Mark 1:35-40

Speaker 1: Men. Take your calls if you haven't turned to the book of Mark. Mark, chapter number one is we're going to be this evening. Mark, chapter number one, looking forward to the Sunday and be back in acts starting the second to last chapter. And there's a lot of traveling that takes place in the last couple of chapters. So I'm thinking that we'll be able to move through it pretty quickly and finish up the Book of Acts and forward starting a new series after that. And then Sunday night, we're going to be looking at the death of Ahab. And so, of course, in a series about Ahab and Elijah, you would think that the death of Ahab would mean we're pretty close to the end. And you would be right. So we'll be starting a new series on Sunday night as well. And then, of course, we are not in a series on Wednesday night. We finished up our Grace in Marriage series a couple of weeks ago. And so looking forward to next Wednesday night, starting a new series on Wednesday night. So New Year three new series. I always love starting a new series, so a lot of exciting things I think are going on with the teaching of God's Word. Mark Chapter one If you're there, go ahead and join me in standing in honor of reading God's word. Mark, chapter one, we're going to be reading in verse number thirty five. Mark, chapter one verse number thirty five, the Bible says, and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed Simon, and they that were with him followed after him. When they had found him, they said to him, All men seek for thee. He said under them, let us go into the next towns that I may preach. There also, therefore, came a fourth preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee cast out devils. Let's pray and the father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity. We have to give attention to your word. What I asked you gave me the words you having to say, you know, the folks that are here to listen and plow, to hear their lives. What's in Jesus name? I pray. Amen. Maybe see seated. We've talked about this before, but each gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As a different overall purpose. And it's really helpful to to understand what the different gospel writer's purpose is before you get into the book, because it helps the book to make more sense to you gives more meaning to it as you work through. And so as many of you probably know, Mark writes with the goal of portraying Jesus as a servant or as a minister. I said this, I believe on Sunday. If you were here for that one, that Mark is very interested in what Jesus did. Talking about the acts of Jesus. In fact, Mark describes Jesus many times using the Greek word from which we get our English word deacon. Now, when you think of a deacon, of course that word means servant. And Mark uses that word to refer to Jesus himself. So as you probably guessed, most of what you deal with in the Book of Mark is going to be on the topic of being a successful or an effective servant slash minister for God. Now, if I asked you tonight how many of you want to be just an utter failure in your ministry or service to God? I don't think that many or any hands would go up when you think about what Jesus has done for you. The great gift of salvation that you have received, probably all of us would say, No, I want to be a success or I want to be an effective servant of my savior. And so I believe that we would all agree that we want this effectiveness. We want this success. But sometimes we have a hard time in translating that desire into action. So how do we serve our minister effectively successfully for Jesus? Well, I don't think it's too hard or too much of a stretch for us to say that if we are going to be good servants, then we probably ought to pay attention to the one that Mark calls a servant the perfect servant here in the Book of Mark. And that, of course, was Jesus Christ. Now, if you look back at verse number thirty five, the the things that are going on here in verse thirty five take place on a Sunday is it's after the Sabbath Day. Sabbath Day, of course, was more of a Saturday than it was a Sunday and says in the morning rising up a great while before they went out and departed into a solitary place and they're prayed. So this is the early morning hours of a Sunday morning, and Jesus is starting off his day by going to get a loan with God in prayer. Jesus is here in a solitary place in the midst of a determined time of prayer and silence when his disciples go out looking for him. Bible says verse number thirty six that Simon and there that were with him followed after him. That word followed after. Perhaps you think of follow the leader, you think of a bunch of kids, just kind of, you know, like one of those things that just jump off the cliff. I mean, is that right? You know where one goes and then they all go. Perhaps that's a sure thing and this this mindless, you know, following behind, not really thinking about what you're going. But that is not the Greek word that we're supposed to understand here. The Greek word for follow here is that they hunted him down. So it's not a game of follow the leader. It's more like a game of, you know, find the Easter egg you watch. Kids try to hunt Easter eggs. There's a certain passion and energy and sense of, you know, I've got to get this done now, sort of thing. That's more the picture that we see here with the disciples. The disciples wake up Sunday morning and immediately go out looking to meet with Jesus. Now, I don't think it's too much of a of a stretch here for me to say this. But isn't it nice to know that not much has changed in two thousand years for those that are truly disciples of Jesus? Sunday morning comes and most believers are out looking to meet with Jesus. That's why that's one of the reasons, big reasons why we come to church. And so here we are. We have Simon Ian and Andrew James and John. They find Jesus. And in verse number thirty seven, they say on the hymn that all men seek for him. Now, I want you to notice they don't say a lot of people are looking for you or some people are looking for you. They say all men seek for thee. Now why would all men seek for Jesus? Now you may notice that here it's not him. He doesn't even have