Enough is Enough: Too Much Ministry
(Mark 1:29-45)
1. This last week was different. Marylu and I went to visit Bruce and Joyce Moore.
2. We met them in 1984, back when I was 27. They were still in Ecuador, and we would see them every or every other year. When Hannah was young, she dubbed them “grama and grampa.”
3. They had a history way before my time and were very close to the Pattersons. HPC sent them out in 1956, arriving weeks after the massacre that is dramatized in the “End of the Spear.”
4. Dwight Patterson repeatedly went to Ecuador to visit the Moores, and when the tribal chief Sam came to Kokomo to visit with red mud in his hair, he made the front page of the Tribune. He came to the Lord here in Kokomo.
5. Bruce and Joyce lived a lot of life, advancing the Kingdom through Bible translation, raising a family, and faithfully walking with God. They had a long-term strategy; while others quit the task, they kept on. When computers and innovations cam along, they advanced and adapted.
6. Today we are going to see Jesus’ strategy for living in a way that would balance his calling.
7. Even though Jesus had an extreme mission, he demonstrated a balance that would leave some of we sinners feeling guilty.
Main Idea: Because Jesus lived on earth as a man, he typically experienced human limitations. His human side needed a balance between rest and ministry (work), and he was not afraid to say no.
I. Jesus Was Willing to Be SERVED (29-31)
A. He came to serve, but he also received SERVICE
B. Peter's mother-in-law ILL (29-30a)
1. Peter was obviously married
2. His wife traveled with him as he journeyed
I Corinthians 9:5-6, “Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas [Peter]? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?”
C. After Jesus healed her, she SERVED him
1. Proves not a gradual recovery, but complete
2. It is a privilege and honor to serve the Lord (is it for you?)
D. Are you able to both give AND receive? Jesus did.
1. For some people, serving can become control and superiority
2. Receiving can be humbling, and some folks don’t do humility
3. Other people are takers without balance…
4. It is more blessed to give than receive, but relationships require both
5. When Jesus wanted to wash Peter’s feet, he refused at first…
Application: Life is not about competition, who is better, who is worse. It’s about loving God and others to the glory of God. Part of that means dropping or at least letting down the pride barrier.
II. Jesus RETREATED Away from Needs and People to Pray (35-39)
A. Sometimes Jesus would pray in the morning, sometimes ALL NIGHT
Luke 6:12, “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”
The Bible nowhere teaches that the morning is any more sacred than any other time.
People of eastern European descent often have large heads, like mine.
• brachycephalic - having a short broad head with a cephalic index of over 80
Christians are forever trying to replicate one-size-fits-all believers
1. The attempt to standardize a walk with God leaves out many if not most people
2. God calls us to pray; he calls us to mediate upon and study the Word; he calls us to do.
B. What is most interesting is what he was NOT doing: helping people
• It was Judas Iscariot who complained that the perfume anointing Jesus could have been sold
• People need to help others, but method to the madness/balance
• Some people feel guilty whenever they relax
C. His disciples did not get it: MAINTAINING our own soul-health is a priority
1. The tyranny of the urgent
2. John 12:8, “For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
3. Our ability to control ourselves is greatly affected by:
a. our sleep
b. how hungry we are
c. how much stress we have
d. how many decisions we are making
4. If we guard these areas, we are less likely to lose control or make poor decisions
D. He REFOCUSED on his mission (38-39)
1. His miracles authenticated his Messiahship
2. He was not out to make any particular town Utopia
3. He did not lose sight of the forest because of the trees. Long term vs. short term
4. His disciples may not have liked the way he was doing things
III. Jesus Chose to RELOCATE to Pace Himself (40-45)
A. A LOUD MOUTH leper messed up Jesus' plan
B. Jesus was not driven by GUILT
C. He was called to a mission, and he would not substitute GOOD for BEST
Many of us struggle with the simplest of logical fallacies
1. All women are people, therefore all people are women (truth/whole truth)
2. Displacement: failing to realize the impact as to how one choice prevents another
3. Grasping the first good thing that comes along rather than waiting for the best
4. Thinking in terms of immediate need instead of long term need
D. Jesus faced the realities of his humanity: idealism vs. REALISM
Most of us start out life as idealists. Warren Wiersbe quips, “Warren Wiersbe: "A realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned."
Jesus was both an idealist and a realist…we need both…
E. He understood DISPLACEMENT
F. Later, he would enter cities when the Jesus FAD wore off
When Jesus no longer is perceived as a cure all for all of life’s woes, many do not want him
Many people want a benevolent miracle worker, not a call-to-repentance and faith Savior….
G. None of us can do EVERYTHING well, and we should not do something just because we CAN
Conclusion
1. You orchestrate your life, either consciously or subconsciously.
2. Are you setting yourself up for spiritual success, or for not feeling so guilty when you fail?
3. Are you out for your own long-term spiritual development … and that of the kingdom?
