Looking A Little Bit Crazy
Mark 3:20-30
There was a photocopied sign that was posted inside a church office. It was one of those humorous slogans that people in different offices duplicate and pass among themselves. Most of us have seen this particular message, I suppose, but posted in a church office, the words took on a new meaning.
Taped to the cinder blocks behind a secretary's desk. The sign read, "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps."
Wouldn't it be nice if we put a sign like that in the entrance of the church? Only I would re-word it to say, "You don't have to be crazy to worship here, but it helps."
On a deeper level, there is a great deal of truth in that sign.
There is something strange about the church. We are not just another social club or civic organization. The church's view of reality is increasingly out of phase from those who are outside looking in. Because In the church, we do and say things that do not always make sense to people outside of this house. Here we are, gathered in the church, sitting on hard pews instead of lawn chairs. People we know are outside, are working on their yards or washing their cars, while we gather here, inside this building, to lift our voices in prayer and song to the Lord. As a lot of other people are planning a barbecue or sipping a ice cold drink, we come together on a morning like this to Praise the Lord and hear a word from the Lord.
To some outsiders, it must look a little bit crazy. Cause all you talk about is God and Church. Why are you always trying to invite me to church? What's up with all of these stage lights, bands and video screens? Why do yawl speak in unknown languages? Why do you keep pretending like you love me? You got issues just like me. Yawl are looking a little bit crazy right now.
According to our scripture text, this perception may reveal something of what it means to be called crazy by those in the church who are not as radical or unorthodox as you.
Crazy defined is one who is or acts crazy especially : such a one associated with a radical or extremist political cause.
Lets look at the word "Radical", if a person or persons are really radical they both have a common thread—they actually believe their commitments.
This leads to both inspiration for some and isolation for others, but almost always moves to action of some kind. Let me illustrate.
The terrorists who destroys, maims and kills others —they believe so strongly that not only would they die for what they believe, they will kill for it too. This kind of radical is obvious.
The there are the faithful Christians who deeply believe that commitment always leads to strong actions, so as part of their response to the message of God, they correct others.
But then there are others who are extremely radical they judge others, they criticize others’ personal expressions of faith, and challenge opposite or questioning beliefs.
These Christian radicals in a way are equally as terrifying as those terrorists that fill the nightly news.
While I thank God for our church being nontraditional, freethinking, open-minded, and receptive to the things of God. There are other churches that look at us and think we are a little crazy only because that's what they say about me.
They say that Jones is crazy he rebukes musicians, corrects wayward preachers, preaches about the Holy Ghost believes in tongues, believes in Miracles and Healing. Why are people calling him Apostle?
What they fail to realize is that when I was in the gang i was down for anything. I represented the gang I was in, I wore its colors proudly with the tilted hat to the left, I greeted my fellow brothers with gang signs and secret handshakes always showing my love for those who rode with us including the Latin Kings. I was ready to do bodily harm to others for it I even said the gang prayer which was If I die have no pity, send my soul to vice lord city, dig a six feet hole in the ground, lay two staffs across my feet, put two shotguns across my chest and tell my Peoples I did my best!
Now that I'm saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost and that with a mighty burning fire. Why can't i be down for JESUS? Why cant I represent the Kingdom of God, while some are false flagging in the Church - (false flagging is when a person would get caught wearing the wrong colors.)
Some are false flagging they are wearing their colors in their loyalty to the enemy instead of to God and they are looking a little bit crazy.
As we look at our text
Mark tells us about the day when the family of Jesus came to take him away in a straitjacket. The word on the street was that Jesus was "out of his mind " people thought he was "beside himself." They claimed Jesus was possessed. And so, his family came to his house to take Jesus away, because the popular opinion was that he was insane. Now that might sound like an odd assessment of his ministry, but it is central to how the gospel of Mark portrays the work of Jesus. From the beginning, Jesus acted as if he was different. Jesus announced that God's reign had come near. He acted as if his view of the world was different from the world we have taken for granted.
According to Mark, Jesus did not accept the world as a place of sin, sickness, or evil. He acted as if God had begun doing something new. Unlike the peasants and beggars of his time, "his eyes lacked the proper reaction, his voice the proper lament, his walk the proper shuffle."
