reactions no matter how we can justify them.  Like David, we must take time to ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and to help us make right decisions for pure reasons.  It was not the Holy Spirit that was leading them to shut this man down.

Jesus then tells them that they should not stop this guy or anyone like him.  He gives several principles that can help us to navigate these waters.

He starts by saying, “No one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me.”  Notice the qualifier, “in my name.”  The Old Testament warns about people who may perform a miracle and yet lead people away from God, i.e. false prophets.  That is not what is happening here.  The man is crediting Jesus.  In fact, he is using the authority of Jesus to cast out the demons.  He is taking a stand against the evil kingdom of Satan in the name of Jesus.  He is clearly a believer that Jesus is the Messiah and that the power of God is with him.  Perhaps, he is one of the disciples of John the Baptist who were not quick to walk away from John and follow Jesus, and yet, knew that John declared Jesus as the Messiah.  Jesus emphasizes that a miracle that is done in his name, or for his glory, can only be done through a person who is legitimately believing in Jesus.  Miracles are not that easy to do.  In fact, no one “does” a miracle.  The reality is that, when a real miracle happens, the power of God does the miracle through those who are acting in faith in Jesus.  It is not possible for someone who, first, has a relationship with Jesus marked by bold faith, and, second, is clearly recognized by the presence of the power of God, to quickly turn walk away from him, i.e. apostatize. 

Notice that he does not say it is impossible.  Rather, that it is not easily done.  The name of Jesus is not some kind of magic word or spell that makes evil spirits obey you.  It is our relationship with Jesus that those demons recognize and fear.  The disciples were physically with Jesus most of the time, and this man was not.  Yet, are not we in the same position as him?  None of us have physically sat at the feet of Jesus and received his teaching and authority to minister on his behalf.  We follow Jesus in the same way that this man was “following Jesus,” by faith.  A person who is following Jesus by faith and even exercising that faith boldly will find that the Holy Spirit will help them and work through them regardless of how good their credentials are.  We must understand that a person can be saved in the morning and be used mightily by the Holy Spirit in the afternoon because they have a real relationship with Jesus by faith.

The next phrase that Jesus gives is this.  “For he who is not against us is on our side.”  This is different from the common maxim, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” which Jesus never taught.  It emphasizes not the enemy, but Jesus himself.  Those who do not fight against Jesus and his disciples should be treated as being on our side, even if they aren’t physically with us because Jesus is greater than our group, and is not limited to our group and the ways he is using us.

The last phrase is interesting because it speaks beyond the issue the disciples were dealing with here.  Basically, Jesus promises that those who bless someone who belongs to Christ in his name, that is as a believer themselves, will be guaranteed a reward from him.  We are not sure if the man was successfully shut down by the disciples.  Did he go home despondently and quit?  Or, did he wait until they left and then continue what he was doing before?  We don’t know.  Jesus is telling his disciples that they should quit trying to treat the man like an enemy.  Jesus would reward that man just as surely as he would reward them. 

In fact, there is a bit of a twist in the way Jesus words this.  The man was actually blessing people (when he cast out the demons) who were in bondage to demons.  They were not believers in Jesus.  Christians often get hung up on one side of this or the other.  We are either quick to accept the lost and yet struggle with our relationship with other believers, or we are good at accepting other believers, but struggle with helping the lost.  The disciples could have blessed this unknown brother and encouraged him in what he was doing.  However, they missed out on a reward that day.  Their desire to be great in Christ was actually diminishing the reward that they would receive from him.  Wow, take some time to think about that one.

Let me close this by challenging us.  What spirit is animating my words and actions towards the lost, and towards other believers?  Of course, we want to quickly say that it is the Spirit of the Lord.  Yet, it is often a mixture.  We want to please the Lord, like those disciples did, but we also have other motives floating around our heart that are less pure.  Pride, the desire for greatness, envy, jealousy, strife, such things can cause us to be harsh towards one another when we shouldn’t be.  The disciples were rejecting the ministry of this man that they didn’t know.  They may have told themselves that they were doing this for Jesus, but the truth is that they were doing it for themselves. 

May God help us to be humble before Him, but also to be humble before all those who name the name of Christ.  It is not my job to police everyone who appears to be doing stuff for Jesus.  They are his servant and will stand or fall before him.    We are not in a contest against each other, but rather a battle against the forces of darkness that is directed by Christ himself in ways that we do not always understand.  Beware a spirit of rejection that tries to control how people are working for Christ without the true leading of his Holy Spirit.

