Expectations 1 - Inside and Outside Forces

Scripture: Mark 7:14-37

Mark 7:14–37 NIV

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” 16 17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” 24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

9/8/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Communion

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 1: Communion

Communion moved because of guest speaker last week

Opening Prayer:

O God, Wisdom of the universe, you bear the pain of your people. Grant us the gift of wisdom, that we may discern your way and live justly and graciously amid the struggles of this world. Amen.

Inside and Outside Forces

Conflict

Jesus did not live back in the good old days. He lived during a time of great cultural interchange, global political intrigue, incredible entrepreneurial opportunity for anyone willing to work hard, and civic innovation. The Roman Empire treated most of the people like animals, and it became very good at convincing them that they were nothing more than that. So, wealth and entertainment were living a few blocks away from third-world poverty and disease all over the cities of Israel.

This tension caused by people seeing evil rewarded and good people suffering caused sharp divisions among God’s people as everyone looked for explanations that would empower them to be free from suffering and somehow protect their sense of Justice. But nothing seemed to work, so they fought over the scraps. So, when the disciples went out to preach the gospel, they had to contend with many direct objections—from Jews and Greeks, rich and poor, young and old, and everyone in between.

Conflict was abundant for the disciples of Jesus then and today. Many of us say we don’t like conflict, but the challenges of conflict are unavoidable in life. Even if you don’t follow Jesus and try to live life going down the path of least resistance, you will still face conflict. Thankfully, most of the time, conflict is not bad. We often only face two options, and one is clearly better than the other.

We struggle when conflict rules are unclear, there are too many options, and we can’t make the best choice. We enjoy a good football or basketball game, but those games would not be as fun if five teams were playing at the same time on the same field or court and we had family members on three different teams. That is the kind of conflict we don’t like.

When we don’t know what to do, we find ourselves open to temptations and unable to resist them. But Jesus saves us and empowers us to resist temptations inside and outside us.

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Inside Forces

Jesus taught us that what comes out of us makes us unclean, not what goes into us. That must’ve sounded so strange to the people who heard him first to say that in a world riddled with dirt, grime, and disease, and the Jewish culture with so much care to avoid things that were unclean, either physically or spiritually. Yet Jesus seems to teach that we cannot be guilty by association. We only sin when we respond to the broken, messy, sin-filled world around us in the wrong way. We don’t become sinners just by being here, just as Jesus did not become a sinner just by being born into our world with us.

We all have people and things that influence our lives. Some influences are stronger than others. We often talk about peer pressure among young people, but many make choices influenced by those they live with, work with, or respect. You may have had a mother, father, or grandparents you followed unquestioningly. Perhaps you would do anything to please your spouse. You may feel like you can only get ahead in your job if you become the person your boss wants you to be. Or perhaps there’s someone who may not even know you that you find yourself trying to become more like.

When we repeatedly make similar choices, they build themselves into traditions inside us. Those traditions lock us into making the same choices every time. Some years ago, I had a conversation with a man in charge of landscaping on the grounds of a college campus. If you’ve ever walked a college campus, you know that sometimes the sidewalks take interesting turns. I asked him how he decided where to put sidewalks on campus. He told me that when they build a new building, they don’t put any sidewalks around it. Instead, they wait and see where people walk. Wherever the grass got stomped down by the feet of students, that’s where they poured the concrete to make the sidewalk.

That is how traditions work in our lives. They are designed with good purpose to help us get to where we need to go, but once they are set, they don’t move. When things around them change, they can occasionally become more of a hindrance than help. Over time, traditions can teach us to follow the paved path instead of following the one who is the way, the light, and the truth.

We became disciples and followed Jesus because someone influenced us to choose Jesus. As we make that choice every day, some of the things we do, such as going to church, singing, praying, reading our Bible, helping others, and many other things slowly become traditions in our lives. Once those traditions get set, it is tough to change them.

The Devil doesn’t waste time messing with our traditions. Instead, he tries to convince us that if we have all the correct traditions, we no longer need to worry about following Jesus. He tries to convince us that doing all those activities is just as good as following a living Lord and Savior. If he can convince us of that, he will put us in conflict with ourselves, trying to fight against everything that we know is good to find that real relationship with Jesus again. Some of you are here today, facing changes you never asked for, reassessing your life, and trying to figure out how to keep the baby but get rid of the old bathwater.

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Outside Forces

Jesus taught us that sin is based on what comes out of us, not what goes into us, and that sometimes our traditions hold us back from being fully faithful by teaching us to settle for second best. But that does not deny the fact that we face conflicts from outside ourselves and inside. We still face sickness, injury, heartache, darkness, and a whole host of things that do not originate in us. I’ve heard that the closer we follow Jesus, the more the enemy will try to attack us. I don’t know if that is true, but life can feel that way. Some days, I wonder if the attacks feel heavier simply because we are putting up more of a fight instead of letting the darkness come in, have its way with us, use and abuse us, and then leave us alone. When you read through the Old Testament prophets, they make it sound as if not putting up a fight against temptation is a far greater sin than being around broken, sinful people. Perhaps that is because we cannot expect to bring Christ’s saving light to others’ souls if we are unwilling to let it shine in our lives.

