I have repeatedly said from this pulpit that each of us needs to read our Bible daily, just for our own personal spiritual edification – NOT to prepare a “Sunday School lesson” or church Bible study, or anything we intend to deliver to someone else. We each need the “pure milk” of the word of God, which means that we read the Bible only (no commentaries or helps) and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our own hearts, for our own benefit.
Now, I can imagine someone saying: but Bro. Shawn, YOU often share messages and you say that they came out of your daily Bible reading. That is true; I do, and in fact that is what I am going to do tonight. The difference is this: I am not reading my Bible every day just so that I can get messages to share with you. I read the Bible every for MYSELF and for what God is speaking to ME. Now, sometimes I share the “overflow” with you – or share with you things that God said to me first, that I think you might profit from. But I don’t read the Bible to have something to share on Sunday night; I share something on Sunday night because I have been reading in my Bible – for MYSELF. There is a big difference.
Having said all that, I do want to share some insights that I received from my Bible readings the last few days, from several verses throughout the 5th and 6th chapters of Mark. This is not a “sermon” so much as three “morsels” of spiritual truth that the Lord showed me as I read. So we might entitle the message tonight: “Morsels From Mark”: a Morsel of Practicality; a Morsel of Faith; and a Morsel of Application.
I. A Morsel of Practicality
5:43 “And He said that something should be given her to eat.”
You might read right over this, and not think anything about it – and I am sure that I have done that a few times. But think about it: here was this 12 year-old girl who had been sick, and her father, the synagogue official named Jairus, came to Jesus and asked Him to come and heal her. On the way, the woman with the hemorrhage touched Jesus, as we saw this morning. But while this was happening, :35 says the girl died. But Jesus came to the house anyway, and raised the girl up from the dead. :41 tells us He said to her, “Talitha kum”, in Aramaic, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” And He raised her from the dead. :42 says everyone was astounded – as you can imagine. Then the last verse of this chapter, :43, is interesting. First, He gives orders for them not to tell anyone about this – there were reasons for that, which we won’t go into tonight. But then Jesus closes the chapter with this command: “He said that something should be given her to eat.”
When I read that the other day I thought: that is NOT what I might have expected Jesus to say right there. You might have thought that He would have said something really memorable, like, “The Son of Man has come to raise the dead, that those who are dead might live through Him” – or something like that – some really powerful, meaningful statement. But instead, the last thing He leaves them with is: “Make sure she has something to eat.” It is just not what I would have expected.
Which probably says a lot about me! What this was, was a very PRACTICAL word. Jesus knew that the girl needed something to eat, and so He wanted to make sure that this very practical need was taken care of: get her something to eat!
You know, sometimes we spend so much of our time and effort being “spiritual” that we forget to be practical. Yes, I know about the scripture where Jesus told Martha that she needed to settle down and be more like Mary, and be “spiritual”, and just sit at His feet and listen, and worship – but sometimes the “Mary’s” need a little encouragement to be a little more “Martha-like” too! Sometimes there are practical needs that need to be met – and the Lord wants US to be the ones who meet them.
Maybe there is someone who needs more than “I’m praying for you” from you this week. Maybe they need you to keep their kids; or make them a meal; or take care of their yard; or give them a roll of quarters for the vending machine in the hospital – or just something very practical, like that little girl just needed a meal. Think of someone you know who has a need; maybe someone you have been praying for. Is there something practical you can do to minister to them? Our Sunday School classes should think this way: what practical needs can we meet that will minister to people in our class? I have been SO delighted to hear several testimonies in recent days of people who said, “Raymond’s class brought us a meal and took care of us”, or “Howard’s class took care of that for us”, or “James’ class brought us meals every night” – that is exciting; that is JUST what our classes should do – and just what Jesus is talking about here.
I still believe the most important thing we can do for someone is pray for them, for that “omnipotent power” of God that we talked about this morning. If it weren’t for the omnipotent power of Jesus in Mark 5, the little girl in that verse wouldn’t even be alive! But sometimes, just like in that passage, the Lord will also give us a nudge to do something practical for them, too: “make sure they have something to eat.” I’ll be the first to admit: I am not always very practical like that. I needed that word from the Lord. And maybe some of you need to hear this “morsel of practicality” tonight as well.
II. A Morsel of Faith
Immediately after Jesus leaves that scene, the Bible says that He went back to His home town (Nazareth). Verse 2 says when the Sabbath came, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue, but the response was not good. They began to question Him: where did He this wisdom and miracles; isn’t this the Carpenter, etc. And :5 says, “And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.”
That is quite a statement: “And He could do no miracle there …”. Someone might look at that and say, “So Jesus was “limited” there; was He not “omnipotent” like you were talking about this morning, because the people there didn’t have faith? Is His power limited by our faith? NO! It is not Jesus who is limited by their lack of faith; it is THEY who were limited by their lack of faith. The loss was theirs, not His! Jesus didn’t “need” to perform great miracles there. They did not see more miracles; they did not see great things happen because THEY limited it by their lack of faith in who Jesus was, and what He could do.
And surely the same thing is true of us — in our personal lives; in our church; in our country — why don’t we see God doing more? Why isn’t He answering our prayers? Is He not omnipotent? The answer is, it is not GOD who is limited; it is WE who are. Just like those people in Nazareth, we are limiting what we see Him do by our lack of faith in Who He is, by our hard-heartedness, by our own pride and stubbornness – by our sin – especially in light of all that many of us have experienced with the Lord already.