Rejection audio

The Rewards of Faith

Mark 7:24-30.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 17, 2019.

We have been following Jesus throughout the Gospel of Mark as he traveled the different regions of Israel.  Today, we find Jesus leaving Israel and going into a Gentile country.  It is not explicitly stated why he does so, but it seems to be hinted at within the passage.  It appears Jesus is trying to get away for a brief period where he can have some alone time with his disciples.  Yet, as can often be the case, it was not to be.

In this story we find a woman who is desperate and, when she hears that a man is in her area who might be able to do something about it, she is not willing to give up easily.  Let’s look at the story.

A Gentile woman seeks deliverance

As I mentioned earlier, verse 24 tells us that Jesus “wanted no one to know” that he was in a house in the region of Tyre and Sidon.  This is a substantial distance from the Galilee area in what we would call Lebanon today, but was referred to as Phoenicia during ancient times.

A woman who has a daughter who is harassed by an unclean spirit, or demon, hears about Jesus through the inevitable grapevine that all regions have.  It is important to note that the impact of the ministry of Jesus had reached even areas beyond Israel.

We are told that this woman was a Syro-Phoenician by birth.  Yet, she is also called a Greek because it is a reference to cultural practices.  Most regions of the Middle East had been Hellenized or “Greek-ized” due to the dominance that began with Alexander the Great.  She is genetically a Syro-Phoenician and culturally a Greek.  This is important to the story.

The woman comes to the house and persistently keeps asking Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter.  In Mark Jesus responds first to the woman.  However, in the parallel account of this story in Matthew 15:21-28 [the audio is incorrect in stating it as Matthew 13], Jesus interacts with the disciples first.   In Matthew’s account Jesus appears to ignore the woman until the disciples urge Jesus to send her away.  They are getting annoyed with her continual crying out to them.  We should pause and think about that for a moment.  They do not have a heart of compassion for this woman and it appears that Jesus doesn’t either.  However, we know from too many other places that Jesus is not being a male chauvinist, or that he is being racist.  He has a particular reason, but the disciples are simply annoyed.  It is easy as the disciples of Christ to be annoyed with desperate people.  This is not a sign of great spirituality, but rather lack of maturity in Christ.  We should beware a heart that is easily annoyed with the desperate circumstances of the lost.  It can get in the way of ministry that God wants to accomplish.

Jesus Responds

So, in Matthew Jesus first responds to his own disciples with this. “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  This statement is quite clear and demonstrates a difference between Jesus and his disciples.  They are simply annoyed, but he is trying to remain focused on the purpose that God had sent him.  He had not come to walk throughout the Gentile lands and heal their sick and cast out their demons.  This does not mean that God doesn’t care about Gentiles.  Later, Jesus would send his disciples to the ends of the earth.  Yet, at this moment, his job was to first minister to Israel.

Thus, the particular reason for why Jesus didn’t respond to her then no longer exists now.  Israel heard the Gospel and saw the great works of the Messiah.  A remnant of Israel believed and entered into the New Covenant, but the rest of Israel did not.  Paul refers to this as opening the door to the Gentiles to receive the good news of the Gospel.  In fact, we can mistake the whole purpose behind why God created Israel in the first place.  It was not because He wanted some kind of “most favored nation” to treat as a teacher’s pet over the rest of the world.  Rather, it was to be a launch pad for taking back all the Gentile lands and making them one with God’s people again.

After this reply to the disciples, we are told that the woman bowed down before Jesus and said, “Lord, help me!”  She is completely identified with the ailment of her daughter.  The demon that terrorizes her daughter terrorizes her.  Instead of casting her daughter out, she has chosen to remain in that harrowing situation and begs for Jesus to cast out the demon.  It is at this point that Jesus gives an analogy to the woman to help her understand why he has not helped her.

The analogy is this.  “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”  The children in this analogy represent Israel.  Whereas, the little dogs represent the Gentiles in general, and specifically this woman.  To our 21^st century ears this might sound like a grotesquely insensitive statement.  However, we must be careful of being offended on behalf of other people.  Don’t jump on the band wagon of those who tell you that you must be offended at certain things.  This woman doesn’t even bat an eyelash at what Jesus says.  She not only isn’t offended, but she turns the analogy into her favor.  In fact, we might speculate that Jesus is actually setting her up to see what kind of faith she actually has. 

