May, 2007
Binding and Loosing the Hands of Jesus
Mark 15:1-15
INTRODUCTION: In Mark 15:1 we read about how the enemies of Jesus bound Him in preparation for sending Him to Pilate. They bound Jesus and took Him to Pilate. The song says, “He could have called 10,000 angels,” or He could have called His disciples, or He could have broken their bands. But if you look at it another way, He couldn’t do anything if He were to carry out God’s plan because He would have been defeating the purpose of God. He had a task to do for the salvation of humankind--He needed to go through the steps. Being bound was a part of the process, and He completed His work on Calvary. How do we know this? He said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
As we read this, it is easy for us to be quick to say, “that’s terrible for them to do that to Jesus. Did they think He would try to get away?” The Message Bible reads, “after tying Jesus securely…” What did he do to deserve that? Have you ever thought of it this way that people today are still doing the very same thing? You might say, “Well, yes, the SINNER is binding the hands of Jesus by refusing to obey the gospel. This is true. In His great love He stretched out His hands and died for the sins of the world. When people refuse to listen to and obey the gospel, the hands of Jesus are bound by that refusal. There is no way that a person can then receive the benefits of Jesus’ death on the Cross. For that person the death of Jesus was in vain. Jesus did not want anyone to suffer for the guilt of their sins. II Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” In Matthew 11:28 His invitation is still being extended to people today. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
There is no reason for His hands to be bound today, but we bind his hands today every bit as much or more so than the people who bound Him and led Him to Pilate. This includes Christians.
Here are some ways that we, as Christians, are guilty of binding His hands. We may not even be aware that we are doing it. How do you and I bind the hands of Jesus?
1. Not Making Him Top Priority: We bind His hands in our lives when we don’t make Him our top priority. You have heard people say, “Make Jesus A PART OF your life?” What part? A little sliver, a ¼, half, 75%, 99%? He is our life. Scripture says that “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). If He is not at the center of our lives, we bind His hands because He is excluded from areas He should be involved in. Other things are taking the place He should be filling. We may need the Lord in the part He is not a priority. For example, if He is not included in your finances, you are missing His help.
Illustration:
Make a pie chart. What percent is Jesus in it?
Make a wheel. Put Christ at the center and the spokes out from it filling up the entire wheel.
How do we make Him top priority so that He is at the very center of our life? There are several scriptures that refer to His priority in our life.
Psalm 78:1 says to “Give ear, O my people to my law; INCLINE (or lean) your ears to the words of my mouth.”
How do we do that? If you were trying to overhear some gossip about someone, you LEAN TOWARD the person, YOU STRAIN YOUR EAR to hear--your fullest intent is on hearing every word. If someone interrupts you, you say, “Shush! I’m trying to hear this!”
Proverbs 2:2 says, “…Incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thy heart to understanding.”
Psalm 119:112, “I have inclined mine heart to perform (to hear and do) thy statutes (laws) always even unto the end. I have made it a point to do this.
Joshua 24:23 says, “Now therefore put away the strange gods which are among you and INCLINE your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.”
We make the decision in our hearts to go God’s way--WE MUST SETTLE THIS. Joshua exemplifies this when he said to the people, “Choose you this day whom you will serve…”(Joshua 24:15).
Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world--Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”
NOTE: When you have a choice to make--it’s already settled in your heart--I’ll go God’s way. No matter what the question is, you already know the answer--”I’ll go God’s way.”
When I was working on a doctorate at Nova University we had to take the written comprehensive exam over everything we had studied for the entire program. We were to write for eight hours. On one part of the test, they said “know this material.” NO MATTER WHAT THE QUESTION IS, THIS IS THE ANSWER. And sure enough, it was, and I got it right.
Putting Jesus at the center of your life--a top priority--is an act of your will. It’s a decision, a choice you make. No matter what the questions are, you already have the answer--”I’m going God’s way. You are inclining your heart toward God--leaning toward what God says.
ILLUSTRATION: The sunflower TURNS TOWARD the sun. That’s the only way to go.
When you have made this decision, you are loosing the hands of Jesus for your life and He can steer you around the pitfalls that the devil puts in your way.
2. Fear and Unbelief: Fear and unbelief in His ability to do for US is another way that we bind the hands of Jesus. We usually agree that He CAN do things but much of the time we think He is more likely to answer “other people’s” prayers rather than our own. We may think they are more “spiritual” or “more deserving” or are “closer to God” than we are. We bind His hands by holding this unbelief within us and by speaking about it to others. We bind His hands when we don’t believe He has enough resources to meet our needs or that He won’t do it for us.