the 12 with him yet. This is still very early in his ministry. I mean, after all, we're in mark chapter. One. So how is it that Jesus so suddenly has caused such a stir that all men are seeking for him this Sunday morning? I mean, something great must have happened recently in order for all of the people to want to meet with Jesus. I mean, if I was a disciple, I can imagine thinking, Man, we better get ready for a big meeting. I mean, Jesus is being sought by all the people of the town. This is exciting. What does Jesus say in verse number thirty eight? Let us go into the. Next steps. Can only imagine the look of surprise on the disciples faces when Jesus tells them, no, we're not going back into the city where we just were. We're actually going to leave town and go to the next village and that word town is talking about the next metroplex. It's talking about the next little small village. I was one of them. I know what my thoughts would have been. All these people looking for Jesus. A lot of people usually means a lot more money. All these people, you know, maybe we can actually, you know, purchase some property and maybe even set up our own little teaching center. All these people looking for Jesus, that probably means, you know, like fame and notoriety. People are going to know that we're his disciples leave town. Sounds to me like we found our niche right here. Let's put down some roots and capitalize on this popularity. These are the natural thoughts that any men would have. Where Jesus uses, as I said, to describe these other towns. Is a word for a small village. Why would Jesus want to leave the city with so many people wanting to see him to go to little villages? That seems counter intuitive for a person trying to gain a following. But again, I have to ask, what was it that he did the previous day to cause men to seek him out so? Well. We'll get to that in a second, but the reason Jesus wants to go to other cities, according to verse one thirty eight is so that he can preach there. Also, Jesus is cluing his disciples in on his desire to replicate what he has done in this town, in other towns. Now the town that he's been in is a town that you're probably familiar with. It's the town of Capernaum. It's there in Galilee. I kind of served as the base of operations for Jesus throughout his ministry. Capernaum was a a decent sized city. You know, it's not Jerusalem by any means, but it's a decent size. He says we're gonna leave the big city and go to the little towns. What the disciples have just witnessed over the past 24 hours is going to serve as a sampling of what Jesus knew to be his mission. If he is to be successful, then he must duplicate what he has done in Capernaum and the other cities. So, OK, what did he do in Capernaum? Well, in order to answer the questions that are brought up on Sunday, you have to go back and look at what Jesus did on Saturday. And so we're not going to read it. But if you go back to verse number twenty one. We see that Jesus has entered into the city of Capernaum, most likely, this is where Jesus now lived on the Sabbath Day. Jesus had made it a point to attend the morning and evening service at the local synagogue. Now, at some point on the Sabbath day, most likely in the evening gathering. Jesus had been given the opportunity to preach in verse number twenty two. The Bible says they were astonished as his doctrine for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. So notice with me that the first thing he does is not perform a miracle. The first thing he does is he teaches them from God's word. Well, hearing Jesus preach would have been enough to give people plenty to talk about, the Bible goes on and tells us in verses twenty three through twenty six that he also casts out a demon from one of the men that was there in the synagogue. All right. So first, they've just heard this message that is unlike anything that I've ever heard before. And and if it was just that, they would have gone home with plenty to talk about. But then Jesus does the miraculous, and he casts a demon out of a man. I've never seen this happen, and I can only imagine what that must have looked like. A look at verse number twenty seven. The Bible says they were all amazed in so much that they question among themselves, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? What with authority command? Is he even the unclean spirits? And they do obey him. All right. So you're all church members. You can probably imagine how this would have gone down. The men go off to church, not church, but the synagogue Saturday morning was a crazy experience that happens there. And as usual, you know, you sit down for lunch after a service and you start talking about what took place, you know, and saying, Hey, did you see so-and-so there? No, I didn't see them. I think they're out of town. What about what about brother so-and-so? Oh, well, you know his kids are sick. Well, how is the singing? Oh, well, it was pretty good. Special was good. Yeah, yeah. How is the preaching there? So, so. Now on that day, oh, man, this guy got up. He's from Nazareth, I think. And you know, he's kind of new in town. You've seen him walking around, man. He started preaching and teaching from from the prophets, and it was like nothing we'd ever heard in our. Our hearts were just like captured by the words that he was saying, Oh man, that's that's great. Oh yeah, it was. It was awesome. It didn't stop there. Well. Oh yeah. Invitation was given and this this man came forward with a demon and that preacher. He came down there and he just he came in in that demon to get out of him. And he did. The man was liberated. It was just amazing. And everybody's talking. The fame is going throughout the city and in verse number twenty nine, the Bible tells us something that has happened immediately after that evening service. Bible says that forthwith, which is that word I mentioned on Sunday, immediately right after this. Mark wants things to keep moving. You want things to keep moving. Like, let's go. Let's get home. I guess the Sooners are playing tonight. I didn't know volatile. If I had known that, I would have canceled service. No, I wouldn't. Well, verse 29 forthwith, right after this, when they were come