"Timing is Everything!" (Mark 3:7-12)

"Timing is Everything!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #18)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

May 29, 2011 ~ Happy Memorial Day!

Do you know that God is always on time? In fact, God is never early and God is never late. It doesn't always feel that way to us in our human experience, but this is the reality of our faith. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, what dictates how you live your life: your feelings or your faith? Your interpretation of current events or the reality of God's sovereign rule over all events in history? The God we serve is always right on schedule according to His plan for the purpose of bringing maximum glory to Himself and the greatest benefit to His beloved children.

Do you believe this? Our ability to be disciples of Jesus Christ depends on our faith in the God who made us, who knows us by name to include the number of hairs on our head, and who sent His Son Jesus Christ in the fulfillment of time to save us from our sins so that we can be in a forever relationship with God and His creation. Do you believe that God is always on time according to His purposes He has preordained so that He should receive maximum glory and we, His children, should gain the greatest benefit?

This is a truth about God that I believe the Spirit of God is calling us to trust in, not just today, but every day. Learning and growing in our trust for God is the antidote to an anxious, burdened, self-reliant, untrusting life.

The Word of God from Mark 3:7-12 (NAU), "Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ⁹ And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!' ¹² And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was." [Prayer]

With the fulfillment of God's purposes in our lives, timing is everything! We must learn to not only discern the purposes of God in and for our lives (what we must do!), but then just as importantly, His timing for all that we are called to do (when we should do it!).

The Bible declares this truth, "THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING!" We find this in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Knowing there is a time for everything, we must seek God's face in prayer and through the Bible, to know when we must do what God is calling us to do. Timing is everything!

As men and women called to be maturing disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to live out 1 John 2:6, "Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did." We are called to walk in the footsteps of the Master! Let's learn from Jesus. First, THERE IS A TIME TO ENGAGE AND A TIME TO WITHDRAW!

Mark 3:7-8 states, "Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him."

Jesus Christ withdrew from Capernaum for a purpose! Why and why now? We have studied, in depth, the five controversy narratives that proceeded this time of withdrawal. Each and every time Jesus uncompromisingly and unflinchingly engaged the Pharisees:

1. In Mark 2:10, Jesus declared to them, "The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins".

2. In Mark 2:17, Jesus declared, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

3. In Mark 2:22, Jesus confronted, "No one puts new wine into old wineskins".

4. In Mark 2:28, Jesus trumpeted, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

5. Finally, in Mark 3:4, Jesus asked this probing question, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?"

What was the result of this time of engagement? We see in Mark 3:6, "The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him."

The narrative account from the Gospel of Mark teaches us that Jesus withdrew after five controversies with the religious leaders. The why of this withdrawal is not given on the surface level, but we can discern the answer to 'why?' when we know the whole story. Jesus withdrew because He knew that more must be done before the final confrontation. Jesus Christ knew that He must give His life as a ransom for many; He knew He was sent as the final atoning sacrifice-the Passover Lamb-who would be handed over to the Romans by the religious leaders in order to be hung upon the Cross. Jesus knew that this was God's will for Him but He knew just as importantly that it was not time yet. He did not rush head long into another controversy in Capernaum with the Pharisees because more work had to be accomplished prior to the final confrontation with evil at the Cross. He did not flee out of fear, but He changed venues on purpose! Jesus knew that God's will for His life was to prepare the men His Father gave Him to carry forward the Mission of God. Jesus stayed resolutely focused on Jerusalem and the Cross, but He also attended to the work of discipleship. Do you know the work God has called you to do? God has not just called you to faith in Jesus Christ so that you can go to Heaven as the primary purpose of your life; your life purpose is to not simply cross the finish line, but to fulfill the purpose for which God has called you—to be an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven while still on earth; to be a witness of God's redeeming love through Jesus Christ; to be salt and light to a tasteless and darkening world! As Paul stated in Acts 20:24, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." How do you allow God's purposes for your life to decide what you do and when you do it?

Both 'what' and 'when' are important! Imagine if Jesus only did half of His mission and rushed head long to the Cross before the task of discipling the Twelve was done. Then there would have been no trained group of men to proclaim the message and witness to the life of Christ. The plan of God would have been compromised because of a sinful eagerness to do God's will according to His own time line. Praise God that Jesus did not sin, nor did He ever by commission or omission! Jesus completed all the works that the Father had for Him—not just the mission of the Cross, but the critical mission of discipleship.