We don’t have stories of the Pharisees or even the followers of John the Baptist, healing people and casting out demons. But look at the example Jesus left us. He moved from lecturing the Pharisees and teaching them how to be truly clean (instead of just appearing clean on the outside while still being a mess inside), and then immediately goes to battle against demonic forces for the soul of a pagan woman’s daughter he has never met. That’s like finishing an Emmaus walk and going immediately to serve in the jungles of Cambodia. Jesus does this without skipping a beat. He doesn’t have to prepare himself in a particular way to go out into the wild because he knows he faces that same temptation and conflict no matter where he goes.

Then, back in Galilee, the Jewish people brought him a man who could not hear and barely talk. No one questions whether this is because of evil spiritual forces, sickness, or something else entirely. They know Jesus can fight for this man, and they are right. If anyone has ears to hear, Jesus wants them to listen to him. For those who cannot hear but want to hear Jesus, he will make a way. And he sends us into that same dark, broken, sinful world not to be consumed by it but to prepare the way for him.

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Expect Conflict

We need to expect conflict when we choose to follow Jesus. We must expect that the more we follow Jesus, the more conflict we will notice. It does not get easier over time. Sometimes, it gets harder. In everything we face, two temptations try to pull us away from Jesus.

The first temptation is to do it ourselves. We hear the term spiritual warfare, and we want to put on our hard hats, crawl into our holy tanks, and mow over the armies of darkness in Jesus’ name. We want to take our anxiety and frustration and find a target to unleash it on. We want to channel the righteous anger of Jesus in the temple and turn over somebody’s tables. The moment we do, we take our eyes off Jesus, and we soon find ourselves drowning in a sea storm of our own, making, with all of our attention, focused on fighting the battles outside of us and giving the devil a foothold inside of us. And we will lose that battle until Jesus comes and saves us. We cannot fight these battles ourselves. Even with all of our strengths added together, we cannot save the world. Thousands of generations have tried and failed and left their mark by moving the mess from one place to another, causing as much harm as they did good.

The second temptation is to surrender. When we can’t fight, we want to flee. When the odds are against us, we want to fold. In the past five years, the amount of sound biblical teaching that anyone can access, often without cost, from their own home has increased exponentially. Every year, we share that it has never been easier to access God‘s word in the teachings of Jesus in a way we can understand. Yet some people still choose to turn away from Jesus every day because knowing about Jesus does not make you a Christian. It does not make you saved. Having a Bible, even reading a Bible, does not make you a disciple of Jesus. The only thing that gets you to eternal life is following Jesus.

Will you let him be your Lord and Savior? Will you let him lead you, or will you choose to be stuck responding to everything around you and inside you in the conflicts you face, living your life by the rule of fight or flight? Those are just two sides of the same prison cell, and when we are stuck there, we are stuck in a prison of our own making, put away in a box where the only choices we allow ourselves to see are sin. Life becomes a chore of choosing the lesser of two evils, knowing nothing good can come out of us. That is the kind of life Jesus came to save us from.

If you are still living that life, maybe you are not following Jesus today. Perhaps you’ve been afraid to make that choice because you’ve seen the road He walked on, and you know it is full of conflict. You know there are no easy answers there. And you know you have enough trouble already without adding Jesus to it. But there is no life without Jesus. There is only death. There is no healing without Jesus. There is only brokenness. There is no light without Jesus. There are only the lies we buy from the devil and use on ourselves as we spend our lives fighting and running away from everything.

Maybe you stopped following Jesus somewhere along the road. The conflict and frustration grew to be more than you could handle, and you lost it, checked out, or settled for something that you knew was less than what God had for you. Maybe you were told wrong or taught wrong, trusted someone or something more than Jesus, and feel lost. You need to know that the saved sheep of God can wander off and get lost again. It happens.

Peter lost his faith and took his eyes off Jesus while he was walking on the water. But Jesus reached down and saved him again. Being a Christian, following Jesus is a choice we make every day. It is not easy. This month, we will dig deep into the expectations we should have when we choose to follow Jesus and serve him as he leads us into new life. Knowing full well that you will face conflict from within and without, will you choose to follow Jesus today?

Closing Prayer

Lord, you created all things as good and make all things work together for the good of those who love you. But we are weak and easily deceived, and though you made us righteous stewards of all creation, we have often tried to remake it in our own image, doing things ourselves or running away from our responsibilities. We do not understand your love, which will not let us go, but we need that love. In our conflicts and battles, You are our strength and shield. You are our wisdom. You are everything we need. Jesus, your word tells us you are like the ark that saved Noah’s family from the flood. We cannot fight off or run away from all we will face in life, but we can find salvation, life, and everything we need when we put ourselves in You. Today, Lord, we choose again to follow you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Communion – The Great Thanksgiving II

Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love towards us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

Glory to God. Amen.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right and a good and joyful thing,

Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

And so,

With your people on earth

And all the company of heaven

We praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death and made with us a new covenant

by water and the Spirit.

On the night to which he gave himself up for us

he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread,

gave it to his disciples and said,

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

“Drink from this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it,

in remembrance of me.”

And so,

In remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving,

as a holy and living sacrifice,

in union with Christ’s offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,

and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ,

redeemed by his blood.”

By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, one with each other,

and one in ministry to all the world,

until Christ comes in final victory,

and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ,

with the Holy Spirit in your holy church,

all honor and glory is Yours, almighty Father,

now and forever.

Amen

The body of Christ, given for you. Amen.

The blood of Christ, given for you. Amen.

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