THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF JESUS
Mark 3:20-35
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: ONE LINERS
1. My doctor asked if anyone in my family suffered from mental illness. “No,” I said, “we all seem to enjoy it.”
2. I thought the dryer made my clothes shrink. Turns out it was the refrigerator.
3. I went shopping while hungry, now I’m the proud owner of aisle 6.
4. Definition of ‘Camping:’ where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.
B. TEXT
1. Mk. 3:20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
2. Mk. 3:22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” 23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” 30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
3. Mk.3:31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
C. THESIS
1. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, there developed a wonderful atmosphere around Jesus: there was the prophetic, the counter-culture, the miracles, the crowds, the excitement. In fact, His following grew so fast it became seemingly hectic. Jesus’ earthly family and friends didn’t understand his ministry. They began to make rash judgments about Him; they thought He had gone too far.
2. Jesus was anything but irrational. As Robert Coleman pointed out, “His life was ordered by His objective. Everything He did and said was part of the whole pattern...God’s strategy for world conquest. There was nothing haphazard about His life – no wasted energy, not an idle word. He lived, He died, and He rose again according to schedule. Like a general plotting his course of battle, the Son of God calculated to win. Weighing every alternative and variable factor...He conceived a plan that would not fail.” [Robert E. Coleman, “Master Plan of Evangelism,” p. 24.]
3. We’re looking at the reason for His unusual behavior, His response to character assassination, and His statement about the church being one family.
4. The title of this message is, “The Character Assassination of Jesus.”
I. JESUS’ CALL TO SOULWINNING (vss. 20-21)
A. THIS CALL SUPERSEDES ALL OTHER PRIORITIES
1. OUR OCCUPATIONS. When Jesus called His disciples, they (Peter, Andrew, James, John) immediately left their nets and followed Him (Mk. 1:17-18). Levi shuttered his tax office. Dr. Luke closed his medical practice. Jesus’ call supersedes all other occupations and material possessions.
2. IT’S A CALL TO WIN SOULS. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I’ll make you fishers of men.” They said of Jesus, “The zeal of your house has eaten Me up” John 2:17. Zeal = “enthusiastic devotion to a cause.” Jesus demonstrated enthusiasm about winning souls. It’s of the utmost importance. Souls are priceless. Jesus put reaching people before His occupation (Carpenter), before His personal comfort, and before His personal health.
3. ILLUS./HUMOR: Career planning
a. One Sunday morning, as a family was driving home from church after a great service where their Pastor really preached a great message, 9 year old Sam said to his father, "When I grow up, dad, I've decided to be a Preacher."
b. "Well Sam," said his dad, "I have no problem with that. But tell me, why have you now decided to be a Pastor? You were going to be a football player last week."
c. "I know I was," replied Sam, "but during the church service I realized that I’m going to be going to church every Sunday for the rest of my life - and that's a long time. So I decided that it would be funner to be standing and shouting than just sitting and listening!"
B. HIS FAMILY’S CONFLICT WITH HIS CALL
1. Worldly people perceive ‘selfless devotion to saving erring sinners’ as a foolish waste of one’s life! When I told my mother that I planned on leaving my pursuit of a law degree and as a financier, she was dumbfounded. All she could say was, “Isn’t there anything else you can be besides a preacher?” The thought of me becoming a minister was incomprehensible to her. It didn’t make sense!
2. The Living Bible states Jesus’ family’s view as, “He’s out of his mind.” The carnal mind doesn’t accept the things of the Spirit. The prophets too were called maniacs, “Why did this maniac come to you?”2 Ki. 9:11. (Jehu)
3. The world perceives fervent Christians as out of balance because they don’t see the urgency of winning souls from Hell. They think, “You’re being too extreme. You need to temper your enthusiasm; don’t go overboard. You don’t want to damage your health or get into exhaustion.”
4. The Roman governor, Festus, told Paul he’d lost his mind, because Paul told of his unswerving diligence to preaching the Gospel (Acts 26:24). So be forewarned: all who are zealous for the work of God must expect discouragement from even our closest friends and family.
II. ATTACK BY CHRIST’S ENEMIES (vss. 22-30)
A. MOTIVE & PURPOSE OF THE SCRIBES
1. MOTIVATED BY JEALOUSY & FEAR. John 11:47-48, “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” Acts 13:45, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. SO THEY MUST STOP THE PROGRESS OF JESUS’ MOVEMENT!
