On With The Sow This Is It!

The news media gave her the nickname “The Black Dahlia.”  Her given name was Elizabeth Short.  She was the victim of a much-publicized murder in 1947.  It is one of the oldest unsolved murder cases in Los Angeles history.

It may finally be on the verge of being solved… thanks to a soil-sample.  A cadaver dog reacted to a site at a suspects former residence, and soil samples have been sent away for lab testing to determine if there are traces of Short’s remains.

Soil-samples are the prominent feature in Mark chapter four.

Jesus tells a parable that we call the Parable of the Sower.
There is nothing wrong with that title; but it could justly be called the Parable of the Soils, because that is where the major emphasis lies.
We’ll see that there are four types of soil, and that there are tests to determine the types.

The soils represent the spiritual conditions and characteristics that can be found in the human heart.

With that in mind, I’ll organize my thoughts around two questions: #1 Are You Willing To Admit To Your Soil Type?, and #2 Are You Willing To Submit To A Soil Test?

#1    Are You Willing To
Admit To Your Soil Type?
(v1-12)

The religious authorities from Jerusalem had declared Jesus the agent of Beelzebub, which was their name for the devil.
The multitudes that pressed upon Him did so for healing and deliverance, and not so much to repent and receive the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus reacted by adopting a new way of teaching.

Mar 4:1  And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.
Mar 4:2  Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

Jesus had used parables previously; but now He would use them primarily.  We’ll see why in a moment.

“Parable” is from a word that means to cast alongside.  Spiritual truths can be somewhat difficult to communicate.  Or they can be dry, in their presentation.

A parable is a reference to everyday things that can be cast alongside spiritual truth in order to communicate it simply and effectively.

Jesus told the Parable of the Sower.

Mar 4:3  “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.
Mar 4:4  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
Mar 4:5  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.
Mar 4:7  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
Mar 4:8  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

To plant your field, you’d go out with a bag of seed slung over your shoulder, and you’d broadcast it by hand in your field.
After the entire field was covered with seed, you’d return with a hand-plow, or oxen pulling a plow, turning over the soil so the seed was just covered.

Some of the broadcast seed would “fall on the wayside.”

If our Sanctuary was the field, where you are sitting would be the main field, and the walkways down the center and along the sides, and here in front, would be the wayside.  It was unprepared soil that functioned as walkways and was, therefore, somewhat hard.  The broadcast seed sat on top, unprotected.

Flocks of birds would follow the sower and eat the seed that fell on the wayside.  It’s like Nigel said, in Finding Nemo, “Birds gotta eat.”

Sometime after the plowing, you’d discover that “some fell on stony ground.”  When we bought a tract home a few years after moving to Hanford, there was no yard.  I started to prepare the front yard for grass seed by roto-tilling.  I hit something hard.  I thought it was a rock.

It was rock, alright; it was a huge slab of concrete buried about four inches under the soil.  Apparently one of the cement trucks had dumped its excess load there and rather than clearing it out, the builder buried it.

I had to ask a friend who owned a tractor and a dump truck to come help me remove it.

There are rocks everywhere in Israel, as well as limestone deposits just under the surface.  Even if the soil was prepared, some of the seed you broadcast will fall on ground that has rock a few inches beneath the surface.

Conditions there are great for quick germination, but not for sustained growth.  The shallow roots cannot compete with the scorching sun, and those plants wither.
Weeds.  My dad used to remind me, “You’ve got to pull out the roots.”  Even then, weeds find a way into your field.  Left unchecked, they choke-out your plants.

Just when it seems hopeless to be a farmer, you’re reminded of the bounty that the remaining plants can produce – thirtyfold, sixty, or a hundred.

Nothing new here.  Everyone living in Israel knew these things.  If Wikipedia had been a thing in first century Capernaum, this would be the entry under “Soil Types.”

After what was probably a long, pregnant pause for emphasis, Jesus made this stunning personal application:

Mar 4:9  And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Whoa!  That’s different.  “Go figure it out.”  They were going to have to work at understanding what Jesus taught.  No more freebies.

It was time to separate the disciples from the disinterested – to see who was following Jesus for Who He was, and not simply for what He could do.

Why this radical change?  His disciples were wondering too, so they asked Jesus to clarify.

Mar 4:10  But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.

The twelve guys Jesus had specially chosen, and other close followers, were understandably confused, and curious.

Commentators sometimes criticize them, pointing out that they waited until they were alone to ask about the parable, so as not to seem ignorant in front of the crowds.

I’d counter that by pointing out that, even with Jesus’ subsequent explanation, there are Bible teachers who still remain confused about the parables.

At any rate, I, for one, am glad they asked, and that the Holy Spirit inspired Mark to record Jesus’ explanation.

Mar 4:11  And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables,
Mar 4:12  so that ‘SEEING THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND HEARING THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND; LEST THEY SHOULD TURN, AND THEIR SINS BE FORGIVEN THEM.’ ”

“The mystery of the kingdom of God.”  That phrase is, as Donald Trump might say, “Huge.”

The kingdom of God, promised to Israel in their Scriptures – what we call the Old Testament – was no mystery.  Many of its features were recorded.  Beating swords into plough shares and such.

A “mystery” in the Bible is always something previously unknown that is being revealed.

The nation of Israel rejected Jesus as their King and, with Him, they rejected the immediate establishing of the kingdom of God on the earth.  Jesus would instead return to Heaven to await His Second Coming when all Israel would be saved, receive Him as King, and enjoy the kingdom on the earth.

The question that naturally arises is, “What is going to happen in- between these two comings?”  The answer is the mystery revealed through the Parable of the Sower, and the other parables Jesus will tell that describe the progress of this age during the wait for His return.

He will tell us that the predominant feature of the age between His two comings is that the Gospel will be seed spread by sowers into the soil of men’s hearts until the final harvest at the Second Coming of Jesus.

Jesus quoted from the sixth chapter of Isaiah.  It related a time in Israel’s past when the Jews had refused to receive God’s Word. Jesus said it was also a prophecy that was being fulfilled in His day as the Jews were rejecting Him.

This is not a general teaching about certain people being unable to hear the Gospel and receive Jesus.  It is a specific prophecy about the people of Jesus’ day who saw His miracles and heard His teachings but made a personal choice to reject Him.  They hardened their hearts to the Word, and to the works, of God.

They had rejected the light, so they would be given no more light, but rather would be left in the dark.

Even what they had would be taken away – meaning in part that their King would ascend into Heaven.
Mar 4:13  And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

This reads like another minor rebuke, and maybe it was.  At the very least, Jesus was letting them know that listening to the Word of God was going to take personal effort.

Salvation is not by works; not at all.  It is the free gift of God, received by faith, where faith is not a work, but simply a response.

Once you are saved, there is work to do, and part of that work is to seek after God with all of your heart and mind and soul and strength.

As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee.

Is that true of me?  Of you?  Or are we less like panting deer and more like hibernating bears?

A hibernating bear can go months without drinking water.  It’s water comes from the breakdown of its fat.

It’s possible for us to become fat, then live off of our reserves, rather than daily seeking the Lord for a fresh supply.

Let me give you an illustration, not to burden you, but simply as a measure of your thirst.

When I was a young Christian, I would always get the Sunday teaching, so I could listen to it again.  I believed the Lord was speaking to me through those messages, since He had led me to that church.

In those days the studies were recorded on cassette tapes.  Those are in museums now.  They’ve been replaced by mp3’s you can download directly to your tablet or smart phone from our website.  Or you can easily burn your own CD.  Or you can subscribe to our free podcast.

