Jesus pursued the good of other people.
• He did it in his healings; he did it in his teachings.
• In fact, Jesus lived his entire life for the good of other people.
• We are all beneficiaries of that life - He died ultimately for our good.
Today, we are called to live such a life.
• As followers of Jesus, we are to live for a purpose greater than ourselves - we are to pursue the good of others.
• A Pharisee, an expect of the law, once asked Jesus (Matt 22:36-40)
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbour as yourself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
• Romans 15:1-3a "1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself..."
In the Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren sums this up as one of the 5 great purposes of life - we are made to serve.
• We love God and serve God by loving people and serving people.
• Since we’re not created just to consume resources and take up space on earth.
• If God designed us to make a difference with our life - then we must constantly pursue the good of others.
That’s why we pen our ES Vision as "Every Member A Minister"
• Goal: "Seeking by the grace of God, to grow every member into a minister who will empathise, edify and evangelise actively."
• Christians use different words we use to describe this process. Sometimes we call it "ministry," "service," "outreach," or "Huggies" (AF)
• Whatever we call it, following Jesus means being like Jesus in this respect.
This is highlighted clearly when Jesus says, (Mark 3:4)
"Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"
• When you truly honour God and worship Him, you ought to love and care for people.
• It has to do with doing good and saving lives.
1 John 4:20-21 "20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
Loving God and loving people are LINKED together.
So when Jesus asked, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"
• It was meant to be a wake-up call for the Pharisees, for they were in the synagogue plotting evil, trying to destroy Jesus. They were here to do evil and kill.
• Sadly the religious leaders insisted on their ways.
• 3:5 Jesus "looked around at them in anger..."
(Notice that in His life, the few times Jesus was angry were with the religious, not the sinners...)
One of the most remarkable things about this story is that there is actually nothing you can accuse Jesus of - He did nothing.
• What can you really accuse Him of? [Meier 1994, p.732] He performed no action whatsoever.
• "He does not touch the man, lay hands upon him, seize him by the hand, or raise him up, as is the case in some other Gospel accounts of Jesus’ miracles. Jesus simply issues two verbal orders: the man is to stand up in the sight of the congregation and to stretch forth his hand. On doing that, the man finds his hand healed. Since Jesus has engaged in no physical activity whatever, it is unbelievable that the Pharisees would think that they could have Jesus put to death merely for speaking healing words on a Sabbath."
Since talking is not work, Jesus cannot be held to have violated the Sabbath.
• Yet the Pharisees were out to condemning Him. That is why Jesus was so angry with them. (Greek verb here is a strong word.)
• They were so bent on evil, that it coloured their mind and blinded their eyes.
The Pharisees come with condemning eyes. Jesus looks with compassionate eyes.
• You don’t find grace or mercy in their hearts, but self-centredness and pride.
• They were not concerned about what’s going in the lives of others - they’re concerned about their plot and its outcome.
• They viewed the disabled man as a pawn in their chessboard - a piece of bait to trap Jesus.
What about us? If we step into the worship hall that day, what will we be seeing?
• Are we going to look for faults - to see if someone did something wrong, something to criticise?
• Or will we notice the man with shrivelled hands? Do we know that someone present is sad and struggling through life? ...Someone who has just lost his job, who was diagnosed with a serious illness, who failed his entrance exams???
3:5b says Jesus was "deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts..."
• Why deeply distressed? He bothers. He cares. He feels for them.
• In His heart - not only does He want to heal this man; He wants very much to heal the hearts of the Pharisees too, and hope that they would have understood.
• He feels as much compassion for the leaders as He feels for the man with the shrivelled hand.
This is a crossroad for them - they could have come around and understand the heart of God, or continue their old ways and walk out the door of the synagogue plotting Jesus’ destruction.
• But sadly, they did not.
We live in a society whereby people are sometimes treated as objects.
• Just an instrument in our selfish plans or plots. Just as a pawn in the chessboard of life.
• To the retailers, they may see people simply as consumers. To businessmen, they may see people as machines. To researcher, people are just statistics.
• We make use people. We take advantage of people. People are just statistics.
Yet in all the encounters we see so far, Jesus treats people as unique individuals.
• He sees them with compassion and mercy. He responds with love and respect.
• They may be poor, unlearned or dirty (leper), but He treats them with dignity.
Let us see through His eyes - and pursue the good of others.
• Every single person is a creation of God, made in His image, desperately in need of God’s love and grace.
• We’re going to see every person a priceless soul - potentially a child of God, a glory to God!
By Jesus’ example—His reactions, His words—it becomes clear that God not only intends that "good" be done, but to fail to do good when the opportunity presents itself is not acceptable.
• You should do good and save lives, even on a Sabbath
• Jesus was angry because the Pharisees failed to do anything to relieve this man of his burden, and in their hearts refused to allow Him to do something for him.
• Instead, they wanted to use this poor man to provoke Jesus.
God wants us to do good and save lives - to show concern for the physical and/or spiritual welfare of others.
• All the more we should do this in the house of God on the Lord’s Day.
• Your presence in the church is not just for self - but also for the Body of Christ, for the benefits of others.
Although we are not like Jesus - we are not able to solve every problem of man - but the principle is the same.
• When opportunities present themselves, God expects us to do what we can.
• When we gather in church, Jesus expects us to minister to the needs of others.
• It is within our power to relieve other’s burdens.
• It may be something simple - giving someone encouragement, praying with someone in need, or just letting another know that he is cared for and thought of.
Coming to the church on a Sunday provides such a wonderful experience!
Richard J. Foster says that in Christ, this is what we can be:
"We have entered into a new, wonderful, glorious freedom, the freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others. For the first time we can love people unconditionally. We have given up the right for them to return our love. No longer do we feel that we have to be treated in a certain way. We can rejoice with their successes. We feel genuine sorrow at their failures. It is of little consequence that our plans are frustrated if their plans succeed. We discover that it is far better to serve our neighbour than to have our own way."
Is this your experience?
THE GIVING HEART
The heart does not receive blood to store it up. While it pumps blood in at one valve, it sends it out at another. The blood is always circulating everywhere, and is never stagnant.
The same is true of all the fluids in a healthy body; they are in a constant state of expenditure. If one cell stores for a few moments its particular secretion, it only retains it until it is perfectly fitted for its appointed use in the body. For if any cell in the body should begin to store up its secretion, its store would soon become the cause of chronic disease. The organ would soon lose the power to secrete at all, if it did not give forth its products.
The whole of the human system lives by giving. The eye cannot say to the foot, I have no need of you and will not guide you; for if it does not perform its watchful office, the whole man will be in the ditch, and the eye will be covered with mud.
If the members refuse to contribute to the general stock, the whole body will become poverty-stricken and be given up to the bankruptcy of death.
Let us learn, then, from the analogy of nature, the great lesson, that to get we must give; that to accumulate we must scatter, that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that to get good and become spiritually vigorous, we must do good and seek the spiritual good of others.
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
