God tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17… All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The world always needs much good work. We Christians are honored, called, and empowered to do good work!
But we cannot do godly good work if we don’t know what godly good work is; and so, God gives us His Word the Bible! You and I are called by God! Let us continue to learn from the Gospel of Mark and be equipped to do good work which is much needed in our world. We are now in chapter 3…… Read along with me Mark 3:1-19….
Similarly, this story is also in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke; take a quick look with me to Matthew 12:9….
As we had noted in the first 2 chapters of Mark, Jesus began His ministry on earth by preaching the Word of God and healing. And so we note again,
v1: Jesus was at church preaching! What was Jesus preaching??
Jesus proclaimed and affirmed the Old Testament as God’s Word!
Now, we note that there was a man with a shriveled hand in the synagogue where Jesus was preaching; was the main story in this passage about that man with a shriveled hand??
Jesus of course knew what was going on, and we can note it from Matthew 12, that the Pharisees was totally against Him, looking for an opportunity to trap Christ. The Pharisees and the people have seen and heard much about Jesus Christ already; Jesus had authority over the Word of God! Jesus proclaimed He could forgive sins. Jesus healed many, both spiritually and physically! Jesus stated He is Lord of the Sabbath! Jesus proclaimed He is God! And so…..
v2-4: Jesus used the situation to again challenge the people, especially the Jewish Leaders, to believe in Him as God and Savior.
Now, look again at v5… what was Jesus angry about??
Jesus continued to reveal Himself and gave opportunities for all to believe He is God!
Jesus was angry and distressed with the unbelief of the Religious Leaders!
Did the Pharisees believe in Jesus?? How do we know??
v6: The Pharisees actually planned and encouraged others to kill Jesus Christ!
Did anyone listen to Jesus who proclaimed to be Messiah Savior and God??
v7-19: Not only the 12 Disciples, many other people followed Jesus Christ!
What were the things that Jesus did with His followers??
1. Jesus “withdrew” (spent time) with His followers!
2. He healed many but He had a special relationship with the 12!
3. Jesus revealed His power over evil spirits!
4. Jesus appointed 12 to do godly work!
5. Jesus called each one by name!
And so, Jesus Christ, Son of God, revealed the Truth about Himself, salvation, discipleship, and godly living. Many believed but many also rejected Jesus Christ! And so, this is the first question for all of us:
1. Am I constantly listening to and believing in Jesus Christ?
Is constant thinking of Jesus Christ too much to ask? Let us note this, Christians constantly have God the Holy Spirit within them!
And so, If we are listening to other “voices” of supposed truth, we are rejecting Jesus Christ and there will be consequences! God is angry and distressed with our sins! We need to consider that we upset God when we sin! But Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ already died for all our sins, past, present, and future! And so, we actually comfort God when we confess our sins and profess Jesus Christ as our only Savior and God! Let us comfort God with our lives instead of grieving Him!
2. But we still have doubts, don’t we?
Maybe you are stronger than me but I know I have occasionally doubts; Whenever someone I love in my life rejects God’s Word, I have doubts! Whenever I see ungodly things in our world, I have doubts! Whenever people don’t come to church anymore, I have doubts! Whenever things don’t go my way like our roof and finances, I have doubts! Whenever I have doubts, I have doubts!
But let’s look again at the first disciples: For 3 years, the disciples believed and followed Jesus Christ but when He was taken prisoner, all the disciples denied Jesus Christ! Did Jesus understand the disciple’s doubts? Of course Jesus understood the disciple’s doubts; Jesus died for their sins and after He rose from the dead came back to the disciples to assure them of God’s truth!
And remember, someone was missing that first time Jesus came to His disciples. Thomas was not there and he refused to believe the other disciples that Jesus indeed rose from the dead! Did Jesus understand Thomas’ doubts? Jesus came back to Thomas and had him touch His scars!
Now look with me at what happened in Matthew 28…. After Jesus rose from the dead and revealed Himself to over 500 Disciples, we read in v16-20….
God understands our doubts but we must constantly remind ourselves of God’s great love for us and the eternal promises of Jesus!
