Enemy Of The Heart
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Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken
Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken
Teenagers growing up in a hard world....
Emotions are a sign of weakness.....
The weak are preyed upon and exploited by others.....
They seek safety by adopting a lifestyle and mentality of being unaffected by the situations around them.....
Home life, school, relationships, loss, etc.
We do it too, heartbreak, failures, disappointments in our lives cause us to withdraw into ourselves out of fear of being hurt again.
This kind of life kills our joy, spirits, keeps us from experiencing fulfillment in that we always have our guards up. It desensitizes us to the good and the bad things around us, keeps us from real relationships and human connection. It keeps us from opening up to others, being real, being honest, and we end up hurting others because of it.
Hurt people hurt people,
These things are caused by a lack of love because of some sin in our lives that has taken it away from us or someone else’s sin that has caused us to turn our back on it.
Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken
23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 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!”
they were hungry, it was legal to pick grain or corn (especially for the needy), as long as you didn't use a sickle. The law in question was the one about working on the Sabbath.
Fourth commandment: Remember the Sabbath, keep it holy
: Work 6 days, rest on the 7th
: buying and selling on the Sabbath was desecration
the Pharisees had some 34 laws about what one could not do on the Sabbath. Under each law there were 6 divisions. They were serious about their laws! If you hadn't prepared food the day before, then you just needed to go without and hopefully be better prepared the next week.
25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
, Jesus justifies the actions of David and his men because there was a need. How much more are Jesus and His disciples justified?
Jesus always has an answer. To every question, every problem, He has an answer. It might not be the answer we want, but he always has one. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about reading scripture, and it’s also one of the thing I enjoy least.
Here He is, again, quoting OT scripture to support the things He is saying and doing in a way that the Pharisees can understand and relate to. But it’s the next verse that is interesting:
Mark 2:27
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath was made for man. It was given to us for our benefit, rest, restoration, and well being. Once again, the Pharisees had taken something meant to prosper us and turned it into something burdensome and cold. As we’ve seen before, what God created to help us is now being used to opress over us.
The Jewish people were constantly trying to prove themselves to God by living by a set of laws that was impossible to keep. This is why they offered sacrifices, to atone for their sins and failures, but those sacrifices were only temporary. They had to be repeated over and over again. Which is why God sent us Jesus.
tells us that Jesus was the one sacrifice for sin that would last forever for all people. He was the last and ultimate sacrifice so that we may rest in God permanently.
Jesus is saying that the rest provided to us by the Sabbath is now found in Him. He is our rest now and forever. We no longer have to rest from the work of attaining God’s favor, Jesus is the Sabbath and therefor fulfills the Law by satisfying it’s requirements.
But He doesn’t stop there, look at the next verse:
28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Just as we can rest in Him every day of our lives, we can also worship Him every day of our lives, and we should.
Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken
Jesus also claims lordship over the sabbath, which gives Him authority over it laws and limitations. Again, Jesus answers the Pharisees by asserting His identity as God which He has done throughout the entire book of Mark.
While we are here today arguing over who’s interpretation is right and who’s is wrong, (its arrogant of us to think that any one of has interpreted God’s Word flawlessly)
Jesus says, “I Am Lord, I Am God, I Am Messiah, I Am the Sabbath,
Jesus says, “I Am Lord, I Am God, I Am Messiah, I Am the Sabbath,
I AM!!!
But, for some us, that’s not good enough. We continue to doubt, sneer, conspire, look for ways to disprove His truth.
1 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
The Pharisees were watching Him so that they could accuse Him of breaking the law and going against God's word. Such a thing was punishable by death. They were no longer curious about who Jesus was or what He was teaching, they were out to get Him. They wanted Him gone and were looking for the opportunity to do so.
Knowing that, look at what Jesus does:
3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.
Mark 3:
Think about the question. A simple question with a simple answer. Not too much thought needed to go into the answer. Without judgement, presumptions about who was asking or what it meant, the answer is easy.
Jesus didn’t do this to spite them or to rub something in their faces, He gave them an opportunity to hear what He was saying and to respond to it, but they did not. They were so hard hearted and so focused on what they thought and what they wanted and their agenda, that they completely missed the point of what Jesus was doing. They were so determined to catch Him breaking the law so that they could accuse Him that it blinded them to everything and everyone else around them.
Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been so focused on a goal or destination, or so consumed by you own emotions that you completely miss the fact that you are hurting the people around you?
It’s difficult to see ourselves as the Pharisees. We do it all the time!
Jesus saw this happening inside of them and He became angry and grieved because of it. He knew that these would be the people that would murder Him and that His love for them would not change them.
Jesus saw this happening inside of them and He became angry and grieved because of it. He knew that these would be the people that would murder Him and that His love for them would not change them.
It grieves Him when we don’t see what’s right in front of us. Because He loves us.
Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken
6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
For being a group of men that were all about keeping the Sabbath holy, they sure didn't hesitate to go out and plot murder on the very same day.
When our hearts go unchecked, we end up in some dark places, living lives that we never intended to live and hurting people we never intended to hurt.
Religion doesn't make you a good person. All of us are broken and sinful and in need of a Savior.
We need Jesus.
The Point
We need to always ask ourselves whether what we do helps or hinders those that are in need. If what we do conflicts with the command to love our neighbor, then we must reevaluate what it is we are doing.
If we are not doing good, we are doing evil .
The Pharisees had become so indoctrinated by the law that their hearts had become hardened to everything else. The Law was everything and people were expendable.
It grieved Jesus.
God is grieved by the hardness of our hearts. None of us are immune to it.
Why is the heart hardened?
Sin (unconfessed and unrepentant),
pride (arrogance deceives us into denying God),
selfishness, (focusing on what we want rather than on what God wants)
Many of us are walking around today with hard hearts and we don’t even know it. We’ve been living in them so long that we don’t even see them anymore. We just continue living our lives. Meanwhile:
We
We don’t feel like talking to anyone or being around anyone
We surely don’t want to take advice from anyone
We’re finding it more and more difficult to love people
We can’t get excited for things that should excite us
Our hearts aren’t being broken by things that should break our hearts
We are hurting the people around us
We think it’s normal, nothing is wrong, but we are living with a hardened heart!
How can we be restored and protected? recognize the condition of our hearts through prayer and confess and repent the sin in our lives, replace the unhealthy with the power of God's word.
The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy. A hard heart steals your
When was the last time you were really passionate about something in your life? in your marriage? at your job? for your future?
Life has a way of beating us down until we can’t feel anymore. We go around every day like zombies, stuck in a mindless routine, wasting our lives away.
It’s no wonder we turn to alcohol, drugs, affairs, rebellion, fantasy, video games.....
We are trying to get back the feeling of love, excitement, newness that was taken away from us! We’ve been hurt and beaten up and neglected for so long, that we just want to feel something!
Why is the heart hardened?
Sin (unconfessed and unrepentant),
pride (arrogance deceives us into denying God),
The good news is that it’s not too late to do something about it!
selfishness, (focusing on what we want rather than on what God wants)
Sometimes we just get too focused on the wrong things because we are more concerned about how things will affect us and what we want rather than what is right and will benefit others for the glory of God.
The Pharisees had hardened hearts because of the way they grew up. It wasn’t necessarily their fault, but Jesus gave them a chance to respond to Him. Jesus was letting them know that it wasn’t too late for them to do something about it.
The good news is that it’s not too late for you and I to do something about it!
The good news is that we have the Good News!
GOSPEL -Jesus came to give us the love that would heal what we had broken.
Instead of running to the world for validation, love, passion, and purpose, we need to run to Jesus.
We need passion, In our life, in this church.....
A life without passion and purpose is useless....
A church without passion and purpose is dead.....
Where is your passion this morning? Have you lost it? Do you want it back?
How can we be restored and protected?
evaluate and recognize the condition of our hearts
PRAYER
ACCOUNTABILITY
The presence of Jesus will either bring healing and restoration or it will harden hearts because of our unwillingness to see ourselves honestly
The presence of Jesus will either bring healing and restoration or it will harden hearts.
Only Love Can Heal What Love Has Broken, but we have allow it to.
Do we ask:
What can God do for me? or
Only Jesus can give you a passion and a heart that no circumstance can take from you.
What can I do for my God?
We have to make a personal decision about Jesus. Is He who He says He is, or is He who the world says He is?
Invitation