Jesus basically walked to a different drum beat. In the gospel we see Jesus, too, "does not keep pace with his companions... because he hears a different drummer." These religious people were deaf to that divine drummer that Jesus listened to.
Jesus not only announced the nearness of God's kingdom, he acted as if God's reign had actually come. That's why some people said, "He has gone out of his mind."
The evidence still reinforced that appraisal. Because for every disturbed person who Jesus healed, there are twenty people who are possessed by forces outside their control.
For every headache Jesus ever relieved, there are fifty more bottles of Tylenol sold every minute. For every disease Jesus ever healed, a hundred more patients are admitted to the hospital.
Listen! There are forces still at work that hurt, cripple, and destroy human life. The world has not changed!!!!!!!
There are untold numbers of tragedies that happened due to human weakness. Others occur by destructive conspiracies against us. Jesus came preaching, "The kingdom of God is at hand!" But the evidence revealed that God's kingdom was a disputed power.
Even today the world has not changed, because people are still trying to discredit the things of God. I have never seen so much debating on scripture today, I have never seen so much opposition to the things of God. Everybody has their own opinion about what the Bible says today. Today we deal with contentious folks who don’t even know God or the Bible.
That's the issue in the story from the third chapter of Mark. Back in the time of Jesus, some of the best theological minds summed up the evidence and did a evaluation on Jesus. They said, "It seems Jesus has great strength and ability. Yet the world hasn't changed. It appears like Jesus has power over the house of evil. But the house of evil has stone walls and an iron-clad gate."
"Jesus may be doing some good things," they added. "But what if Jesus is a trickster a fraud a deceiver or a sham?
They said, perhaps the evil powers have sent him to deceive us. What if Jesus is actually evil in disguise?
When the best minds of his generation accused him of teaming up with the devil, Jesus responded in a way that let people decide for themselves. "Think of it this way," he said. "A kingdom divided cannot stand. A house divided cannot stand."
Jesus said How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
In other words Jesus was saying, "If I'm on the side of evil " "then the house of evil is falling apart, because I would be working against my own house. But since I'm on the side of God, I have come to tear satans kingdom down"
In other words, Jesus was saying, "Decide what you want about my ministry; decide whether or not you think I am out of my mind. But either way, know this: the end of evil is already in sight. Its like he was saying to them I see my church in the future and they look much better. Every since I have come on the scene....the house of evil has been falling down."
Since the power of God has intruded upon the gates of hell.
Jesus said in Matthew16:18, Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Why is it always true that when a man or woman who is on fire for God for some reason it seems they are regarded as deranged to their contemporaries. The more like Jesus we are, the more we too will experience the sorrow of being misunderstood by relatives and friends. If we set out to make a fortune, men will cheer us. But if we are fanatics for Jesus Christ, they will mock us and ridicule us.
The religious leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy, but ironically they were the guilty ones when they looked Jesus in the face and accused him of being possessed by satan or Beelzebub the Lord of the dung/flies.
What it revealed about them is that they had a heart attitude of unbelief and unrepentance. They didn’t want to receive the fact that God was doing something new, something different.
Isaiah 43:19 says Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
We need to be careful when it comes to blaspheming against the Holy Ghost because it is something that is not forgivable.
Jesus said Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
Listen …..Deliberate, ongoing rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy because it is rejecting God himself.
To blaspheme means to treat God with disrespect through our words or actions. It often involves speaking about or against God as if he is not God or even as if he is evil.
In this context, the leaders were giving Satan credit for the miracles Jesus was doing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In a broader sense, blasphemy against the Spirit involves continually and deliberately rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work, including his testimony about Jesus, the truth of his Word and the problem of sin. Those who resist when the Spirit is speaking to their own consciences are, in truth, separating themselves from the only source that can lead them to forgiveness.