If you’re totally old school, you can have the weekly study transcript delivered to you via email, so you can at least read it.

Let me ask you this.  If you miss a Sunday, do you feel at all compelled to listen to, or read, the study you’ve missed?

You don’t have to.  I’m not saying it makes you more, or less, spiritual.

But, if you simply ignore the message, you might be living off of your fat, rather than panting after the fresh water.

In His interpretation, Jesus will compare the four soil types to conditions and characteristics that can be present in the human heart.  As we move into the application, the question to ask is, “Am I willing to admit my soil type?”

It’s an important question, because we tend to think that, if we are saved, we are only, always, the good soil, in which the Word flourishes.

It’s a little more involved than that.  We can think in terms of the four soils as four different people who “hear”; but we can also think of them as one person who “hears” the Word at different times in his or her life.

We all know people who maybe seemed completely hard to the Gospel, as if the devil snatched it away, but who later came to Christ.

That same person, although saved, can be stumbled by trials and persecutions.
That same person, although saved, can become distracted by the cares of this life, and, for a time at least, live a marginal Christian life, producing no fruit.

No one person, it seems, is limited to one type of heart throughout their lifetime.

Thus the door is opened to honestly assess my current soil type, as we submit to the Lord’s soil test in the remaining verses.

#2    Are You Willing To
Submit To A Soil Test?
(v13-20)

Before we trusted the anonymous voice that commands our every turn via GPS, we had glove boxes full of maps.  You’d need dozens of them just to go from here to Fresno.  They were way too big – the size of a picture window – and impossible to re-fold.

If you could pull-over and spread-out the correct map on the hood of your car, it was a challenge to read them.  Maps used symbols or colors to represent things.

Lucky for you, there was, on the map, a legend.  Also called a key, legends are boxes in the corner of the map, and the information they give you is essential to understanding the map.
The Parable of the Sower is a legend, or a key, parable in that it is first, foundational, and unlocks the mystery of the parables that follow it to describe the things we can expect between the two comings of Jesus to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.

Mar 4:13  And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Sure, once again this reads like a mild rebuke.  Maybe, but what comes through is the understanding that this is the parable that sets the stage for the mystery phase of the kingdom that was being revealed.

Mar 4:14  The sower sows the word.

Anyone teaching or preaching the Gospel is a “sower.”  The first sower was Jesus, then His immediate disciples, followed by all the disciples made after them – whosoever believes in Him.  You and I are sowers.

The Word – God’s Word, the Bible – is the seed.  It’s a great illustration because, just as a seed has the capacity for life within it, so the Word of God is alive and powerful, able to save to the uttermost those in whom it takes root.

Peter, who was present at this explanation, would later write, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (First Peter 1:23).

Sower, seed, then soil; and, for our purposes today, we are concentrating, as Jesus did, on the four soil types as a test of our own hearts and our readiness to receive and to go on receiving this incorruptible seed and produce lasting spiritual fruit.

Mar 4:15  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Seed that is tilled over will take root, because there is life in it.  The reason everyone does not respond positively to the Gospel is that Satan is also at work in this age, and has strategies to “take away the word that [is] sown in [human] hearts.”

Have you ever brought a friend or family member to church, or to an evangelistic event, and thought, “This message is just for them!”  But if an invitation is given, they just sit there – as if they haven’t heard a word, let alone the Word.

Many of us were like that.  After I got saved, I could recall times that the Gospel was presented, but that the Word was quickly stolen.

It may seem silly, but once on the campus of UC Riverside, two guys handed me a tract.  I was starting to look at it, but I had an urge to throw it away.  There just happened to be a garbage can near me.  I threw it in and forgot about it.

If you’re passing out tracts, make sure there are no garbage cans around.  And that there is a stiff fine for littering.

Mar 4:16  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
Mar 4:17  and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

The Gospel is so powerful that it can produce effects in a person’s heart before they make a decision for Jesus Christ.  This person, maybe, came forward to receive the Lord.  Or you would say that their eyes were opened to the truth, and they began to seek the Lord.

In either case, when it became difficult to walk with the Lord, they stumbled – meaning they were offended that it wasn’t going to be easy.

I would argue that this can describe believers, too.  We are warned, are we not, to never consider it strange or unusual when we fall into various trials.  We wouldn’t need the warning unless we did think it strange.

Truth is, we are stumbled when trial or trouble hits enters our lives.  It’s the shallow response to get mad at God, or remain in a spiritual fog.

Among other things, it’s a soil test.  If I stumble in my trial, then it is indicating I have shallow soil.

But, guess what?  I can recognize that I’m shallow, and I can break-up the rock layer, so that the roots of God’s Word can go deeper, and so I can grow.

Mar 4:18  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
Mar 4:19  and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

This is the soil that probably best characterizes life in these United States.  We’ve been blessed, and are prospering (for the most part).  Nothing wrong with prosperity.  God Himself promised Israel they would prosper, for obeying Him.

We are not Israel, but Israel’s example is instructive.  The more they prospered, the more they forgot God.

Their prosperity caused them to think more about physical things than spiritual things, leading to an emphasis on caring for their wealth.
Their prosperity deceived them into thinking it was something they deserved, rather than a gift from God.
The more they had, the more they wanted, in a refusal to be satisfied with what God had provided.

If you have any familiarity with the Old Testament, you know that they became “unfruitful” in their relationship with God, causing Him to discipline them.

Look at it this way.  If you are in love with someone, you will forgo just about anything and everything to be with that person.  The things you forgo are not bad; it’s just that they become insignificant to you.

It’s another soil test.  Only you can ask yourself, “What would I rather be doing than spending time with Jesus?”
Whatever it is might (and I am careful to emphasize “might”) be some worldly care, or some deceitfulness of your prosperity, or some desire for other things.

There is also good soil:

Mar 4:20  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

You sow the seed and some of it will fall into hearts whose soil has been prepared to receive it.  Those folks get saved and begin a life of producing spiritual fruit.

Want to go on being good soil, that produces fruit?  Of course you do; and here is how you do it.

You “(1)hear the Word, (2)accept it, and (3)bear fruit.”

Hearing the Word isn’t merely listening to it, or being aware of it.  It is active listening – the kind of listening Jesus indicated when He said “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Because of the strategies of Satan to steal the Word, and our own natural propensities to be stumbled or selfish, we need to really work at hearing.

Our time of waiting, and reflecting, upon God’s Word each week after the study is a good example.  We force ourselves – in a good way – to really hear the Word.  Before it can be stolen; or we can stumble; or act selfishly; we wait upon the Lord so His Word can take root to bear fruit.

Jesus said good soil “accept[s]” the Word.  It comes down to this: Will you do what God says, in His Word, despite it being contrary to your will, or uncomfortable, or inconvenient?

More-and-more, Christians are saying, “No, I won’t submit to God.”  You see it a lot in marriages, because, after all, that’s where we live.  Too many couples are divorcing with no biblical grounds, contrary to God’s very definite will for them.  They count on the grace of God to later forgive them – after they’ve totally disobeyed Him.

We need to approach the Word as pre-submitted to it.  Whatever God says to do, or to not do, I am ready to submit – to His glory and for my ultimate good.

Only when we hear and accept can we bear lasting spiritual “fruit.”

Do some bear more fruit than others?  It seems that way.  But I think Jesus was indicating that, in my field – in my heart – I have potential to go on bearing more-and-more fruit.

