Mark Pt 28: A Question of Balance
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30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. 33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. 34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
This morning I want to address a question of Balance.
We know that live and our time has many different pulls and drains, and we know there is so much need all around us. Indeed the need seems to increase year by year, month by month, despite all the claims of our advancement and evolution as a race....
And as I think about the Christians call in all this
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
that we are to walk in them, I am ever more drawn to the need for balance in our lives, to enable us to do that.
Think of the old balance beams that used to in school PE classes and maybe still is! The goal to get across that narrow walkway, and the better your balance the easier to get across.
Now there are different ways to get across, to crawl, shuffle etc, but the quickest and easiest way across comes by way of perfect balance.. when all forces are working together as it work to create the perfect point of opportunity to walk across the balance beam.
Now, the Christian life is just like that, we needs to be balanced to walk in what the Lord has for us, and if we are balanced it will be in the best and easiest way for us.
Transitional - So in what ways are we to be balanced, and where do we see that in our portion of scripture this morning? Firstly we are to
Balance our Works vs 30-31
30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
verse 30 - all the things they had done
they of course where doing what the Lord had commanded them to do
7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
called and sent forth
Of course the need was never ending
there is always a need
until the Lord ushers in his eternal Kingdom and we head in eternity where there will be no sin or suffering
that state of perfect bliss
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
what a day that will be, but until that day, there will be need
We can’t escape it, its all around us
verse 31 - Christ says come apart
But we must balance our work, with rest
Jesus says, rest a while
and that folks means say no to need at times
great need, but must be a balanced in output
all work and no rest
leads to burn out
we have to become balanced in the art of saying no to some immediate needs
So we have to balance our works, secondly we have to...
Balance our Walk vs32
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
verse 32 “by ship privately
the disciples came away from the demands
but there time away from the work was never time away from Jesus
now many make this mistake, to down tools form mission and ministry, is take time away from the Lord
to have some me time
we make the mistake of moving from focus on others, to the focus on self and miss the Master in all this
we must watch our walk with the Lord
not dragging behind
not running ahead
But having a balanced walk with the Lord
not al about others
not all about us
but focussed upon him
our relationship with Jesus is the most important thing we have and we should guard it as such
this means short accounts with the Lord
this means a devotional time in God’s word
this means walking with the Lord
Our work has to be balanced, our walk has to be balanced and finally we are to...
Balance our Witness vs 33-34
33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. 34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
of course, I have said there is indeed great need, and the people flocked to Jesus
Jesus came out vs 34
he was moved with compassion
here is what I want us to notice
vs 34.. he became to teach them many things
he was moved with compassion
so he began to teach them
thats the ultimate need, the spritual, not to the neglect of the physical but in balance with it
Jesus had it right, of course he did he was GOD
They needed to be fed the spritual food of the word of God
before the physical food
I am reminded at this point of Proverbs 29:18
another one of the most mis interpreted passages of scripture out there
i dealt with another one last Wednesday at Bible study, so why not deal with another one this morning
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
This is how most Christians read this verse: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
That’s it! But whatever happened to the other half of this verse? How come nobody reads this part: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he?
If they did read the rest of these verses, the meaning changes all together. How you may ask? Well let’s take a look!
With regards to Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision” simply means no teaching of the Word of God, which was brought to the people by the prophets, who received the Word from the Lord through visions.
its a revelatory word
the word of God!
In 1 Samuel 3:1 it states:
1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
Amos 8:11-12 further states:
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
Simply put, “the people perish” without the Word of God!
Next part of Proverbs 29:18 says: “but he that keepeth the law, happy (or blessed) is he.”
This is said in great detail in Psalm 19:7-11
7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: And in keeping of them there is great reward.
The word of God is central to our spiritual life, and indeed we should see that in our witness
yes we are to help with the physical need
but we must make sure we see the spiritual need
so our witness has to have the right balance..
we have to show Christ in our actions yes, but the right balance always has the Word of God, the teaching of Christ, the declaration of the Gospel first and foremost
as I was reminded at our mens meeting yesterday
as Paul exhorted timothy
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
the people perish because of a lack of the word of God
why, because the balance with most Christians is not right
they have the physical needs priorities over the spiritual
and thats the wrong balance to have
Conclusion
So when it comes to the question of Balance, we are to be balanced in our works, our walk and our witness.
And when we are not balance we, are going to struggle, just as the natural being will struggle when the balance is wrong, so will the spiritual.
To fix things we might to make some changes, as we work towards restoring perfect balance in our lives
In an article by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the man who invented aerobics. He tells the story of a lady who was 46 years old and came to him. She had back pains that were so terrible that she could not walk further than 75 feet without having to sit down. She was stooped over and couldn't stand up. As a result, it killed all of her social life, all of her outings. She was in constant pain and disability.
When she came to Dr. Cooper, he advised that she have back surgery but she said, no, she wanted to try something else. She began to walk on a treadmill. She found that when she put the treadmill at a certain angle she could walk without being in pain for about 25 seconds. So she began to walk on the treadmill several times a day. Soon she found she could lower the treadmill more and more until finally she was walking on a flat surface without any pain for the first time in months.
Next she started to do some slow jogging with her walking routine. Eventually she began jogging continuously from 3 miles to 5 miles to 10 miles at each outing.
Today, this 46 year old woman has run 9 marathons with her best time being 3 hours and 3 minutes, a great time for any woman or man of any age.
Some of this morning are walking, spiritually speaking, stooped and crippled down, on one side or the other, because our balance is all wrong.
But thats not how the Lord wants you to be as a Christian, he wants you to be balanced so you can walk straight and true with him.
But folks, just like that lady with the back pain, there is no quick fix, painless, to the balanced life, if you balance is wrong.
It will take commitment and discipline to get to the perfect place of balance in our walk with God, and then a lifetime of determination to keep it there, because there are many forces at work that want you to lose your balance.
So lets learns some valuable lessons from our Lord this morning.
Be balanced in our works
learn to say no
take time to rest
Be balanced in our walk
make our rest time, time with Jesus
dont get ahead or fall behind - walk with him
Be Balanced in our Witness
remember its the spiritual need that is most important
We must meet the Spiritual need above the physical, but not apart from it.
If we do things things faithfully and commit to allowing the word and spirt of God to guide us into all truth, and order our steps in life, we will come to the place of a balanced life before our God
Which will lead us to the place were we will be most effective for our Lord and master, because it’s all a question of balance.
Let’s Pray