Great Lessons from the Life of Christ #5
CHRIST IN THE PRESSURE COOKER (Mark 3:1-35)
If you want to know what a person is really like, watch that person when he/she is under pressure – watch closely those moments of stress and duress…in anxiety producing situations.
• It may be on the ball field or basketball court when the score is tight. It may be during financial negotiations or during a personal financial crisis when money is on the line. It may simply be when someone mistreats you or is rude to you.
• But whenever it is, your response may be good or your response may be bad – but whichever it is, your response is always going be true.
Here is a reminder – as Christians, our goal is to always respond as Jesus would. And I can do that – the question is – will I? Truthfully, sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. But what I want to discover when I read my Bible, especially the gospels is – I want to know, how did Jesus act and how do I need to act to be more like Him – and there is some really good stuff here in Mark 3 that helps me to do just that.
• It is our selfish human nature when under pressure to try to win over people. Jesus’ goal was always to win people over.
• As I read and reread Mark 3, what I see is the tremendous pressure Jesus is under and how well He handled it…thus, how I am to handle it.
…you do understand that your Christ-like example and influence means more that the score of a ballgame, or even who comes out first in the financial deal, or who gets to merge first on the interstate ramp?
…but truthfully, pressure does tend to bring out the real you. It is like a sponge when you squeeze it – whatever is in it, comes out. I like to point out – that when you put the squeeze on someone you find out real quick if they are cruel, cranky, or Christ like.
As I listen to folk, it seems that many think that we live in the most hectic time in history, that the pressures today are greater than ever before.
• Maybe they are, but when I read Mark 3, I can’t imagine dealing with the pressure Jesus is dealing with.
• You would be so impressed this morning if I took this chapter and with outstanding exegetical ability you left with a perfect understanding of first century demons and the sin against the Holy Spirit – both of which are addressed in this chapter. But if I did that, I’m not sure you would leave with a better understanding of Jesus or the person He calls you to be. When I only have 30 minutes on Sunday morning, my concern and goal is to help you represent Jesus well Monday through Saturday.
The chapter begins by pointing out that while in the synagogue, every eye was on Jesus – some were eyes of admiration and expectation, others were eyes of accusation and condemnation. As we saw last week, the admiring crowds were present looking for what they could receive from Jesus, and the religious leaders are present, seeing what they could uncover about Jesus.
• And He leaves and wherever He goes, the power elite of that day, those who hold the power of life and death over their fellow Jews, are dogging every step, challenging every word, making every false accusation they can come up with against Him. These men are very hostile toward Jesus and are putting the worst interpretation on everything they see and hear.
• What would it be like to be in that position – you can’t go anywhere or say anything without someone in a position of authority questioning you, challenging you, lying about you?
• The crowds, no doubt in the thousands, follow Him every place He goes, wanting to be touched, healed and fed. The crowds are all about what they can get, not what they can become. Jesus cannot drive into the garage, close the door, and turn off His phone. In verse 9 when it says “because of the crowd” the word is literally “crush” – everyday, followed by thousands. Vs. 20-21 says Jesus could not even eat because of the crowd.
• The time has come for Jesus to appoint 12 – twelve with which He will leave the commission to tell the world about Him. How do you go about picking those guys?
• His physical family thinks he is nuts and come to physically force Him to come home where they can both protect Him and not be embarrassed by His actions. If you had a son and one day, he announced that He was God, goes out and gathers a band of followers and begins breaking all the religious customs and traditions that you hold dear – how would you respond?
• He is publicly accused of having a devil, and that His power is from the devil. The demons themselves scream at Him when He comes near. In a day that demons were very real, folks are standing up, pointing at you, and telling everyone – He has a demon. His powers are from Satan himself.
Question: How do you handle all of that? How do you respond to such pressure? And what Jesus did amazes me.