In New Testament times, it wasn’t really feasible to go through the field on your hands and knees to identify these soil problems.  But if you knew there were rocks, or the roots of weeds, in the field, you’d be wrong to ignore those patches of ground.

If you are saved, you’ve been born-again by the incorruptible seed of God’s Word.  You can go through your field – your heart – and test the soil.  In fact, you must perform a soil test, because we are prone to stumbling and selfishness, when we desire instead to remain spiritual.

It’s A Plunderful Life (Mark 3:22-35)

Sing with me, if you know the words:

Yo, ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.  
We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, and loot,
drink up me hearties yo ho!  
We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot,
drink up me hearties yo ho!

To which we all say, “Arrr!”

No, it isn’t National Pirate Day.  The word “plunder,” however, is prominent in the verses we will discuss today.  Jesus uses the word to describe His confrontations with the devil.

Is Jesus a pirate?  Of course not.  But since we almost can’t help but associate the word “plunder” with pirates,  I thought it best to get it out of our system right at the beginning.

In a very descriptive illustration, Jesus says, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house” (v27).

Satan is the “strong man” Jesus was describing.  His “house” is the world.  His “goods” are, primarily, human beings whom he holds captive and beats mercilessly as slaves.

Jesus claimed He had “bound” Satan in order to free those he held captive.

He more than claimed it.  He demonstrated it, by casting out demons and making people whole.

Mark then adds a passage about Jesus’ mother and brothers.  It seems a little out of place, but it isn’t.  It’s right where it belongs, because in those verses Jesus talks about those who constitute His spiritual family who live in what the Bible elsewhere calls “the household of faith.”

We’ll look at both the devil’s house and at the household of faith.  I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Houses To Plunder Await You In The World, and #2 A Household Of Wonder Equips You In The Lord.

#1    Houses To Plunder
    Await You In The World
    (v22-30)

Jesus had been putting on a mighty display of power and authority over demons by casting them out of any and all who were possessed.

Jesus also encountered folks whose afflictions were attributed directly to the devil.  He healed them.

No one could deny the results.  People were set free and made whole.

You’d think the universal reaction to ending so much human suffering would be rejoicing.  It wasn’t.

Mar 3:22  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

Notice these “scribes” were from Jerusalem.  The local scribes had not had any success refuting Jesus, so they radioed headquarters for help.

The religious leaders were no help to the people.  In fact, in one place Jesus says they made things worse by heaping burdens upon already burdened people, then offering them no help in bearing them.

It’s one thing to not have the ability to cast out demons and heal those afflicted by them.  But it’s just wrong to oppose the Person Who was going about doing those things.

Faced with the facts, they came up with the idea that Jesus “has Beelzebub.”  The phrasing means they thought He must Himself be working for “Beelzebub,” whom they understood to be “the ruler of the demons.”

There are a ton of interpretations regarding just who Beelzebub really was, and what the name really means.  All we need to know is that the Jews used the name as a description of “the ruler of the demons.”

By “ruler” they didn’t  necessarily mean that Beelzebub controlled the demons.  The word can mean that he was the most powerful of them.

The scribes were suggesting that there was a conflict among demons, with Beelzebub on the offensive against lesser demons.  He was, they argued, using Jesus to vanquish the lesser demons.

Truth is, the Jews had a very limited knowledge of things demonic.  In their Scriptures – what we know as the Old Testament – references to Satan and to demons do not appear together in a single passage.  It is not at all clear that Satan is their leader.

The New Testament takes it for granted there is a close relationship between Satan and demons.  They are frequently represented as a hierarchy over which Satan rules.

But a first century scribe might have thought Beelzebub was making a move on the other demons – casting them out, so he could take over their realm.

Thus the scribes were ignorant, not stupid.  Their accusation made sense to them.

It’s a far more sinister false accusation, therefore, than we normally might think.  In the mind of the average Jew in that period, with their limited knowledge of demons, what the scribes were accusing Jesus of could make sense.

Mar 3:23  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?

Packed into this opening question is a totally new demonology for the Jews.  Jesus said that the demon they were calling the prince of the demons is none other than Satan, and that the demons Jesus had been casting out are under Satan’s direct authority.

We take that for granted, because we have the complete Bible.  But this was revolutionary to Judaism.

Jesus, of course, had inside information about all this.  He had seen Satan fall from Heaven, and take one-third of the angels with him in his rebellion.  He spoke with authority about the supernatural realm.

Mar 3:24  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Mar 3:26  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.

There was no hostile demonic take-over in progress.  There was, instead, a Satanic kingdom, ruled over by the devil and administrated by his loyal, subordinate demons.

Not only was there no kingdom-wide civil war, there was no insubordination at the “house” level, meaning that individual demons who possessed and afflicted people were totally loyal to Satan.

Jesus’ power and authority was not from Satan rising up against himself.  It was from Jesus having power and authority over the devil and his kingdom.

Mar 3:27  No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

It helps our appreciation of this illustration to know that one of the possible definitions of Beelzebub is master of the house.  The Jews were right; there was a master of the house.  But it wasn’t Jesus; it was Satan.

Jesus portrayed Himself as the One who could, and did, bind Beelzebub, the master of the house.

Just exactly when did Jesus bind Satan?  I’d trace it back to the temptation in the wilderness where, in one-on-one, champion vs. champion spiritual combat, Jesus defeated Satan.  He emerged victorious from there and every time He encountered a demon, or a legion of them, He cast them out – proving the strong man was bound.

Having bound Satan, i.e., having defeated him, Jesus could “plunder his house.”  Every person freed from possession or demonic affliction was a plunder – was a recovered spoil of spiritual warfare – that Jesus removed from Satan’s influence and control.

Is Satan bound today?  Sadly, no.  He is presented in the New Testament as the god of this age (Second Corinthians 4:4) and the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).

We are clearly told that he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking people to devour (First Peter 5:8).

We are told that people are taken captive by him to do his will (Second Timothy 2:26).

What happened?  How did he escape his binding by Jesus?

He was let loose because the Jewish leaders ultimately rejected Jesus as their savior and messiah.  Jesus called it the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

Mar 3:28  “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter;
Mar 3:29  but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—
Mar 3:30  because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

These words strike fear into the hearts of sincere believers.  Christians wonder if they have committed this terrible sin.

Have they?  Can they?  Let’s look at what Jesus meant in context.

Remember that Jesus was offering to inaugurate the kingdom of God on the earth that had been promised to Israel.

God the Father sent John the Baptist to prepare the nation for the coming of their Messiah.  Multitudes of the common people responded to John’s call and repented, but the religious leaders permitted John to be arrested and eventually killed.
God the Son came as promised and called the nation to trust Him, but those same religious leaders asked for Jesus to be killed.

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, empowering Jesus’ disciples. How did those same religious leaders respond?  By arresting the Apostles, ordering them to keep silent, and then killing Stephen themselves.

Stephen told them what their sin was: “You do always resist the Holy Spirit” (Act 7:51).  They had sinned against the Father and the Son, but had been graciously forgiven.  When they sinned against the Holy Spirit, they had hardened their hearts to a point of no repentance and there could be no more forgiveness.

