ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: DOING THE WILL OF GOD
MARK 3:20-35
#kingjesus
USE AUDIO BIBLE: Mark Chapter 3:1-35 [3:51]
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Mark.3
INTRODUCTION… https://listverse.com/2009/03/15/10-incredibly-eccentric-people/
People can be pretty eccentric. I bring this up because in the passage we are going to look at today, some people considered Jesus “eccentric” “beside Himself” or “out of His mind.” To warm us up to this idea, I’d like to share about some eccentric people I learned about on the interwebs!
Hetty Green (1834-1916): Hetty Green was an eccentric miser who became known as the “Witch of Wall Street.” With her business acumen she accumulated such wealth that she was the richest woman in the world. In order to save money, Hetty would work out of trunks at her local bank so she wouldn’t have to pay for office space. When her son fell ill, she disguised herself and took him to a charity hospital; when they realized who she was, she fled claiming she would cure her son herself. She always wore the same black dress and never changed her underwear unless it wore out. She moved back and forth between New York and New Jersey in order to avoid taxes.
Simeon Ellerton (1702-1799): Simeon Ellerton lived in the 18th century and was a fitness fanatic. Because he loved to walk long distances, he was often employed to carry out errands or act as a courier for the locals. On his many frequent journeys he would gather up stones from the roadside and carry them on his head. His aim was to gather sufficient stones to build his own house. Eventually he had enough stones and he made a little cottage for himself. Having spent so many years carrying extra weight, he felt uncomfortable without it, so for the rest of his life he walked around with a bag of stones on his head.
Sir George Sitwell (1860-1943): Sir George Sitwell was a very bizarre man in many ways. He was a keen gardener who was annoyed by the wasps in his garden so he invented a pistol for shooting them. After he moved to Italy to avoid taxes in Britain, he refused to pay his new wife’s debts which resulted in her spending three months in prison. He was such an avid reader and collector of books that he had seven libraries in his home. He tried to pay his son’s school fees with produce from his garden. But perhaps most bizarrely, Sir George had the cows on his estate stenciled in a blue and white Chinese willow pattern in order to make them look better. To top it all off, he had a notice hung on the gate of his manor in Derbyshire, England: “I must ask anyone entering the house never to contradict me or differ from me in any way, as it interferes with the functioning of my gastric juices and prevents my sleeping at night.”
Francis Egerton (1756-1823): Francis Egerton became famous for his unusual dinner parties which he threw for dogs. All of the invited dogs would be dressed in the finest fashions of the day – including shoes. Another eccentricity was his manner of measuring time; Egerton would wear a pair of shoes only once – when he was done with them, he would line them up in rows in order to count the passing days. He also kept pigeons and partridges which had their wings clipped so he could shoot them for sport.
Jemmy Hirst (1738-1829): Jemmy (James) Hirst was so famous an eccentric in his own time that King George III summoned him to tea and he declined stating that he was training an otter to fish. Jemmy loved animals and he trained his bull to behave like a horse. The bull (named Jupiter) would draw his carriage about the village and Hirst even rode him in fox hunts. Instead of dogs, he used pigs that he had trained as hunt dogs. He regularly blew a horn to invite the poor to his home for free food – which was served out of a coffin. When he died, he requested 12 old maids to follow his coffin to the grave, as well as a bagpiper and a fiddler to play happy music.
I think those stories about those folks are quite humorous!
In verse 21 of Mark 3, Jesus’ family arrives and they want to take Him away from the crowds and the pressures because they think He is not acting like Himself and He is not acting in His best interest. Verse 20 tells us that the crowds were so big and pressing and demanding that Jesus and the disciples could not even eat. I imagine Jesus was teaching at all hours and the demands on Him were overwhelming. Jesus’ family sees the pressure and the activity and they come to take charge of Him, but they find Him doing exactly what He wants to be doing… He is doing the will of God.
BACKGROUND ABOUT MARK
I need to give you a little bit of background about this part of Mark because the way Mark wrote this passage is important and leads us to the meaning of what is going on. Mark writes at different times in his gospel using something called ‘intercalation.’ ‘Intercalation’ is a way of writing used to indicate a lapse of time, draw attention to something, contrast something, or to use two accounts to interpret one another. It is also called sandwiching or bracketing. He does this in chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 15. Apparently Mark loves his ‘sandwiches.’ Basically, Mark often uses two related stories in the life of Jesus to explain one point. One story begins, then he inserts another story, and then finishes up the first story. The combined point of the two stories is the point of the passage.
For example, in the passage we are going to look at today in verses 20-35 of chapter 3, Mark sets up telling the story by: talking about the Crowd (20), then Family (21), then Scribes (22) and in the center has some teaching. Then he reverses the story by talking about Scribes (30), Family (31), and then the Crowd (32-35). The point of the passage is the teaching in the middle sandwiched between the stories about the crowds and family.
I want to re-read our passage for today to help us focus.
RE-READ MARK 3:20-35 (ESV)
“Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, “He is out of His mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons He casts out the demons.” 23 And He called them to Him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” 31 And His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside they sent to Him and called Him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking You.” 33 And He answered them, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
There are some extreme truths in this passage I have to say. In the midst of all of the eccentric and extreme things going on, Jesus explains to us what He is all about. Jesus explains the point of His ministry.
Let’s go back through this narrative about Jesus and get to the point.
CROWD PRESSURE AND FAMILY INTERVENTION
The passage begins with Jesus’ family arriving to try and take care of Him. If we add some details from the end of the passage, we know that Mary arrives with some or all of Jesus’ brothers to try and help Jesus.
What does He need help with? In their opinion, things are out of hand. Crowds are gathering around Jesus so that He can’t eat. We need to remember that… yes… Jesus is the Son of God, but Jesus is also a normal human being. He needs to eat, sleep, exercise, work, rest, and all of the other things we all do to survive. They were concerned for Him because at the end of verse 21 they were saying that He was not acting like Himself… He’s not caring for Himself… because He’s under all this pressure!
Mary and her other children stage and intervention to whisk Jesus away, but from what we can tell from this whole passage, Jesus is unwilling to stop. And the pressure of the crowds is not the only pressure Jesus is under.
RELIGIOUS LEADER PRESSURE
We also see that Jesus is under pressure by the religious leaders of His day by way of accusations meant to make Him look bad. Verse 22 tells us that scribes, who were most likely Pharisees, came from Jerusalem to critique Him and spoil what He was doing. He was operating outside of their authority and they wanted Him stopped.
The scribes accuse Jesus of:
#1 Being possessed by Satan (Beelzebul is another name for Satan) (verse 22)
#2 Using Satanic power to cast out demons (verse 22)
#3 Having an unclean spirit in Him (verse 30)
All three of those pretty much are the same accusation… Jesus is working for Satan and not for God. All the teaching and miracles and healing and demon smashing He is doing is not a Godly good thing, but a Satan evil thing.
The religious leaders are trying to counteract everything Jesus has been doing. Remember, Jesus came and declared (Mark 1) that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He was working on behalf of the plan of God for salvation that God had been weaving through history since before the beginning of time and these religious leaders wanted Him stopped. Their first solution to their ‘Jesus problem’ is to accuse Him of working for Satan and discredit Him in the eyes of the crowds. Keep in mind their final solution to their ‘Jesus problem’ is to kill Him.
TRANSITION
In the midst of all this pressure on Jesus, and I believe it is real pressure, Mark shares with us Jesus’ response to the pressure and His teaching on the matter. We should not forget that Jesus spent the first thirty years of His life preparing for His ministry. He was prepared for the pace He would need to have for 3 years to accomplish the will of God. He was prepared for the pressure from His family. He was prepared for the eccentric flavor His life would take on. He was prepared for the opposition from the Pharisees and other religious leaders. Jesus answers. What does He say?
CENTRAL TEACHING
Jesus wisely answers the objections of the scribes first and then lays out His purpose. His purpose as explained in chapter 3 is the Essential King Jesus truth for today.
First, Jesus responds by wisely telling the scribes that their accusation that He works for Satan in driving out Satan makes no sense and is very far from the truth. Israelites, like Jesus and like the leaders standing before Him, know that a house divided cannot stand. They know that a kingdom divided falls. How do they know that? It happened to Israel. After King Solomon in Israel’s history (1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles), the nation of Israel was divided and the North fell first and then the South. A divided house is part of Israel’s identity and they all know this truth!
Second, Jesus teaches us that Satan is coming to an end. In verse 26, Jesus says “he cannot stand but is coming to an end” (ESV). Satan and his lies are ending. The Kingdom of Flesh is ending. The rule of sin and brokenness and sickness and death is coming to an end.
How is it coming to an end? How is Satan coming to an end? That question is most important because we are in the middle of the sandwich Mark is writing. Let’s not forget how Mark is writing this passage. He’s got crowd, family, and religious leader pressure on the outsides and Jesus explaining His purpose on the inside. Verse 27 is the middle.
RE-READ MARK 3:27 (ESV)
27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Jesus is sharing a short parable about His purpose. We all live in the strong man’s house. The strong man’s house is the world. The strong man… is Satan. Satan is the current lord of this world who exists on borrowed time and runs the world according to his rules. Because of the way he runs his house, he is condemned (John 16:11).
Jesus, as He speaks in this passage, is at the beginning of binding up Satan. Satan exists on borrowed time because Jesus came and binds Him up with His life, ministry, death, and resurrection. Jesus is tying the hands of Satan by…
… slapping the cuffs on Satan’s way of life by teaching and preaching God’s way
… foiling the work of Satan by working miracles and driving out demons
… binding sin and guilt with His death and offers grace instead
… tying up death and conquering death with His resurrection
… binding any authority Satan has in this world with His ascension into Heaven
In the short parable, the goods that are plundered is us! Those trapped by the guilt of the sinful nature belong to Satan. Jesus comes and binds up Satan by conquering sin and death and leads us out from under the thumb of Satan.
In Jesus’ short parable, a person breaks into a strongman’s house and only after binding Him up, is able to make off with the household goods and plunder. In Jesus’ short parable, Jesus has broken into the world, is binding up Satan, in order to liberate souls from under the control of Satan.
ESSENTIAL KING JESUS
My prayer overall in our sermon series in Mark is that as we make our way through that we will encounter the Essential King Jesus and bolster our faith or perhaps find it for the first time. Each week I want to share with one essential truth that is important for us to believe and then also communicate to others about Jesus. We are focusing on the Essential King Jesus.
What is the Essential King Jesus from this passage? Essential King Jesus: Jesus came do the will of God. Jesus explains in chapter 3 that involves teaching, preaching, healing, driving out demons, and planting the seeds of the Church which binds up Satan in this world and allows for the freedom of any soul captive to sin. Jesus came to do the will of God. Because of Jesus, forgiveness and grace is available for anyone to escape from the strong man’s house.
It is completely the will of God that Jesus bind up Satan. Revelation 20 gives us a glimpse of what happens in the end.
READ REVELATION 20:7-10 (ESV)
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Jesus came to do the will of God and through His faithfulness Satan is defeated.
APPLICATION
What does this have to do with me?
What does this have to do with you?
Jesus explains in the rest of the passage what this has to do with us. He first explains spiritual choices in verses 28-30 and then secondly explains discipleship in verses 31-35.
First (verses 28-30), because Jesus has come and done the will of God, you and I have a spiritual choice to make. We can choose to accept Jesus and enjoy a relationship with God and have our sins forgiven or we can choose to reject Jesus. In context in verse 29, ‘blaspheming against the Holy Spirit’ is unforgivable because a person rejects God and does not want forgiveness. It is not that God cannot and will not forgive, but that the person cuts themselves off from the source of forgiveness… Jesus Christ. This choice of choosing Jesus or not is not a one-time thing, but rather a continual ongoing choice to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to hunger and thirst after righteousness. That truth leads us to discipleship.
Second (verses 31-35), because Jesus has come and done the will of God, we must choose Jesus daily and pursue Him. The end of the passage Jesus makes a statement about following Him. Jesus says that those who follow Him with all of their heart and all of their mind and all of their strength are His family. I don’t know about you, but I want to be in God’s family. I want to be in Jesus’ family. I want Him to count me among those He loves and saves. This means we pursue Jesus with our whole heart.
Choosing and pursuing Jesus with your whole heart means…
… intentionally physically meeting with believers on Sundays for worship 4/4 Sundays
… on purpose joining a small group of Christians to study the Bible and sharpen one another
… weekly bringing your children to youth group and forcing them if necessary
… tithing on a regular basis showing God is your priority and money is secondary
… regularly choosing to serve where you have gifts and talents
… intentionally praying to God and listening to what He has to say
… fasting and praying when decisions have to be made so we follow God’s choice
… pursuing forgiveness with those who hurt us especially when they don’t deserve it
… dating only Christians
… read regularly from books that invest in your spiritual life
… on purpose work through doubts and questions you have about faith
… when you find attitude problems, on purpose pray and give them to God
… on purpose live out the truth found in the Bible
… regularly remove influences in your life that lead to sin and lead you away from God
SUMMARY ESSENTIAL KING JESUS
We are focusing on the Essential King Jesus and before
What is the Essential King Jesus from this passage? Essential King Jesus: Jesus came do the will of God. Jesus explains in chapter 3 that involves teaching, preaching, healing, driving out demons, and planting the seeds of the Church which binds up Satan in this world and allows for the freedom of any soul captive to sin. Jesus came to do the will of God. Because of Jesus, forgiveness and grace is available for anyone to escape from the strong man’s house.
We are thankful that Jesus came to do the will of God!
We also submit to Jesus because He did the will of God!
INVITATION
I want to invite you this morning to place trust in Jesus. Jesus came into this world and did battle for you and for me. He lived His life to bind up Satan and has won all the battles and won the war. Jesus, because of His life and death and resurrection, places a choice in your lap. Whose side are you on?
Choose Jesus.
Not choosing means you do not choose Him.
Choose Satan.
PRAYER