So when Jesus withdrew in this story, it teaches us that we must know God's Word well enough to know God's plan for our whole lives and not just part of it. We then must be sensitive to God's promptings and follow Him because God is never early and God is never late! We must not get ahead of Him because we are excited about doing something, nor should we waiver or procrastinate and be late. We must wait on God and once we know it is God's time we must act!

The second thing we learn is, THERE IS A TIME TO MEET PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS AND A TIME TO PROTECT YOUR BOUNDARIES!

Remember verse 8 talked about the huge crowd of people from all over the surrounding area who followed Jesus when He withdrew. They followed Him because they heard of all the wonders He was doing in healing people and casting out demons. Here was a man who had authority to forgive sins, who was Lord of the Sabbath, who could heal and cast out demons. Even though the religious leaders wanted to kill him, the people wanted to touch Him and be near Him thinking they too may be healed. Mark 3:9-10 records, "And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him."

A boat was prepared because of the crowd, implying that Jesus wanted a way to separate Himself from the needs of the people who heard that Jesus would help.

I was in Chicago this week and Chris told me not to give cash to the homeless people. I knew this already from working with homeless people in San Jose, CA, but I did not know the reason in this context. In Chicago, there is a homeless network where if you give money to one, then for the rest of the time you are there you will have many homeless people approaching you. Word travels quickly when there is someone who not only is willing to help, but also has the means to help.

The crowds pressed around Jesus in order to touch Him. In other words, they were no longer waiting for Jesus to go to them and extend His hand of healing; they were rushing toward Him to touch Him, to get from Him what they expected He could give—healing and restoration.

Jesus had to create a boundary in order to protect Himself, not because He wasn't willing to help, but because it was God's will for Jesus Christ to focus on the reason why He came. Jesus did not come to meet every human need presented to Him or to meet every human expectation of what they thought the Messiah should do for them. Rather, Jesus came to fulfill the mission of God—from beginning to end!

We saw this commitment to mission once before already in Mark 1:35-38 after Jesus spent the night healing many who came to Him in Capernaum outside Simon Peter's house. This is the second time that Jesus withdraws from the clamoring crowds of Capernaum in order to stay on mission. Jesus did not come to meet the expectations of people! Jesus came to do the will of God in His life!

I, you, we, are not called by God to meet all the expectations of people placed upon us because we are Christians, or because we go to an evangelical church with a mission, or because we are in positions of leadership in the church. Friends, we must (it is imperative!) to know the difference between people's expectations and the will of God. There were immense and unrelenting expectations placed on Jesus every direction He turned, but He protected His boundaries not out of selfish motives, not because He wasn't willing to be bothered by people, not because He wasn't willing to even die for people, but because He knew to not boundary Himself would prevent His ability to do that which God called Him to do. Jesus had to get to the finish line and on the way to Jerusalem He had to accomplish the work the Father gave Him to do! And to be trampled by the people or burned out by the people's expectations was not going to fulfill the will of God.

And the same is very true for me as your pastor and you as a faithful ambassador of the Kingdom of God here on earth. The expectations placed upon women and men who engage in Christian ministry are immense and seemingly unrelenting. We may "feel like" we are doing more for the Kingdom of God by not having healthy personal boundaries, but we are really preventing ourselves from doing that which God has called us to do!

Jesus did not strive to meet the expectations of the people He encountered; do you feel like you must? People will always be attracted to and inclined to seek after those who are not only willing to help, but have the means to help.

Are you compelled to help out of guilt or fear of what people will say about you, or Christians, or the Church if you don't? Have you made healthy boundary choices in your life? (some examples are a 6:1 work life where the 1 is truly a day of rest from all work; a daily quiet time that includes times of Bible study, prayer seeking the face of God, and meditation on God's promises; fellowship with other believers on weekly basis; healthy nutrition and care of your body; financial discipline and stewardship; proper dating and marital relationship boundaries.) What masters you: people's expectations or God's purposes?

A report in August 2010 stated, "1,500 pastors leave their ministries each month due to burnout, conflict or moral failure." Why? Is it possible for that many a good servant of God is burning out, making immoral or unethical decisions, or simply unable to do it anymore because they are being mastered by people's expectations rather than being mastered by God's will and perfect timing for their lives?

This is critical and we must learn how to do ministry as Jesus Christ did ministry: boundaries are necessary for the very purpose of doing the will of God all the way to the finish line! Live the life of faith in such a way as to finish the race.

The third lesson to learn, THERE IS A TIME TO COMPROMISE AND A TIME TO CONFRONT!

Mark 3:11-12 finishes our lesson, "Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!' And He earnestly warned them [epitimaō] not to tell who He was."

Compromise is necessary when it comes to our personal preferences; that is the name of the game in human relationships, but when it comes to our relationship with God there can be no compromise! There is no room for evil or the influence of evil in our lives or in our churches, but the harsh reality of each of our lives and every church congregation is that evil through worldly philosophies, personal preferences and selfish ambitions, and demonic strongholds of generational sin and disobedience has worked its way into every arena. The world has brought compromise to the Church rather than the Church bringing confrontation to the world!

Jesus confronts evil because the Evil One always has one objective—to steal, kill, or destroy—and one desire in the created realm—to thwart the purposes of God. This evil spirit knew who Jesus was and was attempting to disrupt the purposes of God by naming Jesus by His rightful title. Jesus knew no good would come from dealing with or even listening to a demon so He rebuked him. No matter how good or close to the truth the message sounds or how alluring the invitation may be; evil and sin must be directly confronted and rebuked every time! We cannot tolerate even the slightest evil or sin in our lives or in the life of our faith community. To compromise when we should confront is to destroy our fellowship and miss out on God's abundant life of joy, power, and authority as the Spirit-filled Church of Jesus Christ.

The Greek word Mark uses when Jesus Christ orients His attention to this evil spirit is epitimaō which means to rebuke, to reprove, to censure severely. It carries the weight of exorcism as in rebuking the evil out of something; it is even used when Jesus rebukes and calms a storm. We see this word used again in Mark 8:33, "But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked [epitimaō] Peter. 'Get behind me, Satan!' he said. 'You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.'" Jesus deeply loves his friend Peter (a chosen leader of the church), but He confronts the evil attempting to use Peter to thwart the plan of God. For the Church to accomplish its mission in the world, for a Christian to be an ambassador of the Kingdom of God in the world, then evil and sin must be confronted in love; we must be willing to submit ourselves to the commands of God's Word.

Do you know God's Word well enough to know when to compromise over a personal preference and when to confront over a Bible command? Whose purposes are you pursuing?

I encourage you today that if you are following your own purposes or if you are caught up in another person's expectations of you, that you bring those to the Cross and rid yourselves of these unholy yokes of slavery. There is freedom, peace, and contentment found in surrender and obedience to the love of God.

Do you trust God and His timing in your life?

"To Save a Life!" (Mark 3:1-6)

"To Save a Life!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #17)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

May 22, 2011

The Word of God from Mark 3:1-6 (NAU), "He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. ² They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. ³ He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!" ⁴ And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. ⁵ After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." [Prayer]

We have so much to learn from watching the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and essentially that is what discipleship is all about…to follow in the footsteps of our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In today's Scripture lesson, Jesus Christ is encountering the final of five controversies where His ministry comes in direct conflict with the traditions and ways of the Jewish religious system. This controversy is whether or not to save a life on the Sabbath Day.

There are five things Jesus models for us if we are serious about following Him and want to be used by the Holy Spirit to be healing agents in people's lives. IN ORDER TO SAVE A LIFE, WE MUST:

1) BE WILLING TO STICK OUT OUR NECKS!

Mark 3:1-2, "He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They [the Pharisees] were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him."

Whether this is the same Sabbath day (as Matthew 12:9-14 indicates) or the following week (as Luke 3:1-6 indicates), Mark does not indicate, but we do know that Jesus was on the Pharisees' most wanted list of Sabbath Law-Breakers. In the forth controversy narrative in Mark 2:24 we read, "The Pharisees were saying to Him, 'Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'"

Bottom line: Jesus was walking into what was becoming one of the most dangerous places possible for Him to enter—the synagogue. Not only was He walking into the lion's den, but these lions were watching Him knowing that He would be unable to resist healing a man with a withered hand—He was walking into an ambush. Little did they know that they were coming up against the Lion of Judah and the trap was really to reveal the injustice and hatred within their own hearts. In order to save a life, Jesus was willing to stick out His neck for another person! Are you? Who or what are you willing to put yourself in danger for? Are you willing to stand up against injustice?

IN ORDER TO SAVE A LIFE, WE MUST:

2) BE MOTIVATED BY LOVE!

Mark 3:3 continues, "He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and come forward!'"

It is amazing to me that the Pharisees knew that Jesus would be unable to not help this man with a withered hand, yet they could not see Him for who He really was—the Son of God, the Messiah who had come to save their lives, just as much as all these sinners they detested.

Saint Jerome (4^th Century Church Doctor) found an ancient fragment of this story that recorded the man with a withered hand saying to Jesus, "I was a mason, who earned his bread with his hands. I beg you, Jesus, to restore to me my health, so that I need not beg for food in shameful fashion." This man's life altering and debilitating condition had truly stolen his life, his dignity, and his place within society. Jesus was motivated by love to call the man forward; He could not ignore what compassion compelled Him to do!

In the same way, God was motivated by love when He sent Jesus Christ to save humanity through His life, death, and resurrection. God's love saves and now we are called to save others with this same love. 1 John 4:19-21 declares, "We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

"God is love" and love wins when we allow God's love to motivate us to reach out and save a life. How does God's love motivate you to reach out to a person in need?

IN ORDER TO SAVE A LIFE, WE MUST:

3) KNOW THE VALUE OF LIFE!

Mark 3:4 captures when the Lion of Judah reverses the ambush and exposes the Pharisees for who they are (sinners who need Jesus!), "And He said to them, 'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?' But they kept silent."

As I meditated, studied, and prayed through this Scripture I found that the deepest issue in this story is not whether or not it was lawful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath day, although that is of course the obvious issue. Let me explain, the Scribes did make an allowance to do good or heal on the Sabbath as long as it was truly a life or death situation that could not be delayed by a day. Listen to a similar occasion when Jesus healed a woman bent over by a demon, from Luke 13:14-16, "But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, 'There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.' But the Lord answered him and said, 'You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?'"

The Scribes had regulated the practice of medicine and healing on the Sabbath down to the smallest detail. It was an acceptable legal principle that "any danger to life takes precedence over the Sabbath." According to this, Jesus had legal right to heal on the Sabbath, but the Pharisees did not see this man's withered hand, nor the woman's demonic possession for 18 years, as life or death situations! So, they opposed and protested His actions!

What we have here is a difference in opinion on the sanctity of life! I believe we continue to see this same issue today amongst believers (Sanctity of Life is more than opposing abortion, just like Christianity is more than just making sure you've gotten saved!). Jesus came to usher in the Kingdom of God and to give people eternal life today. Every disease, demon possession, injustice, and religious abuse was incompatible with eternal life—the abundant life promised in John 10:10—so Jesus Christ (moved with compassion & motivated by love) had only one option that was acceptable to Him and His Father—to preach the gospel to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). This is the mission of the Messiah and our purpose in life as His disciples—to be the hands and feet of Christ in today's world who care for the entire life of a person (from conception to eternal life). We are not to just care for people when their physical life is at risk; we are to care for their emotional well being, their spiritual state, their physical health (nutrition and fitness), their relationships, their finances…THE WHOLE PERSON! Do you believe in the sanctity of life?

IN ORDER TO SAVE A LIFE, WE MUST:

4) ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF OTHERS!

Mark 3:5 is action-packed, "After looking around at them with anger [STOP, don't read through this too quickly…it may just offend the idealized and sanitary vision of Jesus you hold sacred in your mind…Jesus was fully human, yet He did not sin, but He did get angry on more than one occasion, but it was not His anger that caused Him to act, it was His love and His care for human life!], grieved [another very real human emotion that we must each deal with, but once again Jesus feels a human emotion without allowing it to cause Him to sin] at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored."

Jesus' anger was the expressed anger of God toward their attitudes and their greater concern for the legality of His actions rather than the value of a human life. God grieved that His children knew Him well enough to trap Him in a situation that would cause Him to have to act because of His very nature of love, compassion, and mercy toward another of His children, yet they themselves had no love, compassion, or mercy for anyone or anything outside of their own rules and regulations. They were truly hard-hearted blind guides who loved their own view of God, but when confronted with God Himself they rejected and hated and plotted to kill Him!

Are you in love with this Jesus—the wild Messiah—as experienced in the Gospels or are you in love with the popular and somewhat harmless view of Church Jesus?

Let's learn from the Jesus of the Gospels, even in the midst of His anger and grief at the Pharisees, Jesus still did the right thing—He acted in the best interest of this man who had lost His livelihood. How about us? Can we choose to act in the best interest of others regardless of how we are feeling or our circumstances?

If we all had to wait until we "felt like" helping others then the world would be…WAIT…the world is in the condition it is in today because Christians have been waiting until we "felt like" acting in the best interest of others. Listen to the Bible exhort us from Philippians 2:3, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves." We are to act like Jesus!

Do you reach out to the walking wounded and spiritually dead of our community? Are you willing to take action even when there is nothing in it for you?

IN ORDER TO SAVE A LIFE, WE MUST: first, be willing to stick out our necks, second, be motivated by love, third, know the value of life, fourth, act in the best interest of others, and finally 5) DO IT EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW THERE WILL ALWAYS BE OPPOSITION TO SHARING THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST!

Mark 3:6 concludes this story with the culmination of all five controversy narratives that points to the Cross and the Passion of the Christ, "The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him."

Jesus knew He was walking into a dangerous place, but He went anyways. Jesus knew that to heal this man on the Sabbath would continue to drive a wedge between His ministry and the established religious leaders of the Jewish synagogue, but He healed anyways.

The sad reality of our text today is that it exposes the dangerous depths of our human sin nature (depravity) and the bad fruit of sin that we each are fully capable of, especially in religious fervor to protect our well worn methods and mindsets. In the name of piety, the Pharisees had become insensitive both to the purposes of God and to the suffering of men. Blinded by their pursuit for righteousness, they plotted murder and associated with men they hated—the Herodians, both acts (according to their own laws) unlawful on the Sabbath Day. As Jesus questioned them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" (4).

The reality is that when we (you and I) commit ourselves to intentionally following Jesus Christ by making disciples, then we too will face opposition when we serve and help others—when reach out to save a life! The sad thing is, that sometimes that opposition will even be from other Christians. But, if you are willing to join me, we'll do it anyways! Why? Because that's what Jesus would do and I'm His witness! Listen to 1 John 3:16, "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Obedience to the Way of Jesus Christ is motivated by love—we should be healing agents in people's lives because that is exactly what Jesus Christ does for us!

[response]

Have you experienced the power of God's love when He saved your life? If you have not yet experienced this great love, then today you are being invited to experience the true source of love and life—a relationship with God in Jesus Christ!

Are you ready to extend God's love to others? Let us pray together for the Lord to empower us with love…

"The New Life with Jesus Christ!" (Mark 2:21-22)

“The New Life with Jesus Christ!”

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #15)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

May 8, 2011 ~ Happy Mother's Day!

Today, we continue to discuss the new life that is found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Let’s read together from the Word of God, Mark 2:21-22 (NAU), "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. ²² "No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins." [Prayer]

These two parables are illustrations that not only emphasize, but expand the revolutionary teaching in Jesus’ response to the question posed by the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist. Listen to the context for our passage from Mark 2:18-20, “John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, ‘Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ‘But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.’”

As we studied last week, Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees (the established Jewish religious leaders) and the disciples of John the Baptist for not fasting (denying themselves food) as a part of His and their spiritual life. But it was a bigger critique; they were actually critiquing Jesus Christ for not being serious about His spiritual life. How could they claim this of the radical teacher who has been preaching & teaching with great authority, healing & conducting exorcisms, calling disciples and drawing huge crowds everywhere He went?

They critiqued Him because His spirituality did not look like the established practices of those who were serious about worship and discipleship in their day. Jesus had the audacity to challenge the status quo and to do it differently! Jesus was leading His disciples in a new direction—the new covenant with God based on the grace of God’s love and revelation through the person and work of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus declared that because the Messiah had come and is with the people, the spiritual life would now be a wedding feast rather than a funeral fast. The new life with Jesus Christ was to be and is today the life of steadfast joy.

And today, we see two parables that directly challenge the heart attitude of the Pharisees and disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus heard the question and He answered it, but He never stays on the surface of the issue—Jesus goes right to the heart—their unwillingness to change; to be teachable. Let’s dive into our teaching point. THE NEW LIFE WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A FAITH JOURNEY OF BEING STRETCHED!

Let’s take a moment to understand each of these parables from Mark 2:21-22 and then we will make the spiritual connection into our own lives. Jesus taught, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results” (21). Old worn garments can be our very favorite; the most comfortable and familiar. These old clothes have seen us through quite a bit in our lives, so when they get a hole, we do not want to discard them. So we patch them. Jesus is saying that if you patch the old garment with a new unshrunk piece of cloth, as the patch shrinks it will rip away and do more damage to the garment than had you not patched it all, or simply discarded it for a new one.