The apostle Paul would thus say to them about this point of no return, at the end of the Book of Acts,

Act 28:25  …”The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
Act 28:26  saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY: “HEARING YOU WILL HEAR, AND SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND SEEING YOU WILL SEE, AND NOT PERCEIVE;
Act 28:27  FOR THE HEARTS OF THIS PEOPLE HAVE GROWN DULL. THEIR EARS ARE HARD OF HEARING, AND THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED, LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, LEST THEY SHOULD UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS AND TURN, SO THAT I SHOULD HEAL THEM.” ‘
Act 28:28  “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

Israel’s leaders had thereby blasphemed the work of the Holy Spirit, hardening their hearts to a place they would not repent.  The offer of the kingdom was now off the table.

Satan was thereby released and we entered the church age where we await a Second Coming of Jesus.  That Second Coming is preceded by the resurrection and rapture of the church, and the seven-year Tribulation on the earth.

At the Second Coming, Satan will be taken into custody and be bound and imprisoned for the thousand-year duration of the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

In context, it was Israel’s leadership who committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit by ultimately and utterly rejecting Jesus, attributing to the Holy Spirit the works of the devil as their excuse.

Scholars debate whether or not the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a sin that can be committed today.  Many good Bible teachers say that it cannot be committed today because it involved Israel as a nation rejecting the Messiah, and that’s something that isn’t repeatable.

Evangelicals who say the sin still can be committed typically explain that, since the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a total, final rejection of Jesus, it is committed when a person dies without receiving Jesus as their Savior.  Since it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to every human heart of their need for salvation, and the provision of the Savior, when a person dies without Jesus, they have effectively blasphemed the Holy Spirit.

It’s therefore a sin that can’t be committed while you are alive.  It kicks-in if you die in your sins, without the righteousness of Jesus.

Pastor and author Warren Wiersbe wrote,

The only sin today that God cannot forgive is rejection of His Son (Joh 3:16-21, Joh 3:31).  When the Spirit of God convicts the sinner and reveals the Savior, the sinner may resist the Spirit and reject the witness of the Word of God, but that does not mean he has forfeited all his opportunities to be saved.  If he will repent and believe, God can still forgive him.  Even if the sinner so hardens his heart that he seems to be insensitive to the pleadings of God, so long as there is life, there is hope.  Only God knows if and when any “deadline” has been crossed.  You and I must never despair of any sinner (1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9).

That brings us to the application of these verses to us, today. The world is the devil’s kingdom, and everywhere we look there are houses in which he holds people captive.  Their lives are full of misery for lack of the knowledge and the presence of God; and they are on a slippery path leading to an eternity separated from God suffering eternal conscious torment.

Satan is not bound, but we are told that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We therefore can still plunder.

In fact, it’s our mission to plunder the strong man’s house and set free those he holds captive.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

First it is the power by which a person is saved.  God’s grace works on their hearts to free their will in order that they might make a decision for Jesus.

Second it is the power of being indwelt by God the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing to God – life as it was meant to be lived.
You plunder houses by living for Jesus – by being Christ-like – and by encouraging others to have their sins forgiven and be saved while they still have the opportunity.

#2    A Household Of Wonder
    Equips You In The Lord
    (v31-35)

The remaining five verses of chapter three seem tacked on, almost out of place, a footnote at best.  But I think we will see otherwise.

Earlier in the chapter, Mark had said that “when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind” (v21).  He left off from that to describe the Beelzebub controversy, and now returns to it to let us know that “His own people” were members of His own birth family.

I suggest to you there is more here than a clarification. Jesus said something radical that resonates through the entire church age.

Mar 3:31  Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.

Who are these “brothers?”  I told you last week that there is a disagreement between Protestants and Roman Catholics over their identity:

The Roman Catholic Church teaches the perpetual virginity of Mary.  They say she never had sex with her husband, Joseph, and never had any other children.  They argue that this word for brothers can mean other relatives, like cousins.
We say it is extra-biblical and absurd to say that Mary remained a virgin.  These are Jesus’ brothers – the children born to Joseph and Mary after the Lord was born.

BTW The Catholic Church also teaches the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  They mean that Mary, even though born of human parents, was nevertheless conceived without original sin or its stain.  That is what “immaculate” means – without stain.

The Gospel of Mark 6:3 and the Gospel of Matthew 13:55-56 state that James, Joseph, Jude, and Simon were the brothers of Jesus.  The same verses also mention unnamed sisters of Jesus.

Another verse in the letter to the Galatians (1:19) mentions seeing James, “the Lord’s brother.”

The “brothers of the Lord” are also mentioned, alongside (but separate from) Peter and the apostles in First Corinthians 9:5.

Regarding Mary, this is the only place in the Gospel of Mark where she is seen.  She comes with Jesus’ brothers because they believe He has gone insane. This is an attempted mental health intervention.

Mary didn’t understand, not fully, who Jesus was, and what was His mission.  Obviously, she was not yet a believer; she was not, at that point, saved.

Even if you want to concede (which you don’t) that these may have been cousins, Mary comes off badly – as a nonbeliever who was seeking to undermine the Gospel.

Jesus’ family members could not press through the crowd.  Even though they were family, no preferential treatment was shown to them.

They got a message to Jesus.

Mar 3:32  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”

Mom and the boys had come. It would seem natural for Jesus to take a break, to take five, and see His family.

Everything surrounding Jesus was strategic.  In this case, to yield to His family, even momentarily, could be construed by Jesus’ enemies as showing they were right, and that He was, indeed, one brick shy of a full load.

Two rungs short of a ladder.  Not playing with a full deck.  You get the idea.

Mar 3:33  But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?”

That’s unexpected.  It put the crowd on alert that following Jesus meant a change in one’s attitude toward natural family ties.

It was one thing for a disciple to leave everything to follow Jesus. But He had only called upon twelve guys to do that.  I’m sure everyone else thought life was business as usual, with family always coming first.

Mar 3:34  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
Mar 3:35  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

These are radical words in any culture, but certainly in the Jewish culture.  Jesus wasn’t advocating abandoning family, but He was making it clear that the will and the work of God takes priority even over family.

Let me take a moment to qualify that.  Too often people use this as an excuse to ignore their responsibilities to their family. Pastors and Christian workers especially get so into their ministry to others that they neglect their families.

They forget that treating your wife like Jesus treats the church, and raising your kids in the Lord, IS your ministry.

Jesus’ comments are not an excuse to disobey the clear teaching of the Bible about the home.

A better application of this is to consider your own nonbelieving family.  Are you willing to take a stand for Jesus in your nonbelieving family?

Will you do the will and the work of God?  Or are you prone to spiritual compromise because, after all, it’s family?

Everyone must answer those questions for themselves.  Just be honest in asking and answering them.  Don’t under-estimate the pressure of your family, and the fact they can be used by the devil to undermine your witness for the Lord.

On the plus side, as a believer in Jesus, you gain a whole new family.  When you are saved, you are born-again.  With that spiritual birth comes membership in the family of God, and brothers and sisters and mothers galore.

Have you ever been accused, by your natural family, of loving believers more than them?  I hope you have.

Notice Jesus doesn’t mention fathers.  Although it’s OK to see certain believers as spiritual fathers to you, especially if they were used to bring you to Jesus, the Lord was emphasizing that we all have one Father, His Father, God the Father.

Our new spiritual family is the church.  Not the building, but the believers.

Isn’t that wonderful?  Maybe you’re a single mom.  You’re not alone!  You’ve got believers to come alongside and be sisters and brothers and mothers. You can have as much, or as little, of their help as you want or need, simply by living in community with others in the church.

I’m calling the church a household of wonder.  The more you think about it, the more you, too, will see the wonder of our relationship with Jesus Christ, and then with one another in a spiritual community.