We continue to bind His hands when we lack confidence in the abilities He has given us. When we hesitate to step out in faith to do the things the Lord has called us to do, His hands are bound and He can’t work. When we fear that we will fail, we cannot do His work. We bind His hands even more.
Are you binding His hands through fear and unbelief? Listen to yourself talk. Is your self talk revealing fear? What are you afraid of? It could be many things--health, finances, fear of accidents, fear of people and what they think, fear of failure, fear of rejection. What do YOU fear? How does your speech reveal an attitude of unbelief in the Lord’s willingness to help you through the various areas of fear?
Scripture gives a directive as to how to loose the hands of Jesus in the area of fear and unbelief. When fear or unbelief begins to tighten and paralyze people emotionally, Jesus made the following statements to people. He said in mark 5:36, “Be Not Afraid; Only Believe.” There are many scriptures that begin with, “Fear not” in both Old and New Testaments. Why does He say, “Fear not” before He says, “Only Believe?” Before a person is in the position to believe, the fear must be taken care of. Preparation must be made for the “believing.” For example, getting yourself calmed down, getting the hold of paralyzing fear broken. LOOSE the hands of Jesus! Then--Only believe.
ILLUSTRATION: A mountain climber started to fall off a cliff. Suddenly he grasped on to a branch. Holding on to the branch by his fingernails he yelled out, “Oh, God help me!:
A voice came back and said, “Let go.”
The man looked up and said, “Is there anybody else up there I can talk to?”
At that point, the man had not worked through his initial fear--he wasn’t ready to let go.
3. We Bind His Hands by our Failure to Grow Spiritually: Many people say, “I don’t know anything about the Bible, yet they go on year after year without acquiring any more knowledge. We are instructed to, “Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman…”(II Timothy 2:15). Also “Grow (increase) in grace and in the knowledge…” (II Peter 3:18).
People say, “I don’t understand the Bible,” but have they read one of the newer translations? Do YOU bind His hands in this way? There are Bible studies we can learn from. There are books we can read. The scriptures tell us that it is God’s will for us to be transformed. It involves a renewing of our mind. Romans 12:1-2 says, “…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Ephesians 4:20-24 says, “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. This renewal occurs as we read, study, and think about what we read. I Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, DESIRE the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”
Do we neglect the very way by which we can grow and be renewed? Scripture says we do not “receive with meekness the engrafted or IMPLANTED word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
Neglect the transforming power of the Word of God and we are just as guilty of “binding” the hands of Jesus as were those who delivered Him to Pilate. Studying the Bible on our own and with others is a step toward loosing His hands.
When we know the Word of God, we can then ask ourselves, “How can I APPLY this to my situation. Back in the Old Testament Ezra was called a “ready scribe” (Ezra 7:6). He had a working knowledge of scripture. He understood it himself, and he knew how to explain it to others. By being familiar with the Scripture, he could be a person who was “instant in season” to give it out when needed and to apply it to his own situation.
The study of the Word is a continuous process. Let us loose the hands of Jesus.
4. Accepting Mediocrity: We bind the hands of Jesus by our willingness to accept mediocrity, by accepting less than God’s best for our lives. We bind His hands by our apathy toward His work in the world. John Wesley said, “Our only job is to save souls.” We bind His hands when we don’t seek God for a vision for our personal lives, a vision for the church, and for the world.
I hear many people say, “I’m just waiting for Jesus to come. I don’t have anything else I want to do.” And they don’t do anything--just exist. In the story of the servants and the pounds in Luke 19:13, the nobleman said, “Occupy until I come back.” They were to go about their work. We, too, need to see the vision God has for us and for the church that much can be accomplished and souls saved while there is still time.
Noah was such a man in the Old Testament who was seeking God. He had his ear to the ground and his heart in tune to the vision God had. He heard what God was trying to say to him. He received this vision and built the ark. No one else was listening. We bind the hands of Jesus when we are unwilling to do what he has called us to do. Noah stepped out in faith even though it had not rained in the past. He didn’t even know what rain looked like or what a flood was.
Anthony Robbins, a motivational speaker, said, “if a person can just improve in some area of his/her life 6%, what a difference it would make in 6 months time.” If your vision for God improved just slightly in the next 6 months, you would be loosing the hands of Jesus to work through you in your community, your church, and anywhere in the world. There are all kinds of ways he can work through us. Will you loose His hands by refusing to accept mediocrity?
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, you may not have thought about the ways that you might be binding the hands of Jesus in your life. But the good news is that you can loose His hands so that he is free to bring about the good He wants to do in your life. Won’t you let Him accomplish His purpose in your life?
Let us Pray:
