“WHAT MAKES IT GOOD NEWS”

Mark 1: 14-15

Good news/bad news jokes have a way of popping up unexpectedly and adding a touch of lightness to our lives. Listen to these pastor jokes:

Good News: The women's group voted to send you a get-well card. Bad News: The vote passed by 31-30.

Good News: The pastor-parish relations committee accepted your job description the way you wrote it. Bad News: They were so inspired by it that they decided to seek a new minister capable of filling the position.

Good News: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks. Bad News: You were on vacation.

A guy is in the hospital with two broken legs. The nurse comes in and tells him that there's good news and bad news. The guy asks for the bad news first. The nurse says, "We're going to have to remove your legs."

Then the guy asks for the good news. The nurse says, "The guy in the next bed wants to buy your sneakers."

Friends our life is a series of problems: either you are in one now, or you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.” From our perspective life is kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and that at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.”

Our Gospel for today is Mark 1: 14-15- “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

The Greek word for “good news” is euangelion and means the truth and message of Jesus’ death and resurrection whereby reconciliation with God is achieved.

We are to repent, (the Greek word is nacham, meaning to confess and change the mind and receive comfort from that action) and believe (Greek word pisteuo meaning standing fast in one’s faith and knowledge).

The Apostle Peter teaches Christians who have been chased from their homes and “scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bythinia” by the Romans (1 Peter 1:1). He tells them the good news.

Peter tells them that we are born again “into a living hope,” in 1Peter 1: 3).

He goes on to write in verses 4-6, “We have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” We know that “our salvation will be fully revealed in the last time.” All this is a treasure trove and will sustain us even while we “may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

When the bad news comes, we also have God’s word through Paul: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor. 4: 17-18)

The problem with bad news is that it may make us forget or fail to look for the learning experience or the silver lining in the experience that is always there. As a Christian it is the journey of faith that’s more important than the temporary human condition that keeps us less than perfect here on earth.

The problem with good news is that we may come to take it for granted. We may lose compassion for those struggling with problems.

Either way we need to be careful to cultivate a state of mind that always allows God’s role and presence to be seen, whether good or bad in the transitory condition of our earthly, fragile lives.

So why is Jesus’ message good news?

A group of church elders were interviewing a prospective confirmation class at the church and were asking each the question, “How did you get saved?”

One young man answered, “God did His part, and I did my part.” The elders were not so sure what the young man meant by this so they questioned him further.

The teenager explained what he meant by his answer: “God did the part of saving, and I did my part of sinning. I ran from God as fast as I could and God took out after me until He finally ran me down.”

Friends, that is how each of us comes to a saving relationship with Jesus, and that’s definitely good news!

Amen.

LOVE IS HABIT FORMING!  
John 13: 34-35

Love takes many forms. For me the greatest example of human love is the relationships I see between older married folks – love that has grown and translated into physical caring for each other and represents the evolution of romantic love into a mature respect, kindness, and sharing. Love that has become a habit.

Answers.com defines a habit as a behavior that a person does that becomes almost an involuntary or automatic action and may be hard to stop or avoid. Habits can be good for you and they can be bad for you.

Years ago when the western U.S. was being settled, roads were often just wagon tracks. These rough trails posed serious problems for those who journeyed on them. On one of these winding paths was posted a sign which read: "Avoid this rut or you'll be in it for the next 25 miles!"

A habit is something you can do without thinking, which is why most of us develop so many of them. Habits can help us be healthy or they can destroy our health. Bad habits can take a toll.

A lady walked up to wrinkled little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret to a long happy life?"

"I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he said. "I drink a case of whiskey a week, eat oily foods, and never exercise." "That's amazing," the lady said. "How old are you?' "Twenty-six," he said.

Love can be a habit too. Caring for others can be cultivated and usually begins at home where it is taught as a part of life.

One day in a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busy working when a new voice came over the intercom asking for a carry out at register 4.

Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe 26, and he was only 22) and he fell in love.

Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card to see the name Brenda.

Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, she thought, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work.

She declined and simply said it wasn’t possible. He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn’t afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday.

That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, "Well, let’s take the kids with us." She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed.

Finally Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had an older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, who was in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with Down syndrome. Kurtis asked Brenda, "I still don’t understand why the kids can’t come with us?"

Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities. Just like her husband and father of her children had.

That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids, went to dinner and the movies.

When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the rest room, he picked him up out of his chair, took him, brought him back. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.

A year later, they were married and Kurtis went on to adopt both of her children. Since then they have added two more children to the family.

So what happened to the stock boy and check out girl? Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner, live in St. Louis, where he had been employed by the St. Louis Rams and played quarterback. He was selected Most Valuable Player of the National Football League a few years ago and has played in the Super Bowl.

LET me give you 7 reasons to develop the habit of love:

1. LOVING ONE ANOTHER REFLECTS CHRIST: (John 13: 34-35) Jesus told us:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

2. LOVING ONE ANOTHER COMPLETES THE LAW: (Rom 13: 8-9) "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Don’t do this kind of love though: "Dearest Jimmy, No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie... P.S., And congratulations on winning the state lottery."

3. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS A RESULT OF SALVATION: (1 Peter 1: 22-23) “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

4. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY: (1 John 3: 10) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: “Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:11 NIV)

“A Childs Letter to God: Dear God, I bet it’s very hard for you to love everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in my family and I can’t do it. Signed: Nan”

5. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS A COMMANDMENT: (1 John 3: 23) “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

6. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IS RESPONSIVE TO GOD’S LOVE: (1 John 4: 7-11)

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

“Love is more than a characteristic of God; it is His character.” Love is how we know God and encourages our understanding, in human terms, what His Will and purpose for us is.

7. LOVING ONE ANOTHER PROVES GOD’S EXISTENCE: (1 John 4: 12) “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

Humanity learned love from God – it is counter survival and evolutionary theory – so it’s not something that’s natural despite what you think – we are selfish not loving. We must learn to love.

Do you cultivate the habits of love?

While I say I have troubling liking a lot of my fellow humans because of their behavior in the ways they treat, manipulate, and deceive others I can honestly say that God desires that no one may perish. I can’t judge them but I can warn them and show them the truth of Jesus and His Holy Gospel. I can pray for them to see Jesus as truth.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, "Do not waste your time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor as you act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less."

What does your love say about your commitment to God? Amen.

Hamburgers and Jesus
Mark 1:29-39 NRSV

A well known miser defended himself against criticism about his penny-pinching ways. He said in his own defense, “Wait a second, I couldn’t stand for my mother to go on, year-after year, working every night scrubbing and cleaning office floors, so I just bought the office building she works at.”

The critic then asked, “Well what did you do for your mother then?” The man smiled proudly and said, “Well, I immediately moved her to the day shift.”

A woman was out shopping one day. She sprayed her wrists with an expensive perfume from a sample bottle and completed the rest of her chores relishing the fragrance she felt the perfume gave her.

That evening after the family’s usual Saturday evening meal of hamburgers she was helping her son do his homework. As she leaned close to him he told her, “You smell really good mom.” She said, “I know honey, that’s the perfume I sprayed on my wrists when I was shopping earlier.” He answered, “No, it isn’t. That’s hamburgers!”

The really good thing about relationships is also the really bad part of relationships: “We are seen and known by what we do, how we look, and what we smell like -regardless of how we think or protest about who we try to be.”

It was the same for Jesus as well.

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

One of the questions I always ask myself about the passage I’m going to preach on is straightforward: “What does God and Jesus want us to learn from this passage and why is this part of it here?”

In today’s lesson I particularly ask that question because the passage tells us that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is sick, in bed, with a fever. The Greek word used in both Mark and Matthew’s recounting is “pyressō,” (pu-ress-o).

This woman is sick and Jesus heals her, and she resumes her care for Jesus and the rest of the household right away. The rest of this passage then becomes Jesus helping, healing, and caring for everyone He can.

To me then, obviously this is a message about service and ministry to all. We can occasionally take some time for ourselves but the needs of others will find you and require your help. The Lord heals your fever and puts you right back to work.

Becky and I used to laugh about how it seemed as if everyone in need seemed to find us in the grocery line, at the mall, in restaurants, on vacation, where-ever, and either share a dramatic incident or their whole life story and want something from us. Even now that happens a lot. I’ve come to understand that it happens because of our openness to God’s presence and our willingness to be approached.

The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright was fond of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life.

The winter he was 9, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his no- nonsense uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.

"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."

Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how the experience had contributed to his philosophy in life. "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss the things in life, that my uncle had missed."

Frank Lloyd Wright saw in those tracks what his uncle could not:

It is easy to let the demands of life keep us from the joys of living. For those of us in Christ the joy is in serving and caring for His Kingdom.

We all recognize that any goal in life worth achieving demands a great deal of our energy. If you are a doctor you must spend vast hours alone and in residency studying the human body. The life of your patient demands it.

If you are a teacher you must live in the library researching and preparing for your lecture. The mind of your student demands it.

If you are a carpenter you must patiently measure the building before you drive the first nail. The integrity of the structure depends on it.

If you are a mother you must sacrifice your life for your family. Your children require it.

Sure, we could not live if we did not set goals and work to fulfill them. No sane person would argue otherwise.  But here’s what young Wright discovered at the tender age of 9, and what some don’t learn until 69: The objective in life is not the goal but the journey on the way to the goal.

In our scriptural passage for today the whole city of Capernaum had gathered around the door, pressing in to see Jesus. The demands on him were already piling up. He cured many, cast out demons, and taught constantly.

His disciples didn’t help matters. When he left in the morning early to pray, they went searching for him. When they found him they said, “What are you doing, everyone is searching for you?”

Jesus told them: “Yes, you’re right – let us go to them, this is what I am suppose to be doing.”

To everyone you see, just like that little boy and his mom, Jesus smelled like home, like a favorite meal shared joyfully. In Jesus people were finding healing, a place to belong, a place to rest.

 

Do you have a special memory of a safe place, a church, home, a safe person, a family member, or a friend? What did it smell like? Did it provide comfort, safety, security?

Simply put, in the words of our young boy speaking to his mother, Jesus smelled like hamburgers. And Jesus was calling them from their sickbeds to come and start service to others, as He showed them the example of discipleship He desired of them. Amen.

KNOWING WHO JESUS IS
Mark 1: 21-28

A man was going to attend a Halloween party dressed in a costume of the devil.  On his way it began to rain, so he darted into a church where a revival meeting was in progress.

At the sight of his devil's costume, people began to scatter through the doors and windows. One lady got her coat sleeve caught on the arm of one of the seats, and as the man came closer, she pleaded, "Satan, I've been a member of this church for 20 years, but I've always been open to tolerance and compromise.”

Back in the 70's, a Christian singer named Keith Green wrote a song called, "No One Believes in Me Anymore." He subtitled it, "The Devil's Boast." He wrote it from Satan's point of view, to open the eyes of Christians like us to the very real problems that follow when people don't believe that there is a devil. Listen to these opening words:

-Well, my job keeps getting easier as time keeps slipping away.
-I can imitate the brightest light, and make your night look just like day.
-I put some truth in every lie to tickle itching ears.
-I'm drawing people just like flies, 'cause they like what they hear.
-I'm gaining power by the hour, they're falling by the score.
-It's getting very simple now, since no one believes in me anymore

What does the Bible say about Satan? He is a fallen angel - a spirit being. He has no physical body that we can see. He is not all-knowing, and all-seeing. The Bible  describes his appearance to us, in different ways.

Ezekiel 28:12 calls him "the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." Ezekiel 28:19 says, "All the nations who knew you are appalled at you."

2 Corinthians 11: 14 tells us he can appear as an angel of light. Revelation 12: 9

describes him as a great dragon, an ancient serpent, that’s how we best know him.

All these passages have one thing in common: if you met him in one of those appearances, you would not think he’s cute n’cuddly. I think it would be much like a UFO experience, or meeting Bigfoot. BTW invoking Jesus’ name during those events seem to end them quite quickly.  

The guy in the red union suit with the horns and pitchfork who used to battle Santa Claus and the Martins in the movies doesn’t exit. So what can we know of Satan and his minions? Listen to Mark 1: 21-28:

They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.  They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching--with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

A pastor by the name of Brian Atwood once asked this question of his church: Why would the devil be interested in going to church? Most of the times Jesus met someone demon-possessed He kicked the demons out! Our passage today is unusual because of where it took place - in the house of God!

Why in the world would a man possessed by demons even be interested in going to the house of God? Why would the devil want to go to church?

The first answer is because the devil has always been religious. Satan and his demons are all fundamentalists in most of their beliefs. A. W. Tozer said, "The devil is a better theologian than any of us but (yet remains) a devil still."

Of course, as we say, the devil is in the details, that is in what they do about what they believe. James 2: 18,19 says, “But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe there is one God. Good! EVEN THE DEMONS BELIEVE THAT - and shudder.”

Sure, Satan knows there’s only one God, but the problem is, he doesn’t worship that God, he wants to be the object of worship himself. When Satan or his minions show up at church it isn’t for true worship but rather to instigate false worship or disrupt proper worship.

Satan’s deceptionalistic religion is false but it is religion nonetheless. He really doesn’t mind if we show up for worship - just as long as its false worship. Satan encourages spiritual warfare – doubts, lies, deceptions, false accusations, the encouragement of compromise and tolerance so that truth becomes blurred.

He loves to see folks go to church to talk about other people. He loves to see us go to uplift our own goodness. He loves it when we are preoccupied with other things - like who hurt our feelings recently, what so and so thinks about us. He loves to hear our critical comments about worship leaders and the pastor’s preaching.

The devil loves it when we don’t put our hearts into praising God. He likes seeing us just going through the motions, becoming almost-Christians. He can stand anything but worship of God in spirit and in truth. Friends, Satan is opposed to Christianity but he isn’t opposed to “church-ianity.”

The minions of Satan know who Jesus is. The one in the synagogue did. He believed in the Incarnation of Christ - that he was God and man at the same time.

The demon clearly identified Christ’s humanity by calling Him "Jesus of Nazareth," and he identified Christ’s deity by calling Him "the Holy One of God."

The church must always be guarded against false doctrine. But the danger we overlook is false worship. We must always guard against deceptive religion. We cannot become complacent and nonchalant about our worship of God! We should consistently re-evaluate why we worship and how we worship.

The Word says this concerning false worship by dead and lukewarm churches and believers: "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2 Timothy 3: 5)

Second, Satan goes to church because he’s looking for prey. Notice how the plural pronouns indicate just how closely the demon was identified with the man through whom he was speaking. "What do you want with US Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy US?"

This may not have been a case of multiple demon possession. It may have been an instance of one demon making his host a puppet. The "us" was the demon and his host. Satan’s ultimate goal is to have control. He can use those who don’t have the Holy Spirit within.

He can’t harm true Christ followers, but he does want to manipulate us and hinder our work for God and the growth of our faith. Remember what Jesus said to Simon Peter? "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat." (Luke 22: 31)

When you sift you take impurities out - but when Satan sifts he takes purity out! He wants to remove our connections and any potential commitment to God we may have.

Simon thought he would go through all the trials with Jesus without fail or trouble. Though his faith didn’t fail completely, he miserably failed a major test. He disavowed all knowledge of Jesus when Jesus was falsely accused and beaten.

 Peter was given another chance and he learned from his mistake, but we need to learn from it also. Satan is out to sift us. That’s why Peter would later write in one of his letters to the churches this admonition: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

If you think the devil doesn’t do some of his prowling in church you haven’t been around long. Satan even has control of the pulpits in some churches, and certainly in some denominations. Listen to what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15:

"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what they deserve."

Third, Satan goes to church because he’s seeking worship. He wants to be worshipped as if he were God. Isaiah 14:12-14 tells us,

"How have you fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ’I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’"

Remember what the devil said to Jesus? "All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4: 9)

Satan worship, worship based on deception, will characterize the Great Tribulation. Satan will even resurrect the beast and kill everyone who doesn’t worship him. Satan will be able to accomplish for a short while what he has longed for all along.

But until that day comes the true follower of Christ is involved in a struggle. Our great struggle is not with paying our bills or staying healthy. This struggle will drag us down unless we become stronger in Jesus. This struggle is a spiritual one.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6: 12)

Forget the war on terror for now, even though Satan is behind it. Let’s focus on the spiritual war that exists to hinder the work of God. Let’s not be so naive as to neglect the fact that we war with Satan even when we come to church! Satan is real and evil is among us, but Jesus has won the victory. Let us celebrate!

Jesus has the real power and authority – but you must know Him for it to benefit you. Amen.