I know, I know; you’ve been burned or spurned somewhere along the line by some church.  Or you know someone who has.

Of course you have; that’s bound to happen, because the church is comprised of flawed people – including, and sometimes especially, me and you.

Work through it.  God has provided the necessary tools; and what a wonder they are.  Repentance, forgiveness, grace and mercy in abundance.  Prayer.  The Word of God.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We are told to not forsake assembling together as the church.  It’s where we come together to get equipped to go out and be able to more effectively plunder the strong man’s goods.

So, yes, it is a plunder-ful life, as we get equipped to go out and evangelize, setting free those held captive by the devil.

The Maker’s Dozen (Mark 3:7-21)

The Fast And The Curious (Mark 2:12-22)

I have a suggestion for an annual event that would put Lemoore on the map.

It would be called, La Tomatina en Lemoore.

It would be modeled after La Tomatina en Buñol, held annually in the eastern part of Spain since 1945.

It’s a food-fight using only tomatoes. The fight lasts for an hour, after which the whole town square is covered with tomato paste. Fire trucks hose down the streets and participants use hoses that locals provide to remove the tomato paste from their bodies.

It’s one of a growing number of annual tomato food-fights in the world.
Since 1982, the town of Twin Lakes, Colorado has held a tomato fight called the “Colorado Texas Tomato War,” in which Texans and Coloradans square off with tomatoes.

Since 2004 the Colombian town of Sutamarchán holds a similar event on June 15th when a surplus of tomatoes is harvested.

In Costa Rica the town of San José de Trojas celebrates a tomatine during the local Tomato Fair.

In the town of Dongguan in southern Guangdong province in China, a tomato fight is held on October 10, during which they use up to 15 tons of tomatoes.

Closer to home, La Tomatina en Reno, as it’s called, matches five thousand participants with one hundred thousand pounds of tomatoes.

The event takes place the last weekend of August and only overripe, inedible Roma tomatoes are tossed – which is better than simply throwing them in the trash. La Tomatina organizer Club Cal Neva charges a $10 per participant fee, and if you’d like to chuck produce at the mayors of Reno and/or nearby Sparks, you’ll have to fork over $50. All profits from the event go to the American Cancer Society.

With Del Monte and the Olam plant in Lemoore, what are we waiting for? We could be part of an international circuit for tomato fighters.

A food-fight of a different kind dominates our text. People are upset that Jesus feasts, and that He doesn’t seem to fast.

Their accusations and questions provide a teachable moment as Jesus explains some things about both feasting and fasting.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 Jesus Explains Why Feasting Is Something You Should Exemplify, and #2 Jesus Explains Why Fasting Is Something You Should Enjoy.

#1 Jesus Explains Why Feasting
Is Something You Should Exemplify
(v12-17)

One of the local income tax services is advertising for help using yard signs that read, “Help Wanted: No Experience Necessary. Will Train.”

How excited are you about having your taxes done by someone who saw a sign, and has no experience, and will receive only about two months training before tax season?

The Roman government, as I understand it, taxed regions, like Israel, by offering a contract to the highest bidder. This contract called for Rome to receive a certain amount of revenue. The person who won the bid made his profit by collecting more than the contract called for.

These contracts mostly went to wealthy Romans who then employed Jews to do the actual collection of the taxes.

Since these tax collectors came in regular contact with Gentiles, and since they were involved in what amounted to legal extortion of their own people, they were not just despised; they were cut-off from all the regular Jewish rites and rituals. Considered traitors, they had no hope of salvation under the Jewish system.

Mar 2:13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.

Jesus has been described over-and-over again by Mark as having teaching as His priority. This certainly carried over to His first disciples, in the Book of Acts. It ought, therefore, to be our priority today.

Mar 2:14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

We know Levi as Matthew, and after this initial story, that is how Mark will refer to him. Matthew is the Greek name, and Levi was the Hebrew name. As a tax collector, Matthew worked for Greek-speaking Romans, but he gathered taxes from Hebrew-speaking Jews

“Sitting at the tax office” meant that he was at what we would call a customs booth, along the road, charging tax on goods both coming in to Capernaum, and going out from it.

He was undoubtedly familiar with Jesus, if for no other reason, on account of the mighty works the Lord had been performing.

This is a profound and moving, very emotional, “follow Me” command. Tax collectors were considered ritually unclean, and outside of Judaism altogether. Yet Jesus called him to follow, requiring seemingly nothing of Matthew in terms of cleansing or preparation.

This “follow Me” is a “come-just-as-you-are” invitation. It’s the only way you can come to the Lord. No amount of good works, or religious rituals, can affect the heart of the matter, which is that we are all sinners separated from God.

It is only by believing in Jesus that we can be saved. God declares the believing sinner righteous based on the Cross of Jesus Christ, where He took our place.

We can’t emphasize this enough, because the devil has been pretty successful in spreading the lie that we can clean-up our own lives before coming to God.

While it is possible for a person to reform, we cannot be transformed unless we receive the Lord as our Savior.

Matthew had, in a moment of time, gone from being a guy who could not even attend synagogue, to being one of the key disciples of the Person John the Baptist had pointed-out as the Messiah of Israel Who would inaugurate the kingdom of God on the earth.

That’s grace in action.

Mar 2:15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.

Matthew threw a feast, partly in order to introduce his colleagues to Jesus. It’s typical of a person who is called by the Lord to want to tell his closest friends and his family about the Lord. It would be odd not to.

“They followed Him,” probably means they, too, got saved. If so, I wonder if many of them had a Zacchaeus-like response to their new life?

Zacchaeus was the short of stature tax collector who had to climb a tree to see Jesus passing by. The Lord noted His effort and invited Himself to dine with Zacchaeus. The tax collector got saved and said, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8).

Jesus’ other “disciples,” namely the two sets of fishing brothers – Peter and Andrew, James and John – were at the feast at Matthew’s house. This is pretty big. We can be certain that these boys had never eaten with a tax collector. In fact, Matthew undoubtedly collected, and extorted, taxes from their fishing business.

For at least that night, they were enjoying the freedom we have in Jesus Christ to share fellowship with all who are called by Him, to follow Him.

Not everyone was happy about the grace of God in Matthew’s life.

Mar 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

This literally reads, “the scribes of the Pharisees.” These were the scholars who spent their time studying the Scriptures, who were of the strict sect of the Pharisees.

In the original language, this is not a question. It is a stunned exclamation. “With tax collectors and sinners He eats!” They could not comprehend how it was possible to share a meal with such people, let alone enjoy it.

Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

No word of knowledge was needed; Jesus “heard” their exclamation.

No one who is sick thinks, “I’d better get myself well, then I’ll make an appointment to go and see my doctor.” No, you recognize something is very wrong, and you go to your doctor so he or she can make you well.

Because of the nature of the problem, Dr. Jesus doesn’t wait for the sinner to realize he or she needs help. He goes out and finds them, calling upon them to repent.

The scribes of the Pharisees didn’t see themselves as sinners, but as “righteous,” because they were attempting to keep God’s Law, as they interpreted it. They were, for example, keeping themselves separate from those considered sinners.

But how sad that those with the cure kept it to themselves.

You cannot achieve righteousness by keeping the Law; you can only receive righteousness, as a gift, by believing in Jesus Christ.

At the very least, the scribes ought to have been embarrassed, because they never once thought about how to help tax collectors and sinners come to know the God of Israel. They were content to judge them, and to turn them over to judgment.

