18 Feb 3/1/20 Mark 1:9-15 “How to be Totally Free!”
3/1/20 Mark 1:9-15 “How to be Totally Free!”
This is our first Sunday in Lent. I hope that you are doing well in whatever it was that you gave up for Lent. I have given up a variety of things over the years. In the early years of being a Christian, I gave up things for my own good. These things were certain foods like chocolate or certain meals like lunch on Thursday or a certain bad habit. It wasn’t until a little later that I realized that we are to give things up as a reminder of all that Christ gave up for us. I have never said that I was the brightest bulb in the marquee. It generally takes me a little longer to figure things out. Therefore, if you are now in the same boat as I used to be, that is ok. As easy as following Christ is or as easy as I tell you it is, it really isn’t that easy at all. Sometimes we just move on ahead until the Holy Spirit comes and corrects us. Anyway, today we are going to take a look at an interesting segment of Mark and see how it fits into our Easter season.
I would like to open today with a little story from Lillian Pearsall when she worked as a telephone operator. There was a time, believe it or not, when telephone operators were an intricate part of our communication systems. If you don’t really know what they are, then I suggest you Google it. I’m sure they will describe a telephone operator. Anyway, a customer had talked too long on a long distance call from a pay telephone booth. A phone booth is another part of this system that is all but obsolete. Lillian was trying to be nice about the whole thing but the man still refused to put in more coins. Instead he got very irate and abusive and finally he slammed down the phone.
A moment later he was back on the phone with Lillian in a much calmer and kinder tone. Somehow in his rage he had locked himself into the booth and he said, “Operator, please let me out of the phone booth—I’ll pay, I’ll pay, just let me out!”
He had mistakenly thought that Lillian had control of the phone booth’s doors and had locked him in. He then gladly paid the overtime charge for his call and Lillian gave him some advice as to how to free himself. I think that this shows us how we all sometimes get a little carried away with our sin until we come to a point when we call to Jesus as our only way out.
We begin today with the baptism of Jesus. He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Do you remember last week when we talked of the Jordan River being the new beginning for the nation of Israel after they had wandered about the wilderness for forty years? Well, this is another instance of a new beginning, the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. I would like you also to notice just how short and concise is Mark’s account of this event. This is sort of the way he wrote. He was probably the first to write a gospel and the other writers elaborated on some of these things a little more.
I am not going to make this a sermon about baptism. I believe that the important part of this is that Jesus was God’s chosen one. God says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Isn’t this great? God is already well pleased even before Jesus had begun his ministry. For whatever reason, God waited until Jesus was 30 years old to have Him anointed through baptism. In this ancient society, a boy became a man at around age 14 or so. So Jesus spent many years as a full grown adult before He starts his ministry. It was at this time that God knew everything was in the right place for Jesus. I am sure that He would have been ready to begin his ministry at any time but God chose age 30.
We have a lot of trouble with ages in our world. I have known people who are ready to be on their own in the world at age 16. I have known others who still are not ready to be on their own at age 30. And yet we seem to think that we have to pass laws that restrict our labor force. Here is what I mean.
A few years ago in Minnesota they wanted to pass a law that will make it illegal to drop out of school until the age of 18. On the surface, this may seem like a wonderful idea even though it may be a bit expensive. But what about those thousands of students who have no interest or desire to be in school. To them school is a prison. And as a result, they will only cause problems if they stay in school. Why not relax our laws a little bit and let these people drop out and begin their life in the workforce? If we are a country that prizes individual freedom, then why do we work so hard at restricting it? People are ready for different things at different ages.
I also think that this has bearings on our spiritual life. I have known many children who have given their lives to Christ. I have also known many people, like myself, who didn’t commit themselves to Christ until an older age. I praise the Lord that He allows us to come to Him at any time in our lives and that He didn’t pass a law stating that we had to do it by age 18, because if that were the case, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m sure some of you wouldn’t be here also. We need to be sure that when we are trying to help someone find Christ that we realize that it is all on God’s timing and not ours. We can only bring someone to the brink of acceptance. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.
I would like to say one final word on this subject. Before we first decided to follow Jesus, He chose us. In Ephesians 1:4 we read, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” We are a chosen people. We are a chosen people by God. Now if that doesn’t make you feel good, I don’t know what will. Jesus loves you and loves you and loves you. And when you think you have enough of His love, He loves you some more.
And this makes the second point a little hard to accept. Right after the baptism, the Holy Spirit sends Jesus out into the desert where He was tempted by Satan. Notice again how short this reference is. Many people feel that temptation is equated with sin. This is not so. It is very important to note that even Jesus could be tempted. That is just the nature of Satan. It is also important to note that Jesus wasn’t even close to succumbing to his tempter. But he was tempted.
