Living Miracles Building Faith
Notes
Transcript
Bible Passage: Mark 8:22–26
Bible Passage: Mark 8:22–26
This morning we will be in the book of Mark and we will be in chapter 8. This passage and miracle bring us a very unique perspective of Jesus, Healing, and Faith. We are led to a place where we can consider how we grow and when we grow. We will see the path of being evangelist's. We will understand that evangelism is not getting people to church it is introducing them to a Jesus who changes lives. At the same time we will explore how Jesus was involved in this mans life in an intimate way that allowed for the man to grow in his faith. We will see how this is mirrored in our own lives and how Christ interacts in the lives of those who do not know Him. This passage of scripture brings us hope for those of us who do not always walk in the way we should, it brings us confidence in who Jesus is, and it leads us to repentance for ever doubting His power in our lives. Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Mark chapter 8, verses 22-26.
I am learning something difficult in my life, both at work and as a father. I am learning that just because people know something does not mean that they always act as if they know it. At work this looks like individuals who know what is expected and yet they try to find excuses to avoid doing what is necessary to get the job done. At home it looks like my children doing silly things that they know are not right and that they know will lead them to getting into trouble. What I am learning in both of these instances is that I expect immediate results. I expect when I tell someone how they need to do something or how they can change things to be better, I expect that the outcome is immediate. What I am learning is that incremental growth is OK. I am learning that a manager who exhibits one or two better habits, it is OK to give them more time to grow. It is OK for my kids to experience times when they are on their best, and times when they need some discipline and guidance to grow. In the same way Jesus interacts with us on a daily basis, with grace, and mercy, and discipline when needed.
Lets read our scripture then we will explore three aspects of the scripture this morning. First, Faithful Witnesses. Second we will see an Unconventional Faith. Third, we will see the persistent Power in Jesus.
20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
1. Faithful Witnesses
1. Faithful Witnesses
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
The first thing that strikes me in this passage is the people who brought the blind man. The language used here in the greek work parakaleo and it means to plead together. This group of people came to Jesus together and pleaded with Him to touch this man and heal him of his blindness. There are two things that are astounding to me in this. First is the excitement of these people. They got together and they brought this man and they begged Jesus to touch him. They begged Him because they believed in the power of what Jesus could and had done. It is likely that they saw Jesus perform miracles, they may have been friends or family of someone healed by Jesus. We do not know who these people were specifically, what we do know is that they believed in the power of Jesus, likely because Jesus had impacted their lives in some way. The second thing that strikes me is their persistence. This phrase that is used indicates a repeated request. This phrase is not the phrase that would be used had this group simply asked Jesus one time to perform this, no this phrase is emphatic and emphasizes the begging of a miracle. Now you may say, well what is the big deal? Here is the big deal, how many of us introduce our loved ones, our friends, our co workers, our neighbors to our Jesus in this fashion? How many of us are so excited about what Jesus can do that we are introducing Him into their lives and begging Him to do miracles in their lives? How many of us are so sure in the power of Jesus that we cannot wait to tell someone about His power? How many of us are so excited about what Jesus can do in people’s lives that we beg Him to do something powerful for them? We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we are called to pray, we are called to take Jesus to all of the world. We must be like these people were, excited about our Jesus. Jesus should be the biggest part of our day and our life.
A year or so ago I bought Hunter a pretty cool toy that I thought he would love. I got the toy all set up and I spent hours making sure everything was perfect. When he saw it he was very excited. After a few hours one of his cousins came over to the house and Hunter asked if they wanted to see something cool. They said yes. I knew this would be the moment. This would be the moment that I as a dad gave my son something he would want to tell everyone about. I was so excited for this moment. As I waited in the room with the toy, I hear the words, “That’s awesome!” I was confused, I i am in the room with what I thought would be the coolest thing Hunter could show someone, well what is he showing them? I walked out of the room and found him showing off a paper airplane he had just built. Don’t get me wrong the plan was cool, but no where as cool as the toy I made him.
I wonder how many times God feels this way when we are given areas of influence where we can show off what He did through Jesus. Now don’t get me wrong, God loves for us to like things and to enjoy things, He is not calling for us to not enjoy life. However shouldn’t Jesus be more important of a conversation with our neighbor than our FSU painted dash in our vehicle? Shouldn’t Jesus be the first thing we lead with in every conversation? I wonder how many of us take the words of Jesus seriously. In this same chapter Jesus explains the heart in which we should all walk.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Are we so excited about what Jesus can do in others lives that He is the most important person we share? These people brought a man who we do not even know if he believed in Jesus, we do not know if he had ever been around when Jesus performed miracles. The friends of this man knew that Jesus was the most important person who would ever come into contact with their friend. How are we who know Jesus handling our responsibility as witnesses? First we are challenged this morning to be faithful witnesses to Jesus. Second we see an unconventional path to healing.