The Scriptures continually portray Israel as being near to God or close to God, whereas the Gentiles are far away.  His analogy does the same thing, but in a different way.  Many people treat their household pets a lot like children.  However, in those societies, it was understood that humans come before family pets, no matter how loved they were.  Does it seem insensitive?  It depends.  Is Jesus trying to put her down or trying to see if she wants to be lifted up?  If all Gentiles are like the little dogs around the table of God then how much more powerful is the image of a family pet being lifted up to the status of a child of God?  We can’t play it both ways.  Either Jesus is trying to be incredibly mean to her, or he is trying to help her see her true condition.  She is like the family pet wanting to sit at the table.

It is then that the woman demonstrates her true faith.  She is not full of herself, demanding that Jesus give her justice.  Rather, she accepts his picture that she is as far away from God as a pet is from its master.  She stands in no place to demand help.  The wisdom of accepting this characterization is that it opens the door to truth.  Even the little dogs underneath the table are able to eat the crumbs that fall from it.  Technically the dog isn’t eating with the family, but if something happens to fall on the floor [or even intentionally from time to time] few would fault the dog for eating it.

She does not demand that Jesus break his duty to God and resolve for his purpose.  She only asks for a crumb that might fall from the table of what God was giving to Israel.

Jesus then remarks that her faith is very great indeed.  He then tells her that she can go home; the demon has left her daughter.  Her humility and strength of mind obtains for her the freedom of her daughter.

Today, there are no such restrictions on the Gospel.  Christ has told his disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.  However, is it not important for us who were far away from God to recognize that we have been brought near in a way that is as incredible as a family pet actually becoming a real, live child of God?  Like some kind of strange Pinocchio twist, we are not receiving what is our due, but rather we are receiving what is highly unlikely.  We all come to Christ as beggars, lacking even a right to his table.  Yet, God has had compassion upon us all and bids us come.   Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him, but as many as did receive him (even if they were Gentiles, little dogs, etc.) to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:11-12).

There is always a reward for those who will simply trust God’s goodness and persist in their faith.  She knew that she sought a good thing.  It is not God’s will that humans be tormented by demons.  He did not create us for that.  May we all learn the lesson that faith must be more than short-lived.  It must also persist and be continually knocking, seeking, asking.  Yes, God sometimes tells us, “No,” to some of the things we ask.  However, in a case like this, we should never give up because we know that at the end of the day He is good and loves us.

Rewards of Faith audio

So Send I You

Mark 6:7-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 18, 2019.

Today, our passage involves Jesus sending his twelve disciples out on a mission.  If his words before his ascension in Matthew 28:18-20 are to be called The Great Commission then our story today should be called the Small Commission.  It involves them going out only to the towns of Israel and preaching to them.  Perhaps Jesus saw this as a trial run for the greater mission that he would give them later.

Our title for this sermon comes from John 20:21. There Jesus tells his disciples, “Peace to you!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (NKJV)  Everything that Jesus is doing with them throughout Israel is leading up to that point when he will go back to Heaven and the Apostles will need to take the Gospel to the nations of the world.  This would not be an easy task and it would be filled with many difficulties and trials.  Yet, it would also be filled with many joys.

There is a hymn that was published in 1954 and written by a Canadian woman named E. Margaret Clarkson.  She grew up in Toronto in the 1920’s.  In the 1930’s when she came of age, jobs were hard to come by in Toronto.  This led to her going into the far north of Ontario to become a teacher in the logging and mining camps.  Here are some quotes from her concerning her time there. 

“I experienced deep loneliness of every kind-mental, cultural, and particularly, spiritual- I found no Bible-teaching church fellowship, and only one or two isolated Christians, in those years.  Studying the Word one night and thinking of the loneliness of my situation, I came to John 20, and the words, ‘So send I you.’  Because of a physical disability, I could never go to the mission field, and this was where He had sent me.  I had written verse all my life, so it was natural for me to express my thoughts in poem.  Some years later [in 1963-after more life-experience and contact with real missionaries] I realized that the poem was really, very one-sided; it told only of the sorrows and privations of the missionary call and none of its triumphs.  I wrote another song in the same rhythm, so that verses could be used interchangeably, setting forth the glory and the hope of the missionary calling.”    (from https://propempo.com/story-behind-so-send-i-you-margaret-clarkson/)

This second version was published in 1963 as Margaret felt, if choosing between the two, the second one was the more biblical.  Here are the first stanzas of each version.