2. THEIR PROBLEM: THEY COULDN’T DENY the REALITY of the MIRACLES, so their only defense was to insinuate that Jesus did them by the POWER of the DEVIL! (This is the same tactic used by groups who don’t agree with tongues today – they usually say the speakers are crazy or it’s the devil).
3. Today, when politicians don’t like someone but can’t find any wrongdoing, they engage in CHARACTER ASSASSINATION – “maliciously slandering a person in an effort to ruin their reputation as a public figure.” That’s just what the Scribes were doing.
4. But in attacking the Spirit by which Christ worked the miracles, they stepped onto sacred ground!
B. CHRIST’S RESPONSE: SATAN DIVIDED?
1. Christ answered this by showing how absurd the argument was. Satan is so malignant that he’ll never voluntarily quit his possession. If Satan casts out Satan, his kingdom is divided, and it can’t stand. Satan’s no fool, nor will he ever act so as to weaken his position.
2. Christ’s points out that only a stronger man can overcome a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods. His Spirit IS stronger than the devil’s and demons.
3. Christ then said, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will NEVER be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (Mk. 3:29). This teaching has been a source of concern to many Christians: “Could I have overstepped in something I said or did, so that I blasphemed the Holy Spirit?” Satan, the accuser, has tormented many people with the fear they can’t be forgiven by God. So what is “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?”
C. BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, as a ‘spoken’ unforgiveable sin, is never known to have been performed (Mt. 12:31; Mk. 3:29; Lk. 12:10). Jesus only warned the Pharisees that they were in danger of it.
2. Many Christians unnecessarily worry that they’ve committed this sin. The answer is, if you have ANY desire to approach God or be right with God, you HAVEN’T committed this sin. A depraved mind no longer thinks “it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” Rom. 1:28.
3. A second form of this sin is more easily committed: to regularly & consistently refuse to listen and obey God’s Spirit. The Bible warns against "grieving the Spirit" (Eph. 4:30), "quenching the Spirit" (1 Thess. 5:19) and ultimately "insulting" the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) which evidently is equivalent to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
4. Stephen told the Jews, “You stiff-necked people….You always resist the Holy Spirit!” Acts 7:51. Rejecting the Holy Spirit is rejecting your only aid to repentance; thus, it’s a sin that closes the door to forgiveness. The solution is to have the deepest respect for the Holy Spirit, to be sensitive to His dealings, and respond with immediate obedience.
III. IMPORTANCE OF THE CHURCH (vss. 31-35)
A. EARTHLY FAMILY VERSUS HEAVENLY FAMILY
1. Jesus’ family’s wrong response to Him, drew a contrast with those who were open, hungry for spiritual things, and seeking God.
2. Jesus pointed out that this made them real family to Him, and to each other. He said, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (vs. 35).
3. How many times have Christians found closer ties to other believers than to members of their own families! In Mt. 10:36 Jesus said, “a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” because of the Gospel.
B. WE’RE THE FAMILY OF GOD!
1. Since we’re all members of Christ Body, then we’re members of one another! There is a vital connection between all believers in Christ. [My water baptism experience.]
2. We used to be sons & daughters of Adam; now we’re descended from the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. “Dear friends, now are we the children of God” 1 Jn. 3:2. We all have the same Father, “from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth are named” Eph. 3:15.
3. This is a wonderful truth and should strengthen ties between believers; we’re all of the same family! We’re brothers and sisters! We will spend eternity together. So we ought to especially love one another and take care of each other, just as we would earthly relations.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE VANISHING CHURCH
1. “Several years ago, there was a fascinating news story. In November of 2008, BBC news reported the story of a Russian Orthodox church being stolen by thieves. Last seen in July of that year, it was reported:
2. “…a 200 year old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia. Orthodox officials had intended to re-open the abandoned building and begin services again.”
3. But imagine their surprise when they came to the place where the church had stood and saw nothing...the entire church building had been stolen. How? The thieves made off with it, brick by brick.
4. What I found interesting was this line— “The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection was not immediately noticed.” [Brandon Ware]
5. Let’s make sure that what really makes our Church – our love, unity, family-connection – isn’t allowed to disappear, brick by brick! Let’s put the love back in!
B. THE CALL
1. Let’s sing, “I’m so Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God.” Let’s pray for more closeness as a church and for all of us to love each other more.
2. How many have wondered if you could be forgiven of some things in your past? The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL SIN!” Let that verse settle it for you!
3. Let’s pray and ask Jesus to cleanse us! PRAYER