The dangerous process that leads to blasphemy against the Spirit is as follows:
Continually grieving the Holy Spirit (i.e., resisting his direction, doing something that displeases or defies God which leads to resisting the Spirit. Resisting the Spirit leads to putting out the Spirit’s fire (i.e., stopping the work he desires to do in one’s life or church). Putting out the Spirit’s fire leads to a hardened heart. Hardening the heart leads to a corrupt and perverted mind that is not open to God and that views good as evil and evil as good. When this heart attitude reaches a certain point–only God knows where this point is–the Spirit will no longer try to lead that person toward God.
And without the Spirit’s prompting, people will never be able to come to God or accept his truth on their own. For those who are worried about having committed “the unpardonable sin,” the fact that you still recognize the need to be forgiven and have the desire to turn from your sin is evidence that you have not committed the unpardonable sin. Anyone who is guilty of that sin would have no desire to be forgiven or to turn to God.
Which could easily lead that person to Apostasy which means a turning away. The Greek term literally means “standing away” from God, and it relates to spiritual rebellion, abandonment, withdrawal or turning from what one has previously believed and experienced in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It typically involves denying a once sincere faith, disowning Jesus and abandoning the body of Christ (i.e., the church), although some who have turned their backs on a relationship with Jesus Christ many still pretend to be part of the church. Apostasy is the consequence of a willing and deliberate choice to “turn away from the living God.”
IN MY CONCLUSION:
Jesus came to earth to destroy the works of Satan and to establish God’s kingdom and to free us, all of humankind, from Satan’s power.
1 John 3:8 says, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
In v.27 Jesus puts into action the principle behind this spiritual conflict with Satan and his powers in his use of phrases like “tying up the strong man” (i.e., Satan) and “robbing his house” (i.e., setting free those who are slaves to Satan or “possessed” by demonic powers and reclaiming their lives for God’s kingdom).
Jesus overcomes the enemy by driving out the demons (Gk daimonion) or evil spirits.
“Driving out” or “casting out” means that Jesus is exercising his authority to force demonic powers to give up control of people whose lives and bodies have been in Satan’s control.
satan (Heb, meaning “accuser” or “adversary”) was once a great angel created perfect and good. He was appointed to serve directly around God’s throne in heaven. Yet before the world began, he became filled with pride and rebelled against God. As a result, he became God’s primary enemy and an enemy to all humanity as well. We must, however, keep in mind that satan is not equal with God; he is a created being and his power must yield to the superior power of God.
God is omnipresent (everywhere at the same time), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing).
But satan is not he has none of these characteristics; therefore, most of his activity is assigned to demons to do his dirty work.
In his rebellion against God, satan misled a third of the angels who, after their “fall” from heaven, were identified as demons or evil spirits. satan and many of these angels were exiled to the earth and the atmosphere around it. This is where they do their evil work, as God allows. Because of this constant presence of evil and its influence, all of humankind had to choose whether to follow God or to follow evil.
Jesus promised his followers that they would have authority over the power of satan and demons. As we confront them, we must rely on the power and authority that we have in the name of Jesus and use his authority to break the power that demonic forces want to force upon us and others.
This means we must wage intense spiritual warfare through the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of God is the only source that frees us from the power and influence of the enemy and brings us into God’s glorious light with victory.
According to this parable …..spiritual conflict against Satan and his demonic forces involves three stages of spiritual battle:
When we declare war against satan according to God’s purpose. When we enter satan’s territory (any area of life where he has a “stronghold” or has strongly forced his evil control), we must then attack and overpower him through prayer and God’s Word.
By doing this, God will destroy the devil’s weapons of deception and temptation.
Its time for us to take back what the devil stole. This means we need to be helping to liberate those who have been enslaved by Satan’s power and helping to restore them to God so that they may receive forgiveness and new life through faith in Christ.
As we boldly embrace the authority and power of God, we should take the following steps in our spiritual battle: Recognize that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(Eph 6:12). We must take a stand for God and after having done all still Stand.
We must have faith that satan’s power can be broken in any specific area where he might have control.
We must also realize that God has given us as Believers powerful spiritual weapons for the destruction of satan’s strongholds 2Co 10:3-5 says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
This tells me that we can act like Jesus. We can do the will of God. We can confront the powers of hell as if God rules over heaven and earth. We can act in the face of death as if death has already been defeated. We can gather in a place like this, singing praises to a Savior who has already assured us of the world's redemption. Trusting in the final triumph of God, we can act redemptively even when the world calls us crazy.