So send I you to labor unrewarded, to serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown, to bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing, to send I you, to toil for Me alone.

So send I you, by grace made strong to triumph, o’er hosts of hell, o’er darkness, death and sin, My name to bear and in that name to conquer, so send I you, My Victory to win.

Of course, singing nine verses (the first version has 5 and the second has 4) would not fly in very many churches today.  However, the words of this hymn are of great value and worth looking up.  It teaches us to count the cost and also the rewards of going forth for Jesus.

The greatest rewards for taking up the task that Jesus gives to his Church are yet to be had.  In this life, these things are bitter sweet, but once our work is done, and we have reached the end of our race, we shall enter into the full rewards of our labors on this earth.

Jesus sends The Twelve on a mission

Mark’s version of this passage, again, is very short on details.  If you read Matthew 10:1-15, you will see that Jesus limits them to going only to the towns and cities of what he calls “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  This did not include Samaria, which was an area of Israel that had mixed with Gentiles in marriage and in religion.

We are told that Jesus sends them out in pairs.  Thus, we would have 6 pairs of two disciples heading out to different parts of Israel.  This was not to keep an eye on each other, but rather because, “Two are better than one.”  Like Adam in life, it was not good for them to be alone in ministry.  They could keep each other encouraged in the difficult times and supply gifts where the other fell short.

It is interesting that this same phrase, two by two, occurs in the Noah’s Ark passage.  There the animals are brought into the ark in pairs, two by two.  That passage is unclear as to whether Noah is rounding them up, or if God’s Spirit is drawing them into the ark.  Regardless, in our passage the disciples are going out in pairs to call people to enter the ark of God, Jesus.  If comparing the ark to Jesus is a foreign concept to you then think of it in this way.  Just as Noah’s family were protected from the judgment of the ancient world by getting into the ark, so those who come inside of Jesus by putting their faith in him will be protected from the coming judgment of fire that has been promised to the whole earth.

We are also told that Jesus gives them authority over unclean spirits.  The word “authority” is sometimes translated as power.  However, the word properly means authority, and of course authority always has an involvement with power.  Regarding the unclean spirits, we have touched on this earlier.  This phrase is more of a description than a title.  Verse 13 helps us to see that the phrase is synonymous with “demons.”

It is sad to think that God’s people had become spiritually captured and plundered.  Everywhere Jesus and his disciples went in Israel, they encountered demon-possessed people.  I will remind us that people are not easily possessed.  It occurs when people dabble with false religions and the occult arts.  By listening to the teachings of demons, people give permission to those unclean, defiling spirits in their life.  You cannot surrender authority in your life without becoming a slave, and such was the case of many in Israel. 

No doubt, America has not seen as much activity in this area because of our Gospel foundation in Christ.  However, today it is becoming more and more prevalent for people to pursue the occult arts, and spiritual teachings of all sorts, which opens them up to such possession.  We will see more and more of this in our society, even though secular society will never call it demon-possession.

As a Christian, we need to recognize that such things are very real.  We must learn to stand on our own two spiritual-feet, and in the same authority that Jesus gave to his disciples then, proclaim the gospel and command unclean spirits to leave.  We need not fear any evil when we are on the side of Christ.  However, no one should approach these matters lightly and proudly.

Jesus also limits what provisions they can take with them on the journey.  They were to take only a staff, sandals, and one tunic (no bag, no food, no money, and no extra clothing).  Clearly, Jesus is putting them in a position that is more dire than it really was.  They had these things, but could not take them along.  Why?  The most logical reason homes in on the reality that Jesus is their teacher and they are the students, master and disciples.  So, at its foundation it is about them learning something by taking no extra provisions.  In such a situation, they will need to trust God to provide for them.  If God sends you on a mission then he will provide for you.  This is not just true in ministry, but in life as well.  All Christians are on a mission from God and he promises to take care of our needs, if we will put his kingdom first.  Of course, faith in God’s provision is easier said than done.  This will prepare them for times in the future when they will not be in their current state of being full of provisions. 

