The Gospel of Mark #8 – “How Jesus Reached People”
Mark 3:7-19
Intro –
1. Do you like to shave? I hate it! If it weren’t for my wife, I’d never shave! SLIDE – Big beard!
2. ILL – In the 1950s, marketing whiz Stanley Arnold was working at Young & Rubicam, where he was asked to come up with a marketing campaign for Remington Rand. The company was among the most conservative in America. Its chairman at the time was retired General Douglas MacArthur. Intimidated at first by a company that was so much a part of America, Arnold also found in that phrase the first inspiration for a campaign. After thinking about it, he went to the New York offices of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane, and placed the ultimate odd-lot order: "I want to purchase," he told the broker, "one share of every single stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange." After a vice president tried to talk him out of it, the order was finally placed. It came to more than $42,000 for one share in each of the 1098 companies listed on the Big Board at the time. Arnold now took his diversified portfolio into a meeting of Remington Rand's board of directors, where he argued passionately for a sweepstakes campaign with the top prize called A Share in America. The conservative old gentlemen shifted around in their seats and discussed the idea for a while. "But Mr. Arnold," said one, "we are not in the securities business." Said another, "We are in the shaver business." "I agree that you are not in the securities business," said Arnold, "but I think you also ought to realize that you are not in the shaver business either. You are in the people business." The company bought the idea.
3. Jesus was, is & always has been in the “people business.”
4. Everywhere we see Jesus in the gospels He is surrounded by all kinds of people. We have already seen in the gospel of Mark that Jesus called people to follow him (1:14-19); cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue (1:25-26); healed many people with diseases (1:32-34); healed a man with leprosy (1:40-45); healed a paralyzed man (2:1-12); called a tax collector & ate dinner with his despised friends (2:13-17); and healed a man with a withered hand (3:1-6).
5. Again, in our text today, we see Jesus dealing with people.
6. Mark 3:7-19 (read)
7. In our text, some of the people followed Him with wrong motives & some whose motives were pure. Either way, Jesus loved them & ministered to their needs.
8. SONG – Point of Grace “More than Anything”
God loves the weary when they're too weak to try.
He feels their pain, He knows their shame, He cries with those who cry.
He won't give up or walk away, when other people do.
'Cause God loves people more than anything!
God loves the wounded who've stumbled into sin.
He reaches down and pulls them out and cleans them up again.
And He will heal the broken heart that's given up on love.
'Cause God loves people more than anything!
9. How did Jesus Reach People?
I. Jesus Reached Out to Those in Need – Vs. 7-12
Jesus always put the needs of others above His own!
*Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
*Rom. 15:3 “For even Christ did not please himself but as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Through the gospels we consistently see Jesus reaching out to those in need!
A. Even when it was inconvenient – vs. 7a “Jesus withdrew”
1. Notice that Jesus’ desire was to withdraw with His disciples to the lake to take a break from public ministry, but many people (“large crowd”) followed Him.
2. While Christ did not live in order to please Himself, He did take necessary steps to preserve Himself. Unless we get adequate sleep, proper recreation, balanced diet, etc.; we too may be “crushed” by the responsibilities of life & ministry.
3. However, in this case, he ministered to the needs of the crowd even though it interfered with what He was planning to do.
4. People love to say, “You have to learn to say no!” I agree to a point, “You have to learn to say no to good things, so you can say yes to the best things!”
5. I believe a need seen is often a divine call!
6. Mark 8:1-8 (read)
B. Even when it was insincere – vs. 8-12
1. To show the compassionate heart of Christ even more, we must realize that many of these people did not want a relationship with Christ, they just wanted what He could do for them.
2. I admit this is & has been a struggle with me! However, God has taught me to give, without judging the intentions of those I give to.
3. John 1:11 “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
C. Who are we reaching out to?
*Phil. 2:3-5 “3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:”
II. Jesus Reached Up to God in Prayer – Luke 6:12-13
In the parallel account in Luke, we learn that before Jesus chose the disciples, He spent the entire night in prayer to God.