At the end of Mark 4, Jesus and His disciples are on the way to the other side of the sea of Galilee, when they get caught in a storm. The disciples wake Jesus up and say to Him: Do You not care that we are perishing?” The Bible says Jesus got up and hushed the storm, and then turned to His disciples and said: “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” Even by this time in Mark 4, they had seen Him do SO many miracles: crowds had been lined up and healed at Peter’s mother-in-law’s house in Mark 1; the paralyzed man had been healed in Mark 2 – they had seen Him do so much. And Jesus is basically saying to them: “After all you’ve seen and heard, why don’t you have any more faith than you do? “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?”
And I think He is surely saying those same words to some of us tonight: “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” How long have you been a Christian? How many times have you read in His word what He has done? How many life experiences has He brought you through – and still you get in a situation and act like this? In light of all that you have seen; in light of all that He’s shown you; in light of all that you’ve learned and been through – “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?”
It is not Jesus’ power that is limited in our lives; it is WE who are closing the doors to it. It is not Jesus’ power which is limited in our church: it is WE are who limiting ourselves. It is not Jesus’ power which is limited in our country today; it is us. That is why II Chronicles 7 says, “If MY people …”. The onus is on us. He can do anything; if we will cleanse and purify our lives and trust Him the way we should, then we will see Him do “great and mighty things which (we) know not”! But first we need to really learn this principle of faith.
III. A Morsel of Application
We see this in next chapter, Mark 6. After Jesus sends out His 12 Apostles to preach and heal, beginning in :14 we find the story of how John the Baptist was imprisoned, and eventually martyred, for his preaching to Herod. Herod had taken his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, and married her, and John preached against it, so Herod had him thrown in prison. Herodias wanted John killed, but Herod knew that he was a righteous man, and kept him safe – for the time being. But in :20 of that chapter we find that Herod used to listen to John preach, and it says: “He used to enjoy listening to him.” Literally this is: “and he was hearing him gladly.” Again this sounds odd. Herod was living in sin with his brother’s wife, but he liked to listen to John preach – he “enjoyed listening to him.” But although he evidently “enjoyed listening to him”, he didn’t DO anything about his sin. He never repented. And eventually, of course, Herodias had Herod give her the head of John the Baptist on a platter. But what is striking about this verse is how Herod listened to John: he “enjoyed listening to him” – but he didn’t DO anything about it. He didn’t apply the word that he heard, to his own life.
We need to be careful that we don’t do the same thing, or be satisfied with that same thing in others. James 1:22 says: “But prove yourselves DOERS of the word, not merely hearers who delude themselves.” God’s goal from us in His word is not that we “hear it gladly” from someone, but that we DO it!
How many of us say of a sermon, or a Sunday School lesson: “I really enjoyed that.” And maybe we are tempted to think that we are really, nice, spiritual Christians because we “enjoyed” the message. We need to remember that sermons and lessons are not like television shows: they are not just there for our entertainment. They are life lessons from God’s word which are meant to be applied to our lives and obeyed! Don’t think that you are a “good Christian” because you “liked” the message; ask yourself how you are going to APPLY it to your life – that is what really matters.
And from a preaching or teaching standpoint, we need to remember that it’s not how a lesson “sounds” or how many people “enjoyed” it that matters; it is whether they apply the word to their hearts. Someone can share the worst message ever, from a homiletical standpoint, but if peoples’ lives were changed, it was a true success.
In fact, that happened in one of the most famous conversions in history: the salvation of Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon’s soul had been burdened for some time, and he was going from church to church, seeking how he could know that he was saved. One winter night he was traveling to a certain church to hear a message there, but a snowstorm came, and he ducked into a little chapel, where an unlearned layman was preaching a message from the Book of Isaiah: “Look to Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Spurgeon would later say that the man was ignorant, and one of the worst preachers he ever heard. But God took that message and touched Spurgeon’s heart with it, and he was saved. He didn’t “enjoy listening to it”, but his life was touched by it. There is a big difference.
We need to remember this as we preach and teach. It’s not the number of people walking out the door saying, “Good message, pastor!” that matters; it is the number of people walking out the door to LIVE differently! The same thing is true for your Sunday School class or Bible study. Your goal as a teacher should NOT be just for people to tell you that you did well. Your goal should be for people’s lives to be changed as a result of your time together. We need to be careful about this as a church, regarding numerical goals, and trying to attract large groups of people. It is very possible to get a big group of people who will “hear you gladly” – but who are not really becoming disciples of Jesus. I’m afraid we are seeing this in churches all across the country today: they are doing just what Paul told Timothy would happen in the last days: accumulate teachers in accordance with their own desires, to “have their ears tickled.” This verse is a reminder that we are not in the “ear-tickling” business; we are in the life-changing business. Don’t be satisfied with hearing “good lesson” from your students – and don’t be satisfied to say “good message” to your teacher or your pastor. God’s goal for you is not to hear a “good message.” It is for your life to be changed as you apply His word.
INVITATION:
— Is there a person you are praying for, and God is saying: do something PRACTICAL for them this week? Take them a meal; work in their yard; whatever He lays on your heart. Maybe it is you personally; maybe you are to motivate your SS class to do something …
— Is there an area of your life in which God is saying, After all you’ve been through with Me, why don’t you believe any more than you do? “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” Confess your sin of unbelief; ask Him to cleans you from other sins as well, that you may see Him clearly, and have the faith in Him you ought to have.
— What area of your life have you been content to just “hear” the word of God, but not DO it? What application do you need to make from God’s word today: from sermon, or SS lesson, or Daily Bible Reading? It is not enough to hear the word; God wants you to DO it!
shawnethomas 