2. Unconventional Paths of Healing
2. Unconventional Paths of Healing
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
So here we see Jesus takes this man out of the city and He takes the man away from the crowd. Jesus then used His spit to heal the man. This is the second time we have seen Jesus do this. After Jesus lays His hands on the man, He asks the man, do you see anything? This is a very interesting question because it is the first and only time that Jesus asks a diagnostic question. Jesus asks this question and the intent of this question has become one of much debate. Here is what I believe in context with the scripture. I believe we have 2 things going on here. First is a literal check of the man’s faith. Second is an illustration of how the Christian life is lived. Let’s first look at the literal diagnostic question being asked here. Jesus asks the man if He can see anything. This is a literal question in which the man responded that he could see people but that they appeared as trees. What I believe is happening here is that Jesus is providing the man a beginning of healing and a reason to believe further. Jesus is introducing His power to this man. Jesus is is opening this man’s eyes enough for this man to understand that Jesus truly can change His life. Let me tell you. Jesus does this on a daily basis. Jesus touches the lives of those who do not know Him on a daily basis.
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
God does His work in the lives of all people. The problem though is those who do not know that it is Jesus and God that are doing it, well they invent for themselves god’s that are active in their lives.
23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
This is a literal example of how God works in the lives of those around us. Folk’s people need to know it is Jesus in their lives doing this, otherwise their hearts, and minds will lead them to idol worship and will lead them to destruction. This though is also an example of how the Christians life operates. In our lives Jesus moves and He does miracles. We believe in Jesus and our Faith is in Him. We however do not always walk in that Faith. I always hear the saying that it is a testing of our faith, I believe it is more of a test with our faith. What is the difference? The difference for me is that my faith is secured in Christ. I do not doubt Jesus. I however do not always walk in that faith. When I do not walk in that faith the path ahead of me is blurry and cloudy, and uncertain. It leads me to fear and to a lack of confidence. We are not called to live like this Scripture calls us to live in confidence, this happens when we walk in our faith of who Jesus is and allow Him to make clear our path.
3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Our vision affects every aspect of us
In his new book, Catching the Light, quantum physicist Arthur Zojanc writes of what he describes as the "entwined history of light and mind" (correctly described by one admirer as the "two ultimate metaphors of the human spirit"). For our purposes, his initial chapter is most helpful.
From both the animal and human studies, we know there are critical developmental "windows" in the first years of life. Sensory and motor skills are formed, and if this early opportunity is lost, trying to play catch up is hugely frustrating and mostly unsuccessful.
Prof. Zajoc writes of studies which investigated recovery from congenital blindness. Thanks to cornea transplants, people who had been blind from birth would suddenly have functional use of their eyes. Nevertheless, success was rare. Referring to one young boy, "the world does not appear to the patient as filled with the gifts of intelligible light, color, and shape upon awakening from surgery," Zajoc observes. Light and eyes were not enough to grant the patient sight. "The light of day beckoned, but no light of mind replied within the boy's anxious, open eyes."
Zajoc quotes from a study by a Dr. Moreau who observed that while surgery gave the patient the "power to see," "the employment of this power, which as a whole constitutes the act of seeing, still has to be acquired from the beginning." Dr. Moreau concludes, "To give back sight to a congenitally blind person is more the work of an educator than of a surgeon." To which Zajoc adds, "The sober truth remains that vision requires far more than a functioning physical organ. Without an inner light, without a formative visual imagination, we are blind," he explains. That "inner light" -- the light of the mind -- "must flow into and marry with the light of nature to bring forth a world."
That inner light he talks about, that is Jesus. That is the Spirit. That is the work of God in the lives of all. Jesus asked the man this question so to prove to the man that He, Jesus, could heal his blindness, to allow the mans faith to grow. We are given this same opportunity. For those who do not know Christ, it is an opportunity to introduce them and allow them to begin to put together the cloudy pictures of God’s hand in their lives. As they grow and as we grow the picture is more and more clear about the power of Christ. This leads us to our last point this morning. The Persistent Power in Jesus.
3. Persistent Power in Jesus
3. Persistent Power in Jesus
25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Jesus remained in this man’s life. Jesus had already spoken of those in Bethsaida
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Jesus could have given this man a blurry vision and walked away from him. This man would have been happy to see people as trees. Jesus though did not leave him in this imperfect state. Jesus provided us a perfect image of His sanctification. As we walk in faith and we learn to trust Him more, our path will become more clear, our life will exemplify one that has the utmost trust in His power and His will. Jesus healed this man and gave Him perfect vision and it is because Jesus is in the business of sanctification. Leading us all to His perfection, not because of our abilities but because of His power. The amazing thing about Faith is that it has nothing to do with our ability but everything to do with our trust in His ability. Are you willing this morning to commit to the consistent, persistent power of Jesus in your life?
I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am.
John Newton.
12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
We are called to be faithful witnesses that are growing in sanctification. Our lives in Christ should be made more and more clear by the day. Jesus will never stop at the blurry picture if we will maintain our faith in Him. He will continue His work in us and He will continue to work in others lives, knowing one day we will lead them to the understanding of who it is that has been doing all of these good works in their lives. I pray you are encouraged today, emboldened today. Lifted up to understand that there is not a single believe here today who has not opened their eyes at one time or another and seen a cloudy blurry future. When our faith is put in Christ though, He brings all things into focus.