What a lesson for us! If Jesus, God in the flesh, needed to spend time with the Father before He made important decisions – how much more do we?
ILL – Me, “I’ll have to think about that.” / Jenine, “You should pray about it!”…
If prayer was so important to Jesus, how much more should it be to us?
A. God has promised to hear our prayers –
1. Jer. 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
2. Is. 65:24 “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”
3. Ps. 65:2 “O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.”
B. God has promised to answer our prayers –
1. Matt. 7:7-8 “7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
2. John 16:23 “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
3. We may not always get the answer we want – but He’ll always answer!
C. God has promised to accomplish His will in the world through prayer –
1. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10)
2. James 5:16-18 “16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
3. Are you facing a difficult decision? Are you at a crossroads in your life? Let me just encourage you to be a man or woman of prayer!
III. Jesus Reached In to Call the Apostles – Vs. 13-19
He “reached in” to His group of committed followers to choose some for special service.
*Jesus was going to give these men much of the same power & ministry that He had. Like Christ, their work would center on preaching, healing, & casting out demons.
*There are no more apostles (at least in the sense of “office”) today, as Eph. 2:20 clearly indicates that the church was “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.”
A. Who Jesus called – 3 groups of apostles
*We don’t have time to study each one, but it is interesting to note how they are listed.
1. Peter – Peter was unique. He was a loud mouth fisherman who often spoke before he thought things through. He would become the leader of the apostles. It was Peter who used the “keys of the kingdom” (Matt. 16:19) to open the door of the gospel to the Jews (Acts 2) & to the gentiles (Acts 10). God would use His “big mouth” to become the chief mouthpiece for spreading the gospel!
*ILL – Getting in trouble for my big mouth as a child…
2. James & John – Jesus called these 2 men “sons of thunder” because of their intensity & outspoken personalities. They wanted the place of honor in Christ’s kingdom (Mark 10:35-40) & to call down fire on a Samaritan village (Luke 9:51-55). Yet, James would become the pastor of the Jerusalem church who would be the first Apostle to be Martyred (Acts 12:1-2). John would go on to become the pastor of the church at Ephesus & become the disciple known for loving Christ & others (1 John).
3. The others – The others (with the exception of Judas) were an eclectic group of fishermen, tax-collectors, & zealots who would go on to “turn the world upside down” with the gospel of Christ (Acts 17:6).
B. Why Jesus called them– Vs. 14
1. To be with Him – This is discipleship!!
a. The Lord called these men to follow Him in a relationship of personal fellowship. He wanted to teach them His ways, & that required closeness. He wanted them to learn from Him & that required closeness. He wanted to train them by personal example, and that required closeness.
b. Acts 4:13 “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
c. If you are going to be a disciple – you must spend time with Jesus!
d. If you are going to be a discipler – you must spend time with people!
2. To go forth & preach –
a. “Preach” means “to act as a herald; to sound forth the message of the King.”
b. Jesus handpicked these men and called them to take His message to the nation of Israel and to the world.
c. What was the message they were to preach? It was the same message that Jesus Himself had been preaching. It was the “Gospel of the Kingdom”.
d. It was the good news that God had sent His Son into the world to be the Savior from sin! It was a message of hope, peace & blessing. The disciples were to take this message to the people and call them to come to Jesus.
e. While we are not all called to the office of “preacher” we are all called to preach!
f. Mark 16:15 “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
Conc. –
1. How this applies to us? Jesus calls–
a. Ordinary people – The Apostles were people with faults just like us. They spent time with Jesus & He changed them! Remember, “He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called!”
b. Responsive people – The one thing each of these Apostles had in common was a willingness to obey Jesus. Will you obey His call to discipleship this morning?
2. SONG – Point of Grace “More than Anything”
God loves people more than anything!
More than anything He wants them to know, He'd rather die than let them go!
'Cause God love people more than anything!
More than anything He wants us to go, and show the world so they will know,
That God loves people more than anything!