I mean, how could you not want to rejoice, that one minute Levi was a tax collector, and from this point forward in Mark’s Gospel he would be known as Matthew, an apostle of the Messiah?

Could the teaching of the scribes affect a heart in so radical a manner?

I think it goes without arguing that Jesus, His disciples, Matthew, and the tax collecting sinners, were all enjoying the feast, celebrating.

Come-just-as-you-are salvation by grace through faith in Jesus is something to celebrate. Olive Garden may have the never-ending pasta bowl, and Red Lobster its endless shrimp, but Christians have eternal life, and that should be celebrated like a feast at all times.

Words like “joy” and “joyful” occur hundreds of times in the Bible. We are commanded to rejoice always (First Thessalonians 5:16).

To exemplify means to illustrate or to show as an example. Our lives should illustrate, and be the example to the world, that salvation in Jesus is a spiritual feast – a spiritual smorgasbord of resources needed to live for God.

If you are saved, you should see yourself as a Matthew, called by Jesus and wanting to call others to Him, to a feast that will last forever.

Grumpy Christians ought to be the exception, rather than the rule.

#2 Jesus Explains Why Fasting
Is Something You Should Enjoy
(v18-22)

When Jesus was on the earth, the Jews who considered themselves righteous fasted twice a week, on the second and the fifth days of the week.

It wasn’t commanded by God, and you won’t find it anywhere in the Scriptures. It was something added that was assumed to make one more spiritual. I mean, doesn’t fasting automatically sound more spiritual than feasting?

That’s the background for the particular question about fasting asked Jesus in these verses.

Mar 2:18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

We learned earlier (1:14) that John the Baptist had been imprisoned. His disciples are an interesting bunch, because they don’t really do what he told them to do.

John had pointed-out Jesus as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” He had said of himself that he must decrease while Jesus increases.

In effect, he told his disciples to follow Jesus. But they remained followers of John.

Going into the Book of Acts, quite a ways after Jesus was taken to Heaven and the church was born, Paul encounters some disciples of John the Baptist.

He can tell that there’s something not quite right about them. He asks them if they’ve received the Holy Spirit since they believed. They claim they’ve never even heard of the Holy Spirit.

That’s weird, because John the Baptist spoke of the Messiah baptizing with the Holy Spirit.

Finding common ground with the Pharisees is another odd thing about John’s guys. In Matthew’s Gospel, John had called the Pharisees who came out to him in the wilderness a “brood of vipers.” But here his disciples were, teaming up with them to question the Lord.

It seems all too possible for a disciple to not really hear what is being said. We should take note of this, and ask the Lord to show us the things we are not really hearing, and the reasons why.

Back to our text. All the spiritual guys were fasting; and fasting certainly seems spiritual. So why was Jesus still holding that turkey leg, probably on a fast day?

Mar 2:19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

You don’t fast at a wedding feast. It is inappropriate. It is, in fact, disrespectful, because you are excluding yourself from the joy of the occasion. I think the term is buzz-kill.

It’s like that stupid custom, at weddings, of asking, “Does anyone here present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

For one brief moment the couple is at the mercy of anyone behind them who feels like ruining their day.

Jesus goes so far as to say “they cannot fast.” He means that the joy they are experiencing is so overwhelming, fasting should never even enter their minds.

By the way, John the Baptist is quoted in John’s Gospel as saying, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled” (3:29).

For disciples, these fellows weren’t listening very hard. He had already answered this question for them, by himself using the bridegroom illustration.

Mar 2:20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

The word used for “taken away” describes a form of violence.

He wasn’t, therefore, talking about His ascension into Heaven, but rather His being crucified, and being in the grave three-days and three-nights.

Jesus knew He was headed to the Cross, and that is the “taken away from them” moment He was referring to.

Jesus’ specific answer as to why He and His disciples did not practice the twice-weekly fasting was that it was inappropriate to do so while He was on the earth offering to inaugurate the kingdom.

He will now go on to make a distinction between the kind of fasting practiced by the disciples of John and the Pharisees, and that which is appropriate.

Mar 2:21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.

No one should attempt to patch an old, worn garment by sewing a piece of unshrunk cloth over a hole in it. The result would be that the unshrunk patch, when it became wet, would shrink and tear away from the old garment at the sewn edges, leaving a greater tear than before. To seek to preserve the old by patching it up with what is new is destructive.

Mar 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

The skins of goats, stripped off as nearly whole as possible and partly tanned, were commonly used in the as containers for liquids. With age, the skins became hard and lost their elasticity. To put new wine (fresh from the wine vat) into them would mean that inevitably the fermenting wine would burst the old skins.

A double loss would result: the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined.
The traditions of the day – like twice-weekly fasting – were like a torn garment, and an old wineskin.

The Lord was offering a brand-new garment, not a repair or alteration. And He was promising a filling that their old wineskins could not contain.

A relationship with Him would involve receiving a brand-new garment – a robe of righteousness, fit for Heaven.
And it would involve being filled with something new – the Holy Spirit of God.

We often speak of our salvation using the illustration of the robe of righteousness, so let me summarize it quickly. Born a sinner, you stand before God in filthy rags, inappropriate for the holiness of Heaven. Jesus alone has a robe of righteousness. He offers to take off of you the filthy rags, and give you the robe of righteousness that will gain you Heaven and eternal life.

But His righteousness, as we have already said, can never be earned; it must be given to you. And it is, when you repent and believe in Jesus.

Beyond that, Jesus promises you will be indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. Your body becomes His temple as He resides within you.

The whole character of having a relationship with God thus changed with the coming of Jesus. We don’t add Him to the old ways. He fulfills the old ways, rendering them obsolete.

So does that mean we need not ever fast?

Pardon the pun, but “Not so fast.”
This isn’t the only thing Jesus said about fasting. A quick look at His teaching on the subject is in order.

In Matthew 6:16 Jesus assumes that His followers will fast periodically. He says, “When you fast, “ not “if you fast.”

The apostle Paul took this to heart. In Acts chapter thirteen, he and the other leaders at the church in Antioch fasted before he and Barnabas were sent out to do mission work.

In Acts chapter fourteen, those same two men, Paul and Barnabas, are described as fasting before appointing leaders in the newly born churches.

Jesus also mentioned how to fast:

Mat 6:16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Mat 6:18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

I’ve seen sessions where actors are given an emotion, or a situation, and must try to convey it through their facial expressions alone.

I can understand someone looking sad, but how do you disfigure your face in such a way that it communicates fasting?

It seems, then, that we should fast; and, when we do it, we should do it as unto the Lord, in secret. But we’re not done surveying fasting yet.

I want to share one more insight – one that I think puts at least some fasting into its new, church age, perspective.

Do you realize that, right now, in Heaven, Jesus is fasting? At His last supper with the disciples, Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25).

The day He was referring to is His Second Coming back to earth, with the church as His bride, to celebrate the marriage supper on the earth as the thousand year kingdom of God is finally inaugurated.

Jesus has elevated fasting to something we’d have to call romantic. He won’t drink of the vine again until He can do it with us. His fasting keeps us on His heart, 24/7.

Let me put it another way. We normally only think of fasting as a discipline to draw us closer to God; to humble ourselves; to storm the gates of Heaven.

While I think those are all very real reasons to fast, you certainly cannot say that is why Jesus is fasting. He is fasting strictly for joy – the anticipated joy of drinking again with us.