Satan has really been having a field day in this area. I cannot even begin to cover a topic like this. If we just look on TV we are able to see murder and immoral behavior at any time of day. It is no wonder that our murder rate is so high and our moral standards are so low. With all of this garbage on the TV, we are not able to give our children a fighting chance against Satan. And look at all the alcohol and drug problems that we have. We could stop this stuff if we wanted to but as a society we just don’t want to do it. The list goes on and on. I can’t imagine what it will be like in another 20 years!
I will only give one example from one of our congressmen. A few years ago I wrote to all of our Congressmen about the not confirming a certain person for a cabinet post who broke the law by intentionally not paying his taxes. The reply I got from one of them was ‘we are not in normal circumstances. It is imperative that we fill this vacancy immediately.’ It seems to me that our own congressmen have made integrity a non-essential element of running the government. We could just as well appoint people from our penitentiaries. Satin is working hard everywhere and this includes in the people we elect to run this country. By the way this person is no longer our representative.
And the only way to begin to correct something like this, and it does seem to be an insurmountable task, is to look at our own lives. I think that Lent is a beautiful time of year. This is a time when we can put our focus on Jesus Christ and what He wants us to be doing. This is a time when we can reflect on what we are doing wrong. And more importantly, this is a time when we can make some corrections to get on the right path with Jesus.
If you didn’t give something up for Lent, that is ok. But I would like to ask you to still think about it and maybe give something up. And if you do, then when you are tempted, think about the one who doesn’t want you to be tempted, Jesus Christ. Or if you don’t want to give anything up, why don’t you add something to your life during Lent. You could add a prayer time in the morning or one in the evening. You could add some time in your day to read the Scriptures. I would suggest reading through the book of John during this season. Or maybe you could take a tablet and pen and write a short journal about Jesus during this time. These are the ways to fight Satan. This is the way to turn this country around. Jesus is the way and He has always, always been the way. Just remember how much He loves you and try to love Him back in these small ways.
Jesus has another trial here that we might overlook if we are not careful. He comes out of the desert and finds that John the Baptist has been arrested and is in prison. We often only think of John the Baptist as the one who preceded Christ. However, his ministry was one that paralleled the ministry of Jesus. So there could have been two people going around the countryside preaching the Good News if John had not been arrested. So now the whole load of this ministry is on Jesus’ shoulders.
Look how Jesus responds to all of this adversity. He says, “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” He is not going to let any of this stuff slow him down in the least. Jesus Christ came to this world to do a job and that is exactly what He intended to do. There would not be any kind of bad news or bad turn of events that was going to slow Him down on His journey to the cross.
This is kind of a hard topic for us also. We like to think that after we have been beaten back a little, we should slow down or quit. Or at least we should change our ways so that they are not in conflict with everyone else in our broken society. We like to think that as long as everyone else is doing something, then it is ok. Well, balderdash!
Our poor country is being run by a bunch of people who think this way and we are getting beaten back. Well, we need to keep looking forward. When we see things that are wrong, we have to point them out. When we see people doing things that are against the Bible, then we need to speak up. We cannot quit loving our neighbors but we do have to tell them when they are wrong. We have to quit following the crowd. Jesus didn’t quit doing what was right and He doesn’t want us to quit either.
It is always easy to look around us and see all the problems. It is a little harder to look at ourselves. We have all been beaten back in our lives. We have all suffered defeats where we have just pulled back and quit. I have done this many times. And sometimes it is the right thing to do if we are dealing with secular problems in a secular world. I know that I have even quit things that I am sure, when I look back, were things that Jesus wanted me to do. We probably all have. So today, maybe one of the things that we might add during this Lenten season is to be more aware of what Jesus is saying to us. Be aware of His presence in your life and then try in some way to act on what he is saying to you. After all we are the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. And He doesn’t give us more than we can handle. Therefore, let Him fully into your life and let the love flow out.
Today we have talked about how Jesus began his ministry with God being very pleased with him at his baptism, how then he was tempted in the desert and finally how he rebounded and spread the Good News everywhere. In our opening story, we had a man stuck in a phone booth. He couldn’t get out without some help. Today if you are stuck in your own personal phone booth, then ask Jesus to help you out. He would like nothing better than to remove you from all of your barriers because He is pleased with you and forgives you of all your sins. Because when we finally free ourselves of all the distractions and sins in our lives, then we can start to serve Jesus. And that is all He has ever wanted.
Jesus Christ came to this world to make a better life for you and me. These things happened 2000 years ago and they are just as relevant as if they had happened yesterday. There is a song on the radio that tells us to ‘Come to Jesus and live.’ Free yourself and come to His embrace. He loves you no matter who you are or what you have done. The life in Christ is a life in freedom. Thank you Jesus for your unending love and thank you for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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