It is worth noting that Jesus does reverse these limitations later and allows them to take provisions.  The point is not that we should purposefully test God in this matter, but that we can trust him to help us in whatever we lack.  They are not testing God. They are responding to a command of the Lord.  Perhaps in this country of plenty our level of needing to trust in God for our provisions is very anemic.  However, Christians all around the world, both today and throughout history, have had to trust that God would provide for them.  Instead of falling into the habit of complaining and grumbling against God, they learned to pray, work hard, and trust God to provide.

The last part of the instructions of Jesus have to do with how they should conduct themselves among the towns of Israel.  This part will make more sense if you read the Matthew 10 passage.  Basically, they were to go to a town and publicly proclaim the Gospel.  If no one received them then they were to leave the town and go to the next.  Jesus tells them to shake the dust off of their feet in such a case.  This is interesting because it was the common practice of religious Jews to shake the dust off of their feet when leaving a Gentile city.  It was a symbolic way of saying that you are not going to take any part of that city with you because it is defiled.  Here they receive a bit of their own medicine.  If you are going to reject the Gospel and its ministers then the very dust of your city will become a witness, or evidence that they came and offered you grace.  In fact, Jesus says that those cities that reject his disciples with the Gospel message will have a more difficult judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah because they had a far less powerful and enlightening ministry from Lot.

If they are received positively and someone welcomes them into their home then they are to stay with them and let them care for their physical needs.  We don’t know if they were instructed to stay for a certain period, or if they had a certain amount of time to reach a particular list of cities.  Regardless, they would go from one town to the next proclaiming the Gospel.

The Twelve perform their task

In verse 12, the disciples take off to do what Jesus has instructed.  They leave Jesus behind and go in pairs to different parts of Israel.  In our passage, we are told that they preached, or proclaimed, that people should repent.  In Matthew they are told to proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  This reminds us of the message that the Bible says Jesus preached from the beginning, “Repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  The kingdom did not fully arrive in the first century.  It came in spiritually, but awaits the judgment in order to come in physically and politically.  Thus, the whole world is in the same position as the first century, and we need to preach the same message. 

The word for repentance here means to “change one’s mind.”  The people of Israel were supposed to be a people who lived for God and his purposes, but they had become a people living for themselves and for their own purposes.  Their mindset led to lifestyles and bondages that were never God’s intention for them or humanity.  The biggest leverage to getting them to change their mind is the warning that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

God’s prophets had promised a time when God would send his anointed king who would heal Israel and rule over all the earth.  If Messiah (from the Hebrew word for “anointed”) the king was to be in Israel in their days then they would want to change their lives and get ready for his presence.  If I truly change my mind on a matter then it will truly change how I live.  Another term in the Bible that is used for repentance is the concept of turning.  When I am driving in the wrong direction, I need a change of mind before I am ever going to turn around and go in the right direction.  Let’s be clear.  Most people in America, and in this world, are going in the wrong direction.  Even many who claim to be Christians are simply placing a label on their life, but not really living for Christ and his purposes.  May God help us to daily change our minds and turn towards his path, rather than our own.  May he help us to turn from our tendency for the self-led life, and to embrace the Holy Spirit-led life.

As the disciples went into the cities, we are told that they cast out many demons.  The delegated authority that Jesus gave to them was recognized by these unclean spirits.  The key here is not a mantra or ritual for casting them out.  The key is that they had an authentic relationship with Jesus and he has authorized them to have authority over these spirits.  Yet, it is not just The Twelve.  Luke 10:19 is a place where Jesus talks to a larger group of disciples called The Seventy, who also are told they will have power over these unclean spirits (serpents and scorpions are metaphors for these unclean spirits).  Also, in Romans 16:20, Paul expected that God would soon crush Satan (and his operators) underneath the Christians in Rome.  Yet, we cannot merely declare authority over such spirits if we are not in true relationship with Jesus.  It is his power they fear and obey, not mine.

We are also told that the disciples anointed the sick with oil and healed them just as Jesus did.  It must have been something for Israel, who was still reeling from Jesus going everywhere healing and casting out spirits, to see his disciples doing the same all by themselves.  O, how God loves to take the weak and lowly, and lift them up to take the place of the great and mighty.

So, why did they use oil?  The purpose of the oil is to be a symbol of God’s Spirit and also an aid to faith.  In the end, people were being restored by Galilean fishermen, or a tax collector, or a zealot, etc.