Here’s what I get from this quick survey. Fasting is OK as a practice, because the bridegroom is gone.
But, since He is coming back, we ought to enjoy any fasting we do as an anticipation of our reunion with Him, and with all the saints of the church age.

I came across this summary of fasting: Don’t eat and allow God to speak to you in the space you create.

Your Christian life is to look like a feast even if you fast in private. Jesus is, after all, your heavenly Bridegroom, and you are his bride.

Whatever other reasons you fast, and whatever other results it achieves – it keeps His coming for us, to take us home, on our hearts, as we, too, long to drink with Him at our feast.

Go Fish (Mark 1:14-45)

It was a cold winter day, when an old man walked out onto a frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice, dropped in his fishing line and began waiting for a fish to bite.

He was there for a long time without even a nibble when a young boy walked out onto the ice, cut a hole in the ice not too far from the old man and dropped in his fishing line.  It only took about a minute and WHAM! a fish hit his hook and the boy reeled it in.  The old man couldn’t believe it but figured it was just luck.

The boy dropped in his line and again within just a few minutes pulled in another one.

This went on and on until finally the old man couldn’t take it any more since he hadn’t caught a thing all this time.
He went to the boy and said, “Son, I’ve been here for over an hour without even a nibble.  You have been here only a few minutes and have caught about half a dozen fish. How do you do it?”

The boy responded, “Roo raf roo reep ra rums rrarm.”

“What was that?” the old man asked.

Again the boy responded, “Roo raf roo reep ra rums rarrm.”

“Look,” said the old man, “I can’t understand a word you are saying.”

So, the boy spit into his hand and said, “You have to keep the worms warm!”

Fishermen are definitely enthusiastic about their pastime.

Seven of the original twelve disciples of Jesus were fishermen.  Not shepherds, as you might have thought, seeing there are so many references to that occupation surrounding the Lord.

Why fishermen?  Perhaps so the Lord could explain that following Him was like fishing for men.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 When You Follow Jesus, You Embark On A Lifetime Of Fishing For Men, and #2 When You Follow Jesus, You Enroll In Lessons On Fishing For Men.

#1    When You Follow Jesus,
    You Embark On A Lifetime Of Fishing For Men
    (v14-20)

I’ve been fascinated by something we discovered last week in our study of the opening verses.  Unique to the Gospel of Mark is his characteristic of writing from what scholars call “the historical present.”  It is a literary technique that makes it appear you are right there as the story is being told.

Do you know what an embedded journalist is?  That’s when a reporter is attached to a unit in combat to give eyewitness reports of the action.

We are to read Mark as if we were embedded with Jesus and His disciples.

We pick up the action after Jesus was both water-baptized and Spirit-baptized, and after He defeated Satan in the forty-day wilderness temptation.

Mar 1:14  Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

If you were looking at a timeline of the life of Jesus, you’d see that Mark skips ahead about a year, saying nothing about what happened between Jesus’ forty-day temptation in the wilderness and the beginning of His public preaching and teaching.

Scholars sometimes call that first year, “the year of obscurity.”  Some significant things happened, mentioned only in John’s Gospel, but Jesus did not really burst onto the scene preaching the kingdom of God.

After His baptisms, and after blackening the devil’s eye, I’d have thought it was the perfect moment to come from the wilderness preaching.  God has a much different way of doing things than we do.

What is the “Gospel?”  You might say it is Jesus Himself, since He is the One Who was promised to come and deal with sin so men might be saved.  It is the Person and work of Jesus by which believing sinners can be declared right with God.  It is Him dying on the Cross as our Substitute, then rising again on the third day, to draw all men to Himself and offer everyone the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.

The “Gospel” as it relates to “the kingdom of God” is described in verse fifteen:

Mar 1:15  and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

“The kingdom of God” Jesus was proclaiming is the visible, earthly kingdom that God promised Israel.

How is it that “the time” for offering the kingdom was “fulfilled?”  The exact day that the Messiah would make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem was known, and it was not far off.  It had been set by Daniel some 500 years earlier in his famous prophecy of the 70 weeks.

The day we call Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, hailed as the King, was coming quickly.  This momentous occasion should encourage everyone to “repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Have you done that?  Repented of your sin, and believed in Jesus Christ?

Mar 1:16  And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
Mar 1:17  Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Mar 1:18  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Mar 1:19  When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.
Mar 1:20  And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.

These fishermen, two sets of brothers, already knew Jesus.  Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist.  When John pointed out Jesus as the Messiah, Andrew took Simon to meet Him.

Simon, btw, is Peter; and that’s probably what I’m going to call him, so don’t get confused.

As for James and John knowing Jesus (and I quote):

From a comparison of Matthew 27:55–56 with Mark 15:40, it may be assumed that [Zebedee’s] wife’s name was Salome, and further comparison with John 19:25 indicates that she was the sister of the mother of Jesus.  So, James and John were Jesus’ cousins.

During the year of obscurity I mentioned, Jesus gathered his first five disciples – John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathaniel and Bartholomew.

He traveled with them to Galilee, where he performed the first of the signs recorded in John’s Gospel, changing the water to wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.  Afterwards the disciples returned to their own homes, where they resumed their normal lives, until the call we are witnessing here.

There is obviously a lot we could say about this call to discipleship, but there are three things I want to draw out for our consideration.

First, when Jesus says, “I will make you become fishers of men,” Jesus was not calling them to the office of apostle.  That would come later.

That means this statement applies to all believers.  To follow Jesus means you are a fisher of men.

It’s not a special gifting that only a few, e.g., evangelists, have from God.  It is the normal Christian life.

Hold that thought for a moment while we look at a second thing.

When Jesus says “I will make you become fishers of men,” it implies that it is something He will do.

“Make” means it’s His work; it’s something He is forming in us.

“Become” indicates it’s going to continue over time.

Which brings us to a rather interesting third thing.  Notice that Andrew and Peter were “casting a net into the sea,” while James and John were “in the boat mending their nets.”

I think their jobs that day have significance, and here is what I mean.

The first two brothers were casting a net.  Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus; or, as we might say it today, he brought Peter to the Lord.  Peter would go on to great evangelistic work, preaching, for example, on the Day of Pentecost when three thousand people got saved.  Thus, Andrew and Peter were net-casters, not just by the Sea of Galilee in their fishing business, but in their ministry of ‘catching’ people for Jesus.

James and John were mending nets when called by the Lord.  While we can’t say much about James, since very little is written about him, and since he wrote no letters, John was certainly a mender in his ministry, preaching the love and unity of the brethren in his letters.

It’s only an observation but, putting all this together, I think we can say that every follower of Jesus can expect a lifetime of being made into a fisher of men according to your own unique bent, personality, and gifting.

The question for us today is this: How avid a fisher of men are you?  Whether you are more an evangelist or more an encourager, is fishing for men, i.e., serving Jesus, your one true passion in life?

Hey, love what you do; just do it as unto the Lord.  Make sure people know He is your reason for getting up each day and doing what you do.

Always be casting, or mending, with the time and talent and things God has given you.  Whatever it is you do, think of Jesus saying to you today, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

What would that look like tomorrow?

#2   When You Follow Jesus,
        You Enroll In Lessons On Fishing For Men
    (v21-45)

If you are going to “make” guys “become fishers of men,” they will need lessons.  Think of the rest of this chapter as Fishers of Men 101.