So I ask this question? Do you really want to follow Jesus Christ? Do you understand that it means you have to step into the life of the fool?
Here on this earth that which is heavenly is deemed foolish.
After all it is not cool to be a Christian; it’s not cool to be a strong Christian. It’s not cool to preach about Jesus Christ. It’s not cool to believe that the bible is in fact the word of God.
Do you know Jesus has a brand? It’s called the stigma. That’s what it’s called in scripture. It is the same word we use today. A stigma is not a good thing by the way and the concept back then in the ancient Greek would have been a mark branded upon the body. Slaves and soldiers bore the name or the stamp of their master or commander, branded or pricked into their bodies to indicate what master or general the belonged to.
Branded into the skin was a mark, it’s known as a stigma. You know that the bible seems to indicate that we all bear a mark? We are all showing who our commander is; who our master is. The bible calls it Lord. Who is your Lord?
Caesar had a simple solution for compromise in the church of Jesus Christ in his day.
He either fed you to wild beasts or you were going to declare that ‘Caesar is Lord’.
Yet Believer after Believer would gladly be fed to the wild beasts than change their mark. And though they were set before mocking crowds and considered the refuse of the world, they gladly would die for Jesus than to allow their mark to be changed.
Are you willing to wear the mark of Christ? Are you willing to wear the brand of Christ? That mark means you are here on earth to establish the kingdom and the glory of the beloved Son. That’s why I'm here. I’m not here to get your applause; I’m not here to get your approval. I ‘m here to establish His kingdom. That’s my reason for living.
Like Paul, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17). I bear in my body the brand of the Lord Jesus. That’s what Paul is saying. He’s showing in his very life, he bears the signs that he is wearing the brand of Jesus Christ. You can tell. You can look closely at someone and you can tell,” They must be wearing the brand.” How do you tell?
They are those who are armed with the same mind as Christ was armed prepared to suffer in the body. They are those who do not consider it strange to encounter the fiery trials which are to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.1Peter 4:12.
They are those who rejoice the privilege of sharing in Christ’s suffering 1Peter 4:13.
They are those who are immovable and unshakeable always abounding in the work of the Lord.
They know they are commissioned even appointed to suffer affliction and tribulation.
They are those who are troubled on every side yet do not get distressed, those who are perplexed but do not despair, persecuted but are not forsaken, cast down but are not destroyed 1 Corinthians 4:8-9.
They are those who are utterly confident that they shall not be ashamed for the confidence they have placed in Jesus Christ so whether it’s by life or by death Jesus shall be magnified in their body.
They are those that know that to live is Christ and to die is gain Philippians 1:20-21.
They are those who rejoice and are exceeding glad when they are reviled, persecuted and all manner of evil is spoken against them falsely for the sake of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:11-12).
They are those who rejoice that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). They are those who are exceedingly joyful in all their tribulation (2Corinthians 7:4).
They are those that consider it pure joy when they face trials of many kinds (James 1:2). They are those that know it was fitting for Jesus to become perfect through suffering and it is also fitting for them to be perfected in the same manner (Hebrews 2:10)
Are you willing to wear the brand of Jesus Christ? Is that how you are known? Is that what your wearing? Will you accept this? You’ve turned to the one who isn’t cool. So why are you trying to be cool? You see, you love Jesus, don’t you? Isn’t He your life? Isn’t He the centerpiece of your existence? Isn’t He what you’re after? Or are you after the world’s applause? Which one is it?
I want to know Jesus and I want to be known by Jesus. You want to know the agenda of my life? It’s wrapped up in that statement. That’s what I want. I don’t care how glitzy it may look to the world on the outside. I don’t care how glamorous it may look to the world outside. I want the genuine article. No matter what it costs me. We are fools for Christ’s sake.
Invitation:
In the words of my friend Rev. Calvin Bridges "Standing on the outside, Looking in can be so lonely, You can know the joy, Of serving Jesus only, Let Him in your heart today, And you too can be apart, Why don't you, Come on in this house and praise the Lord.
