"He's Out Of His Mind." Series

“HE’S OUT OF HIS MIND”

Mark 3:20-35

INTRODUCTION: I’m sure you’ve all seen people do some far-out wacky things and have thought to yourself, “These people must be out of their minds”. Someone risking their life doing a stunt is one thing but what about when it comes to doing God’s will? Today we’ll see that some people thought that Jesus was out of his mind.

1) He’s out of his mind (20-21). Jesus had been teaching in the synagogues and was healing the crippled and demon possessed. Word got out and he began to attract big crowds of people. Wherever he went the crowds followed. They became so enamored with Jesus that it interrupted his daily living. When his family got word of this they made a decision, probably out of genuine concern, to come and take him away. They concluded that he was out of his mind.

Perhaps it befuddled them why he left his humble life of carpentry and took off into the wilderness and then started traveling around teaching and healing. Maybe they thought he was out of his mind for socializing with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. Perhaps they had heard the rumors that he was breaking the Sabbath and breaking the traditions of the elders. Considering all that was happening they surmised that he had gone mad.

Paul had this happen to him too. Paul got arrested in Jerusalem. There was a plot to kill him so they transferred Paul to Caesarea. He stayed there for over two years. Then he had a trial before the new Governor, Festus. A few days later King Agrippa came into town and after Festus told him all about what was going on with Paul he wanted to hear Paul for himself.

So Paul talks to him about his life as a Pharisee and about his hope for his people to come to Jesus. He talked about his former persecution of Christians until the Damascus road experience. When he talked about the resurrection of Jesus Festus interrupted and said, “You are out of your mind, Paul! You’re great learning is driving you insane.” (Acts 26:24). Paul went on to explain that he wasn’t insane but that what he was saying was true and reasonable.

Paul, who once persecuted the church, was now one of the biggest advocates for Christ. This drastic change, along with his newfound passion and willingness to suffer for his faith caused some to conclude that he was insane. When a radical change happens and we become zealous about our faith some people, especially those who knew us before we were saved, may conclude that we are out of our mind.

And in some ways, what we do for Jesus will seem crazy. Missionaries who pack up their families and move to Africa would be considered out of their minds. Christians who give 10% or more to the church are out of their minds. People who go to church more than once a week are fanatical and extreme. Our devotion to Jesus will cause some to think that we are out of our minds.

2) He’s possessed (22-30). Christ was performing miracle after miracle, healing the diseased as well as the demon possessed. People were amazed at his teaching and the works he performed and his popularity was growing at an alarming rate. Some were amazed and saw it as proof that Christ was the promised Messiah. This troubled the religious leaders, who also witnessed what Jesus was doing.

The teachers of the law acknowledged that Jesus was casting out demons but since they weren’t willing to believe that Jesus was God’s Son and therefore working in accordance with God’s power so they had to draw another conclusion-it had to be Satan’s power. They also had it out for Jesus and wanted to discredit him with the people. Convincing them that Jesus’ ability came from the devil would do that.

But Jesus blew their ridiculous claim out of the water (23-27). When we are living for Jesus, those who oppose us may make some pretty lame claims against what we’re doing. They will accuse us of having ulterior motives, we will be accused of thinking we’re better than everyone else; we will be accused of being narrow or closed-minded. We will be accused of being haters. Just like Jesus was accused of evil though he was doing good so will we be. Jesus warned us in John 15:18 when he said, “If the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me first”.

Notice that when he was falsely accused Jesus didn’t flip out. He didn’t cuss them out he simply used wisdom and dismantled their argument. This is how we handle our accusers the right way-we use wisdom, logic and tact; all the while maintaining our self-control.