Mar 1:21  Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
Mar 1:22  And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

For the sake of the first fishing lesson, look also at verse thirty-eight:

Mar 1:38  But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”

Jesus said He came to “preach” and to “teach.”  When He did, He spoke with an “authority” folks were not used to.
If you want to know the difference between “preaching” and “teaching,” I’d recommend you listen to a week of Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s regular Thru the Bible radio program.  Then tune in to the Sunday broadcast.  His Sunday preaching will astonish you compared to his weekday teaching.

First priority of fishing for men: Speak the Word of God with authority.

We’re going to see Jesus try hard in this chapter to stay on task, despite folks pressing upon Him for healings and deliverance from demons.  He did those things, in abundance; but His mission was the Gospel that changes hearts, not just bodies.

Mar 1:23  Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,
Mar 1:24  saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”
Mar 1:25  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
Mar 1:26  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.

Calling it “their synagogue” tells us that this man was a visitor.  A demon picked a bad day to visit the Synagogue.

The “us” and “we” make it sound like he was possessed by more than one demon, but the original words don’t support that. Besides, the demon says, “I know Who you are.”

“Unclean” speaks to him being vulgar, immoral, gross.

Jesus told him to be quiet.  I find that interesting because so often, among those who practice exorcisms, they claim that you must get the demon talking, especially to tell you its name.  Then they apply a whole bunch of spells and incantations, and holy water and such.

I know, I know… We’ve all seen the movies of ‘real’ exorcisms that ‘worked’ on account of these procedures.  I say it’s just demons messin’ with the exorcists, lulling them into thinking that the power is in the ritual rather than in Jesus.

Mar 1:27  Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
Mar 1:28  And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

Exorcisms were not new.  Jesus’s almost nonchalant manner, and the obvious authority He had over the demon, was new.

Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness in one-on-one, your-champion-against-my-champion, combat.  Every time He encountered a demon, or demons, He commanded them, and they obeyed Him.

In the language of the Gospels, we would say that Jesus “bound the strong man,” so He could plunder the strong man’s house.  He was delivering people from the kingdom of darkness to enter the kingdom of God He came to establish.

Is Satan bound today?  Sadly, no.

Because Jesus’ offer of the kingdom was rejected, the establishing of the kingdom on the earth was delayed until Jesus’ Second Coming.  In the mean time, Satan is loose, on the prowl as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, as the ruler of the kingdom of darkness.

What is the fishing lesson here, for us?  It is for us to remember that, although loose and fierce, Satan is fighting from defeat.
Though He may yet hinder and obstruct us in many ways; though he holds men captive to do his will; we do not fear him, or what he can do.

People seem really troubled as to why we don’t encounter demons and demon-possession more often, since it was so prevalent when Jesus was on the earth.

All I can say is, “That’s just fine with me!”  I’m in no hurry for us to confront demons.  But, if we do, we know that they are defeated.

This is huge.  Satan is still the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, ruler over demonic forces.  But his fate is sealed, and we can battle from victory, not for victory.  We press on; we persevere, no matter the opposition.

Mar 1:29  Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
Mar 1:30  But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.
Mar 1:31  So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

The boys came home from synagogue, after facing a demon, expecting a hot meal, only to find that Peter’s mom had a raging fever.

Not a problem.  Jesus healed her.

Fishing lesson number two: Bad things happen to God’s people.  In fact, God’s people are singled-out for attack by the enemy, trying to stop or at least slow down the work of the Gospel.

You are going to need a strong theology of suffering in order to go fishing.  Lot’s of terrible things are going to happen around you, to people you love, and to you.

“Wait just a minute,” you say.  “Jesus healed Peter’s mom, so isn’t that what He wants to do for everyone?”

No, it isn’t.  Jesus was delayed by His Father from helping Lazarus, and Lazarus died.  It was so terrible that even Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb.

Yes, He raised Lazarus from the dead… But then Lazarus died again later on.

The kingdom Jesus came offering the Jews got rejected, and the world we live in is still subject to the curse.  The problem of pain, as C.S. Lewis called it, is something you need to factor in.

Mar 1:32  At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.
Mar 1:33  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.
Mar 1:34  Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.

Legalistic Jews that they were, they waited until the Sabbath ended to travel, and to see a work of healing, or an exorcism, performed.

Again, please note, “He did not allow the demons to speak.”  If you ever do encounter a demon, don’t talk to it.

In passing we point out that these people knew the difference between diseases and demons.  Many liberal scholars want to say that the cases of demon-possession in the Bible were all really mental illnesses.  They were not.

I was thinking about the boys – Andrew, Peter, James and John.  They must have assisted in some way, maybe acting as ushers, and seeing to it everyone was patient, with no taking cuts in line.

Just hang around where ministry is occurring and there will be needs to meet.

Mar 1:35  Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
Mar 1:36  And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.

These guys had been with Jesus only a day and they already lost Him.  They slept-in while Jesus slipped-out.

Don’t you always go fishing early?  Jesus was giving the guys another lesson.  And it isn’t that prayer is important (although it is).

The lesson is that you should rather want to be in fellowship with God than be anywhere else, doing anything else, with anybody else.  Even if it means getting up during the early morning, which meant between 3am and 6am.

Mar 1:37  When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.”
Mar 1:38  But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”
Mar 1:39  And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

Lesson number four (if I’m counting right): Be led by the Spirit and not by the demand of circumstances.

I must say, there were an awful lot of demons in the Gospels.  Could it be that in the shadow of his defeat in the wilderness, Satan ramped-up his efforts to try to get Jesus off mission?

Mar 1:40  Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
Mar 1:41  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Mar 1:42  As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

Leprosy seems mild, to us, compared to demon-possession, but not so among the religious Jews.  This horrible affliction was regarded as distinct from other physical problems.  Leprosy had a religious significance as a type of sin, the outward and visible sign of inward spiritual corruption.  The leper was considered unclean, the very embodiment of impurity.  Someone with a demon might be delivered by exorcism, but with leprosy you were the living dead.

Lesson #5 – Fishing for men requires you have compassion upon the very worst, the very lowest, the most afflicted persons, knowing that the Lord can make them whole.

The Lord’s compassion manifested itself in a “touch” – the first human contact this man had experienced in perhaps decades.

Mar 1:43  And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once,
Mar 1:44  and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Just because he was healed, it didn’t mean he would be immediately received back into Jews social life.

You know how we joke, saying, “there’s an app for that?”  The Jews might say, “there’s a ritual for that.”

I’m glad that when Jesus ‘touches’ our hearts today, we are made whole, with no need for any ritual to prove we are saved, or complete our salvation.

Mar 1:45  However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

I can’t say I blame him.  It is interesting to see that being the recipient of a miraculous healing doesn’t make you obedient to God.  I’m not saying the former leper wasn’t saved, but I am saying that people for whom God does great things can still ignore Him.

Jesus’ teaching ministry was being hindered by people seeking signs and wonders.  That’s a twist on our way of thinking.  Certain Pentecostal groups think that emphasizing the Word too much can get in the way of signs and wonders.  I’ll take my cue from Jesus and keep His Word our priority.  If signs and wonders follow its teaching, that’s up to Jesus, and I’ll rejoice in them.

If you’re like me,  when you finally get an opportunity to share the Gospel, you feel like you have a mouthful of worms.

Remember that the Lord is at work, patiently making you become a fisher of men throughout your lifetime.  You are His fisherman or fisherwoman in progress.

Take His lessons to heart and either cast the net or mend it, and “Go fish.”

I asked earlier, “What is that going to look like tomorrow?”

In our response time, ask the Lord to fill and refresh you in His Spirit, and to show you how, today and tomorrow, you can fish more effectively.