The way of Jesus Christ is a new life! When you recognize your need for God and ask Jesus into your life, Jesus does not give you just enough of Himself to fix up a broken or ripped part of your life. Rather, Jesus gives you a completely new wardrobe—new cloths! Have you heard the saying, “people have just enough religion to be miserable”? Jesus did not come to give you any religion and definitely not to make you miserable; He came to give you the abundant life (John 10:10).

Jesus will not be a patch for your old way of life--He is not a self-help plan; a recovery program; a parenting class for rebellious children; a save your marriage in 40 days book; or a make yourself successful and be influential positive thinking motivational seminar. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). We don’t need a patch to fix our ripped up well worn lives; we need a completely new life—new cloths to replace the old!

Jesus make this exact point with a second parable, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (22).

Jesus is using yet another common everyday illustration to make His point. There were no glass bottles for wine; they used wine skins. New wine requires new wine skins because of the pressure of fermenting. The wine skin must be stretchable in order to yield to the gases released by the fermenting wine. Old wine skins did not have the elasticity to stretch with the new wine so if new wine was placed in them then they would burst and you would lose all the new wine.

Jesus was going to the heart of these religious people set in their ways of worship and discipleship, telling them that they must become new in order to contain His teaching. The way of Jesus Christ cannot be understood nor lived out with an old way of thinking. God desires to make you new, but change is hard. God desires to stretch you by filling you with His Spirit, but you first must be changed into someone new. What are the obstacles in your mind and heart to change?

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There was a great man of faith who is a wonderful example of what it means to be changed by God, to such a point that his name was changed from Abram to Abraham. In the year 2100 BC, God introduced Himself to Abram and invited Him to a new life with Him.

Listen to Genesis 12:1-4, “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.”

Did you hear that last part about this man who met God and changed everything to follow Him? He was 75 years old! Listen to this quote from William Barclay written in the 1950s, “When our minds become fixed and settled in their ways, when they are quite unable to accept new truth and to contemplate new ways, we may be physically alive, but we are mentally dead. As people grow older almost everyone develops a constituted dislike of that which is new and unfamiliar. We grow very unwilling to make any adjustments in our habits and ways of life.”

Another way to look at this teaching of Jesus Christ is that old wine, unlike new wine, does not cause expansion inside its wine skin. Jesus calls His Way new wine because it causes expansion. Now, if you don’t think you need to be new wine skins because there is no need for expansion in your life, then I doubt you are listening to the Way of Jesus Christ! His ways demand that you be stretched out of your comfort zone; out of the familiar.

The Way of Jesus invites us to stay and soak in the River of Life through prayer, study, and fellowship. Spending time focusing on God’s Way in Jesus Christ will keep our minds and hearts from hardening. We are called to live a life of faith like Abram who was blessed by God and had his name stretched to Abraham, the father of nations. Listen to what the Bible says about this great 75 year old man who allowed God to stretch him. From Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

And God can use you in a similar and powerful way to reach the world, at any age, if you are willing to allow God’s Spirit to stretch you! Do you allow God’s Spirit to stretch you beyond your known boundaries (limits)? How has God stretched you along your faith journey?

The Bible teaches us that we must be transformed (changed) from the old skins to the new skins. We are to disregard old garments for new garments, rather than patch the old ones up. And once we have made this choice of our own free will, then the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and minds and He (God is the one who does this!) makes us new—God’s Spirit stretches us to look and be like Jesus!

Listen to God’s Word from Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

The days of patching the old life are gone and the day of re-creating is upon you! Will you continue to try to patch, mend, or adjust your old ways or will you allow a relationship with God through Jesus Christ to make you new?

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Change is hard, I know this and you know this. But it is impossible to live the new life with Jesus Christ if we have not yet been made new. Old wine skins cannot contain the new wine. The flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God; only the spirit. Jesus teaches us this eternal truth in the Gospel of John 3:5-7, “Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ’ ”

Friends, the old life cannot be done away with by dabbling in religion or self-help. The new life only comes through a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. In the blink of an eye you are changed—from old to new—the Holy Spirit pours into you and then the stretching begins. The more we allow God’s Spirit to reign in our lives and stretch us out of our comfort zones, the more we will experience the new life with Jesus Christ.

Are you giving God’s Spirit full reign of your life?

Are you living the new life with Jesus Christ?