The question this morning is: How did Jesus respond to pressure so effectively? And as I read this chapter, five things stand out…
He kept His Focus
It is so easy to give in to the demands, priorities, expectations of others. It is so easy to go along to get along… by personality, so many have a hard time being different.
Jesus knew who He was, and He knew why He was here – Jesus was the Son of God and He came to love, serve and teach…and He never lost that focus - if you asked Him what He was all about His answer – “I came to do the will of My Father.” In spite of the admiration. In spite of the accusations…Jesus never lost His focus. He knew who He was and He knew what His life was about.
One of the primarily reasons what others say, do, and think affects us so, is, we have never decided whose we are and why we are here.
If one would decide – God is my father and I live my life to honor Him by loving, serving, and sharing Him with His creation – what others think, do and say become irrelevant.
Do you want to get rid of some of the stress and pressure in your life – decide whose you are, and what you have been called to do – get focused
He sought solitude
It is easy to see in the gospels what isn’t there. We want to see Jesus always moving toward the masses – teaching, healing, challenging the wrongheaded ideas of the day, casting out demons, raising the dead…yet what we often find is Him moving away from the masses, seeking out time to be alone. Often see Him doing exactly what verse 7 says – “He withdrew with His disciples.” Here is the rub – watching Jesus spend time alone, does not make for great preaching material.
How much like Jesus are you when it comes to getting away, spending time alone – time with your thoughts, time with your God –er thought about getting a thinking chair – it doesn’t have to be a chair – but a place where you start your day alone – thinking, planning, praying – a place where you end your day, thinking, reflecting, praying - we don’t see that need, and thus our lives are hectic rather than holy, crammed rather than content, crazy and crowded rather than Christ-like.
Do you want to take some of the pressure off – spend more time alone – time alone in productive prayer, meditation, planning, thinking, reading, listening to good material, studying…
I like what someone wrote – “If we do not follow Christ’s example to come apart, we may indeed, come apart.” Too many of us wake to the aide of an electronic rooster called an alarm clock, shave to the sound of the morning news or the latest YouTube video, drive to work listening to the blare of the radio, work all day surrounded by the sounds of others, drive home listening to the rush hour report, spend the evening in front of the TV or on our phones, and dose off while browsing through Facebook. We could really use some silence in our lives.
In spite of our busy lives, the Bible still says “Be still and know that I am God.”
He talked to His Father
One of the most important things you can do while alone is pray. Jesus spent a lot of that alone time talking to His Father – if you want to know what prayer has to do with pressure it is simple – it puts some perspective on it – Phil. 4:6 – “Don’t worry about anything, pray about everything.”
I like what one preacher said when asked “Why pray when God already knows what you need?” His answer – “The reason we pray is because God does know what we need. We need to pray.”
What we need to deal with the pressures of life is God – because prayer is so much more about getting God in you than it is about you getting your way with God. If you want to deal effectively with problems, fill your life with God by spending time with Him in prayer.
He built / maintained relationships
Everywhere Jesus went He had followers, but from that multitude of followers – vs. 13-14 says “He called to Himself those He Himself wanted, that they might be with Him.”
Something dawned on me this week I had never thought about – we point to the flaws of these men – not surprising, that is what we do with each other – we talk about Peter’s mouth, James and John’s temper, Matthew being a tax collector, Simon being a Zealot – have you ever stopped and thought there was something in each of these men that Jesus saw and needed – He wanted these 12 around Him. He could teach and train anyone – something in these men that these are the ones He wanted to have a close relationship with. They needed Jesus…but Jesus needed them. Despite their flaws, these are twelve awesome guys.
When the pressures of life come – more than a psychologist or counselor, you need a friend – someone to talk to, to confide in, someone whose shoulder you can cry on, someone whose neck you can hug and hand you can hold.
There is nothing like a friend when the pressures of life hit.
He asked questions
One of the best things you can do to ensure peace of mind, and just have a lot of fun, is to learn to ask good questions.