You and I are not called to become Apostles of Jesus in order to lay down the faith once and for all for Christ’s Church.  However, we carry the same Gospel into whatever scope of ministry that he gives us.  Whatever sphere he gives us, as a friend, co-worker, spouse, relative, parent etc., we must be faithful to share Christ in words and deed, so that people can believe on him and have a place in his kingdom, both now and in the future.  All believers are called to be proclaimers of the Gospel, and may God help us to warn people to change their minds because the next phase of the Kingdom of God is at hand!

So Send Audio

Only Believe

Mark 5:35-43.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 04, 2019.

In our story today, we have a little girl who has been sick and is on her death-bed.  However, Jesus was headed to her house to heal her.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that, between the crowd pressing in on Jesus and a sick woman being healed by touching him, Jesus does not get to her house soon enough to heal her before she dies.

Do you ever feel like God is taking too long to get around to your situation and your need?  Our story teaches us to trust the Lord Jesus, rather than letting fear drive us into a bitter, hard place where we ridicule those who trust God.

Jesus is going to give us the simple phrase, “Do not fear; only believe.”  This is easier said than done, but it is necessary nonetheless.  This life is filled with things that will stir up fear in our hearts and minds.  May God help us to walk with faith, trusting his heart for us and his power over what ails us.

They receive news about the sick daughter

Just as Jesus is telling the woman who had been healed of her flow of blood that she can go in peace, someone from Jairus’ house arrives and tells him the news about his daughter.  She has died.  They were too late.  You can imagine how such news hit Jairus.  No doubt, his heart sunk and fear rose up within him.  He had risked everything in going to get Jesus and it had failed.  It is a reality in life that certain events can shake us to our core.  Perhaps we need to experience such times.  It is in such times that we can learn just how much God cares about us and has humbled his self in order to save us.  God understands the heart of a father who loses a little daughter or anyone who has lost a loved one to sickness or evil in any form.  He too has experienced the pain of seeing those whom he created to enjoy him forever then falling to the lies of the devil.  Whatever your grief, know this.  God understands and experiences your pain far more than you know.

The person who brought the bad news asks, “Why trouble the teacher any further?”  His counsel is for Jairus to slink away from the group, go home, and bury his daughter.  However, we should ask a different question.  Was Jairus “troubling” Jesus?  Are we a “trouble” to God?  Sure our choices have brought a lot of trouble and pain into the relationship between us and God.  In that sense we are a trouble.  However, God has chosen to go with us through this choice.  He did not abandon us after the fall in the Garden, but pursued us with a love that paid the price for our sins and made a place for us at his side.  We can sometimes let our ideas of God, and “the holy prophet,” create a surreal world where they are too great to be bothered with our puny issues.  Nowhere in Scripture will you find God angry that the lowest people might ask him for the smallest of things.  It is quite the opposite.  Everywhere He calls to us to trust him, believe him, and bring our troubles to him.  It is we in our hurts and pains who develop such odd notions that God shouldn’t be troubled with our troubles.  It is misguided “holy men” who act like that and allow sycophants around them to push others aside.  If one thing can be said about Jesus, it is that he didn’t mind being troubled by the troubles of anyone who simply believed in him.  So, why trouble Jesus any further?  We should “trouble” him because he is the only one who understands our situation and can help us.  That’s why!

Jesus graciously steps in and gives Jairus the words that he needs to hear.  The first part is not to be afraid.  This is a very common phrase in the Bible.  We see it everywhere that God is challenging people to follow him into tough places.  Fear is very powerful in whipping up our imagination, but its worst effect is to neutralize our faith in God.  We don’t have to fear because God is with us.

The second part of what Jesus tells him is to “only believe.”  An old song within the church says it this way.

"Only believe; only believe.

All things are possible; only believe."

With man, so many things are impossible.  Even today within our modern, technologically advanced world, we find ourselves in impossible situations, but with God, all things are possible.  Why would I fear and doubt when I serve the God of the resurrection?  Even fretting and trying to make spiritual sense out of our situation can mislead us.  What I am talking about goes beyond trying to get a healing.  The little girl in this story is going to be healed, but she will go on to grow old and die.  Jesus will not show up then to keep her from dying.  Eventually we must all leave this world.  The question is not why didn’t God heal me, or keep me from growing old.  The question is, “Do I still believe, or have I let fear rob me of my faith in a God who can do anything?”  Jesus tells us not to fear and to simply believe God.  Trust him.