out of the synagogue, Jesus and his followers enter into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. So Jesus and his four disciples leave the synagogue goes straight to Simon's Peter's house. And as soon as they walk in the door, the Bible tells us that the family tells Jesus about Simon's mother in law. So Simon's mother, wife's mother, lay sick of a fever and a nine. A nine just means as soon as they walked in the door, they tell him of her. You see, these people that had just been at the synagogue had witnessed something miraculous. They witnessed the incredible power that Jesus had displayed, both in his preaching and in casting out the demon. And so now they want to tell this man with power about Peter's mother in law. You know, it's pretty bold for them to do this. It's one thing for for Jesus to display his power in the synagogue where everyone's there. But now they're in Peter's house. And as far as we can tell, there's Simon, Andrew James, John Peter, probably Peter's wife and Peter's mother in law. Maybe Andrew's wife is there too. I don't know. So you got seven, maybe eight people and they come to Jesus and say, Hey, Peter's mother in law is sick. I don't know what they were expecting Jesus to do. Did they expect him to heal her? Did they just want him to pray for her? You know, if it was today and somebody was in the house sick with a fever, they probably would have met him at the door and said, Please don't come in. There is a sick person here. You know, they wait till he's inside before they tell him, Don't you always appreciate that? Go for somebody else. By the way, I was puking last night. You know, enjoy the food. I don't think so. The Bible doesn't tell us what their expectations were, but I can tell you this, they sure picked the right person to share their needs with. I mean. People tell people about their problems all the time, and most of the time we're telling people who can't do a thing about the problems that we're telling them about. Jesus responded by going to where she was laid and taking her by the hand. You can look at this version of a thirty one. The Bible says he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Immediately, the fever left her. She ministered. Oh, there's that word under there. Peter and his family must have been thrilled a miracle had just taken place in their home. Jesus presidents in one single house among that one individual family had made a huge difference in that house. There were no crowds. There was no multitude to witness this miracle. But Jesus still took this moment to serve and to demonstrate his love for the family of just one of his disciples. Here's where this gets really cool. Bible says verse number thirty two, and that even when the Sabbath was over. The setting of the Sun. Bible says that when the Sun was set, they brought to him all that were disease, them that were possessed with devils and all the city was gathered together at the door. So here's Peter is at home enjoying the Sabbath day of rest with his family. His mother in law is feeling better. And if you've got to live with your mother in law, you'll want to make sure she's in good health. You know, you don't want her to be grouchy or anything like that. So things are going great and the sun sets the Sabbath is over. And just like as soon as the sun sets, there's a knock at the door. I wonder who that is. Goes the opens the door, there's most of the city out on his front yard. Some of you might have received some carolers at your door. Maybe, maybe you just had a few. Maybe in years past you had like a bunch show up at your door. You know, and it's kind of intimidating to have a whole bunch of people in your house. We used to take our teenagers out caroling a couple of weeks before Christmas there in Virginia, and we'd bring 40 50 teenagers on a bus and we'd go hit several houses, and most everyone was content to just open the front door and listen. But Mrs Koala Holt was Quella Holt. She never wanted us to stand outside, and so she lived in a duplex in a senior living neighborhood and she would say, Come on in, come on in. And all these teenagers would file into her house and we'd take up every available spot so that we could start singing. And she would just she loved it. She'd make cookies for the kids. It was always a special time. But here's Peter, and this unsub's unexpected crowd is out on his way out on his front lawn. Now, I want you to imagine this. This is. This is the Sabbath Day. It would have not been uncommon to have people knock on your door a few moments after sundown, after all, they've been waiting to do business until the Sabbath was over. But after a whole day of not being able to conduct business, I can imagine that most folks probably had other places to go. They had other things that they could have been doing, but they came to Peter's house. Simon could have never imagined what awaited him on the other side of the door. But as we have already seen, Jesus caused quite a stir that day. Because of what happened in the synagogue, Jesus fame had spread over the Sabbath dinners and meals of most of the people in the city. These people had gone home and spent the evening talking about what had happened. And so by the time the Sabbath was over, the city of Capernaum gathered at the door of Simon's house. They brought to Simon's house the the sick, the possessed. These people were in dire need of help. They really think Jesus would be able to help all of them. And after all, the Sun had already set, it was must have been late, they were probably tired. Surely Jesus was tired? Couldn't they have waited until the next morning? First, thirty four tells us they had many different physical ailments, spiritual ailments, and to them, because they had a need, it didn't matter how long the day was. They wanted to get help. They needed help. And at that moment there was a man in their city who seemed like he could help them. So in verse 30 for the Bible tells us that Jesus took the time that night to heal, many people in that city healed many that were sick. Leads us back to Sunday morning. Or Jesus, after a long night of healing, ministering, serving people. Remember, he got up early. Went out alone to pray. Now you understand. Why