Often one will say to me something like – I can’t believe what so in so said to me. And they will tell me a hurtful thing they said. I’ll ask, What did you say? Well, I told them what I thought. And I ask, How did that go?
Have you ever considered that you can control every conversation with questions? Jesus did – here in this text, three times, rather than getting in an argument, Jesus just raised a question.
Early in the chapter they are watching Him to see what He will do when it comes to the man in the synagogue who has a withered hand – Jesus knows what they are up to and simply asks – “Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they say nothing.
Then (vs. 23) they accuse Jesus of having a devil and rather than say, “No I don’t” He asks – “How can satan cast out satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself it cannot stand.”…again, they have no answer.
Then later when He is told His mother and brothers are outside seeking to take Him, he asks – “Who is my mother or my brothers?”
He did this all the time – In Luke 10 when one challenged Jesus as to what he must do to inherit eternal life, rather than rattle off a list of dos and don’ts, Jesus simply asked – “What does the scripture say?” I could go on and on because Jesus asked 307 questions in the gospels – and they are so different from the questions we ask – We ask questions for information. Jesus asked questions to provoke thought and transformation. We want answers, He wanted personal awareness. Questions are amazing – but we’d rather fight than think.
We are confronted about something, and we tend to get upset and argue, when a couple of good questions would either resolve the issue or shut the whole thing down – someone comes up to me and says “I don’t agree or I don’t like what you said about…” Okay…what didn’t you agree with or how would you have said it” – and listen to them. They may be right.
Someone says “You just do not understand” – rather than saying “Yes I do” say – “You may be right. Would you explain it to me from your perspective so I will understand better.”
We get bent out of shape and act ugly when one or two questions, a little patience and grace would go a long way.
I don’t know much about Pat Boone, but a couple of years ago he was asked what he thought about homosexuality – I loved his response – he said, “It really does not matter what I think. The question is, what does the Bible say?”
Jesus rather than getting bent all out of shape or getting in a shouting match with others, He just tended to ask questions. This is an area we would do well to be a lot like Jesus – it would take a lot of pressure off of you.
He told stories
Wanting to make a point, rather than get into an argument, Jesus would often say, let Me tell you a story – see that grain of wheat being sown, see that storm cloud on the horizon, see that man lying by the side of the road…someone says, preacher I don’t like stories – you would have had a hard time with Jesus. Constantly telling what we call parables because they drove home a point. Jesus wanted to provoke thought, leave an impression, wanted to leave something in your mind to dwell on and potentially change you, and nothing does that like a good story…
You say…I don’t have a story. Sure, you do. Any of us who have lived very long have faced a lot of similar situations. And if you are young, I’d advise you to talk with someone who has a few years on them. Here is what I need to be able to tell. Having faced a similar situation as you before, I need to be able to share how I made a decision to ack like Jesus in that situation.
What are you talking about…
If you were to lose a child, there are some people in this church that could tell you their story, and share with you how they have kept, even grown in their faith as a result.
If you go through a financial crisis, there are folks in this church who have a story to share, because they have been there, and in many ways they have an entirely different perspective on money – a more Godly perspective than before.
If you have given into sin and feel like there is no hope, you are not alone. There are folks in this room who have a story they can share with you about sins that do not have to be final or fatal.
You are going to face pressure, and you are going to fail. You are going to face pressure and you are going to succeed. You need a story…a story that puts what you are going through now, what you have gone through in the past, in perspective…a story that takes the pressure off. That is what Jesus did.
We have our stories. Stories of failure and how with God’s help you have risen above it. Stories of victory and how God saw you through. Do you want to take some of the pressure off and be a blessing to others, just tell your story.
Jesus handled pressure better than most of us do. He did it by…
· Keeping His focus.
· Spending time alone.
· Spending time with His Father.
· Building and maintaining relationships.
· Asking questions.
· Telling stories.
If you want to be more like Jesus, you’d do well to incorporate those things into your own life.
