Attributes Of God

This section of Mark’s gospel is filled with what many perceive to be impossible situations. We’ve seen how Jesus has overcome storms, demons, and now death! Each case seemed to be hopeless. The disciples thought they were going to die in the storm, no one was able to control the demon-possessed man, but Jesus was able to solve both cases with a simple command.

As we move through this next section of Mark’s gospel, we will discover that Jesus is more than enough for any and every situation that this life has to offer. There is no such thing as impossible with Jesus. There are no hopeless situations when it comes to our Lord and Savior. Whatever you or your loved one might be going through, your situation is not hopeless!

Read Mark 5:21-24; 35-42

Last week, we saw one crowd that couldn’t wait for Jesus to leave. This week, we find another crowd that couldn’t wait for Him to arrive. The first thing we can learn from this situation is…

God shows mercy to people of humility and sincere faith.

Jairus – A man of humility

It must have been difficult for Jairus to come to Jesus. He was a synagogue leader and synagogues were typically closed to Jesus because of His activities on the Sabbath and His opposition to the Pharisees. Such a man coming to Jesus proves that he had a humble heart.

Read Mark 5:22-23

The text tells us in v.22 that he fell at Jesus’ feet. Although Jairus was a man of authority, he acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus.

A lot of times we have our own ideas about what is good for us. We have selfish desires and ambitions, and we stubbornly insist on pursuing them in our own way, even though we have an advocate who knows a better way. God pleads with us all throughout scripture to stop undermining ourselves and to let Him lead us on a path of higher purpose. Until we surrender our will with His, we will be confidently strutting down a path of self-destruction.

Don’t be a Pharisee. Pharisees are hard on others and easy on themselves. A spiritual person, however, is hard on themselves and easy on others. When we think too highly of ourselves, we are creating a barrier that separates us from God. By assuming the worst in others and the best in ourselves, we’re actually blinding ourselves to our need for a savior. Too many times, we think that the good we occasionally do is enough, but the truth is, we can line up every good thing we’ve ever done in our entire life and a Holy God says that they’re “like filthy rags.”

Nothing we do will ever be good enough, we are broken; we need Jesus. Before we can be reconciled with Him, we need to take long, hard, and honest look at ourselves and admit that they only thing exceptional about us is our spiritual shortcomings.

Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Not only was Jairus a man of humility, he was…

A man of sincere faith

The 7th chapter of Luke tells us about a centurion who believed that all Jesus had to do in order for his servant to be healed was to say the word from a distance and it would be done. Unlike the centurion, Jairus begged Jesus to come to his house. But Christ, although he applauds strong faith (like that of the centurion) doesn’t discourage or reject weak faith (like that of Jairus) as long as it is sincere.

Therefore, we must go to God with all of our troubles. This doesn’t mean that God will always change our circumstances to suit us, but more times than not He will change us to suit our circumstances. Faith doesn’t operate in the realm of human possibility because then there’s no glory for God. Faith doesn’t have to be complicated; it doesn’t require a seminary degree. A sincere faith begins where our power ends.

One of the most important things that we can pass on to others is a sincere faith. If we’re not passing on a sincere faith, often times we’re passing on a love for other things as opposed to a love for God without even realizing it. As we discussed last week, it is impossible to pass on something that we don’t have ourselves. So what makes our faith sincere? The best place to start is to look at the definitions for sincere and faith.

Sincere – to not pretend; Faith – a firm and confident belief

Do we really have a firm and confident belief in Jesus and His gospel, or are we just pretending that we have one? God wants us to be Christians all the time, not just on Sunday mornings when we’re surrounded by other Christians. God works on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights just as much as He does on Sunday mornings but somehow we’ve gotten to the point where Sunday night service and prayer meeting have almost become non-existent. Some churches don’t even have a Sunday evening service anymore. We claim to have sincere faith but we only make room for God on our calendars on Sunday mornings. But it’s not just about church attendance.