the disciples came and found it. And said all men seek for the. Jesus and his disciples didn't say in Capernaum, did they? They left. Erm, thirty nine tells us that Jesus went through Galilee preaching, casting out devils, but why? Why would Jesus leave Capernaum, a fairly large city with lots of people coming and going? Why would he leave there to go to the small towns? It's the same reason why it didn't matter to Jesus if he was in the synagogue or in the privacy of Simon's home. He wasn't in it for the crowds. Wasn't in it for the numbers Jesus was going to serve the large in the small. Jesus was going to serve when lots of people were watching and when no one was watching. That was the example that he set. You see, for us, if we are going to learn from this example, if we are going to endeavor to serve like Jesus served, if we want to be effective, successful ministers to one another and to those that are unbelievers as well. One of the things that we have to be reminded of is that we all have a responsibility to serve. The fact that Jesus, the all of the superlatives we could say about him to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the savior of the world, the light of the world, the the the word of God, the fact that he was willing to take on the form of a servant, humble himself to serve and minister to us. Means that none of us are exempt from service. None of us are too good to be a servant. Remember when Jesus wrapped the towel around himself and went to wash Peter's feet? Well, Peter, say. They Lord, you're not going to do this. My feet are nasty. Instead, if I don't watch your feet, then you have no part in me. Then was Peter saying once we had the foot? But if Jesus can be a servant, if Jesus isn't too good to serve, then then are any of us too good? No. We have a responsibility to serve with the goal of serving in order to draw other people closer to the Lord. Jesus did this through two different aspects of his service. He ministered through his preaching and he ministered by showing compassion. This is the same ministry model that we must follow today. Teaching people sharing the word of God, but also demonstrating through our actions the love of God by serving one another. We all have a responsibility to serve if Jesus served. We should serve the second, I believe that we must examine our lives to be sure that we are not putting prerequisites on our service to God. You see, Jesus ministered in a wide variety of circumstances, you ministered at the synagogue and he ministered at an individual's home, he ministered among the large community and ministered in the smaller neighboring communities. You see, Jesus never allowed the size location the status of the people or who was watching at any moment to impact his ministry. We're called to minister in a variety of circumstances as well. Sometimes it's to minister, to a lot of people. Sometimes we are administered to just a few. Sometimes we are to minister when everything is going great and we feel like we've got this over abundance of energy and and grace to give the people. Sometimes we're called the minister when we're tired. We'd just rather not. Jesus experienced all of this, and yet his example for us is that our ministry, our service to God, must go on if we only minister, when there's a bunch of people or if we only minutes, things are going great. We only minister when we have the energy. Then we're not following the example that Jesus set. And point out one other side item about this passage. Nowhere in these verses does Mark record that anyone believed on Jesus or got saved at this this juncture. You know. Let's say we have a. Trunk or treat? Or Big Easter weekend or we do a community meal. And nobody gets saved. Nobody comes to church. Is our service in vain? So we put on a vacation Bible school. We pray we invested the time and energy and funds into making sure that the Vacation Bible school points kids to Jesus. And nobody gets say. Is it a waste? No. You see, Jesus knew what the results would be before he did what he did. And yet he ministered anyways. Listen, we have a purpose tonight. We have been given the responsibility of following the example of Jesus, that means following his example when it comes to our ministry in our service. We may at times have to minister in situations that are not glamorous. They're not as productive. They're not as easy as we would like them to be. None of these circumstances give us an excuse to stop ministering or to stop serving. Tonight, maybe you have pulled back a bit from your service to God. I'm not saying that we have to stay busy just to stay busy. Maybe you're not as involved in service to God, in service to others as you once were. May I remind you? That Jesus set the standard for our service. Gary Boyd doesn't set the standard for your service. Jesus does. You won't have to answer to your pastor someday for how you served, but you will answer to Jesus for how you served him. I don't know about you. But I can't read and study Jesus life without being convinced that there is probably more that I could do for him. And for others, there are probably times where I don't serve our minister and I should. There may be some times where I'm not ministering for the right reasons. The more we focus on Jesus, the more we study Jesus life, the more we will understand what kind of servants we are to be. Jesus set the standard right here, right off the bat in his ministry in mark chapter one. Are there things that you and I need to adjust in order to come more in line with Jesus example? Let's pray. Dearly, father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for the time that we've been able to spend together. Thank you for the folks that are here and their good attention, or thank you for setting an example for us of what it means to be a servant in order to Minister Lord, regardless of the situation or the expected results, I pray that we would be faithful in following your example. Thank you for the many that are faithful to serve here in our church. I pray that you would use their example to influence others. Lord, to jump on board, Lord, we love you so much. We thank you for all you do for us. It's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

‍