At this point Jesus instructs the crowd not to follow.  We are not told why, but this passage continually emphasizes faith over the top of those who don’t believe.  So, this could be in the interest of shedding the crowd that is filled with those who do not believe.  However, in verse 43, after he has healed the girl, Jesus tells them not to let people know what he has done.  Most likely, Jesus knew that this miraculous resurrection would push up the time schedule for his crucifixion.  So, he seems to be narrowing down the potential pool of witnesses.

They arrive at the house of Jairus

When they get to the house, they are met with a scene of great sorrow.  There is a loud uproar of weeping and wailing because the girl has died.  Perhaps they had been expecting Jesus to show up and heal her, and thus, were caught off guard.  We just don’t know if they were all aware of Jairus’ attempt to get Jesus.  We are told in the story that the little girl is twelve years old.  Watching a young child become sick, grow weak, and then die can be one of the hardest things to endure in this world. 

Yet, when Jesus arrives he asks why they are making such a commotion.  Even for those who know God, death is something to weep over, especially for any young person.  However, their weeping has gone into something beyond the grief and sorrow of the righteous.  As believers in God, we grieve over the fact that we will not have them in our life anymore, but we also know that this life is not all that there will be.  There is no reason for hysterical wailing and plunging into despair for the believer.

On top of this question, Jesus adds the statement that she is not dead, but sleeping.  What is Jesus actually trying to say?  I don’t thing Jesus is trying to make a literal point that they are wrong about her death and that she is actually only sleeping.  Sleep was often used as a euphemism for death, and just as we can envision a person waking from sleep, so a person can “wake” from death.  It is not the same thing, but it is a picture of what can be.  He is not trying to create a doctrine that souls actually sleep after a person dies.  Rather, he is reminding them of the biblical truth about what happens to people when they die or sleep.  They go into the grave, which Daniel had prophesied in Daniel chapter 12 that “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”  Jesus is merely going to “wake” her up from the grave. 

The wailing appears to stop at this point and it is replaced with ridicule and scorn against Jesus.  We can imagine a kind of bitter venom that we humans vent when we think another person is mocking our pain.  They clearly do not get what Jesus is saying, or do not believe that he can do anything about the girl’s death, and so they become angry at his words.

Jesus responds by restricting who goes into the room where the little girl is laying.  We are told that Jairus and his wife, the three disciples (Peter, James and John), and Jesus are the only ones who go into the room where the dead girl was.  Again, this seems to be partly about removing those who don’t believe and are caught up in the throes of unbelief.  Remember, unbelief is not a neutral absence of faith.  It is positively something that goes in the opposite direction of faith.  It produces such things as: anger, venting, raging, ridicule, scorn, persecution, and many other things.

If you are praying for God to do something in your life, you should not only challenge yourself to believe, but you will also need to get away from those who feed unbelief and its fruit into your heart and mind.  I am not saying cut off the relationship, but rather go in the direction of faith without them.  In this passage, Jesus gets alone with those that will believe and the girl who needs a miracle.

The healing scene is quite tender.  Jesus takes the girl’s hand and simply commands her to rise up.  Mark lets us know that Jesus was actually speaking Aramaic, which was the local language for the time.  There is good evidence that Jesus may have spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  He would use one or the other depending on the context.  Here he is speaking to fellow Jews and so uses Aramaic.  “Talitha” means that you are addressing a little girl.  “Cumi” is a simple command to rise.

The power of the command of Christ does not come from him raising his voice loudly.  His simple command is enough to bring the girl back from the dead, back to life.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 tells us, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  Praise God, he will raise all the dead in the future.  It has been humorously stated that, when Jesus resurrected Lazarus, it was important that he said “Lazarus, come forth.”  Otherwise, everyone would have come out of the grave!  Clearly, this is tongue in cheek, but it states the truth.  Jesus has the power to raise the dead, in fact, all the dead.  Here he restores the girl to a mortal life, but the day is coming when all the righteous will be raised with immortal bodies and eternal life. 

This is the power of Christ and the promise of God.  He cares about us.  We are to him like little children who have contracted a deadly disease called sin.  He will heal us; he will restore us; and he will make us fully whole again, if we will only believe!

Only Believe audio