“Living from the Inside Out”
1. this week 2 articles caught my attention in the Tuesday edition of USA today. In the 1st article – “If approved, planes could become Wi-Fi hot spots as early as next year” – airlines are working on making the following services available on domestic flights if you carry a laptop – email, tapping into corporate networks, surfing the Web, playing games and possibly even watching movies. Cell phone service might not be far behind.
2. the 2nd article – “Airports open services to keep fliers plugged in” – reported on airport services for business travelers, things like – wireless internet access, available outlets for recharging equipment, private workstations for rent & meeting rooms for rent.
3. you see, LAX & that Boeing aircraft flying us south are becoming our “office away from the office.” What this all means is that we are quickly becoming a culture that is “plugged in” from home to coffee shop to the office to the hotel to the airport to the rental car & to our seat in row 15C.
4. the question begging to be asked - when do we ever get “unplugged?”
Jesus
1. we need the Jesus we read about in today’s text. He’s just launched his public ministry & boy what a start! The crowds have discovered him. His popularity is skyrocketing.
2. today this would mean – he’s been offered his own show on TBN. A publisher is after him to write a book. Agents are knocking on his door, one with an offer of being the main speaker on a Christian cruise to the Bahamas. Another asking him to write the study notes for a Jesus of Nazareth Study Bible for Carpenters.
3. and what does he do? He goes into hiding. Let’s pick up the story at 1:32.
there is Pressure put on Jesus (32-34, 36-37)
1. the setting is the home of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Mark writes the whole town gathered at the door. And Jesus met their needs – he healed & delivered them.
2. in v. 37 Jesus is told the following morning that everyone is looking for you. Add this up: whole town the night before + everyone this morning = a ton of people & pressure. What does Jesus do?
Jesus retreats to Pray & rePlenish himself (35)
1. very early in the morning while it was still dark means in the middle of the night. The needy crowds are breaking down the doors & Jesus sneaks away.
2. early - more like 3am than 6am, and that, after a full & exhausting day of service.
3. solitary place - literally, the desert (same word as 1:3,4 & 12). Jesus didn’t seek out a quiet bench in the city park. He hiked out into the wild to get completely away. He hid himself.
4. 1st, notice the discipline of Jesus. Jesus disciplined himself to find a time & place for solitude & prayer. Jesus models something very important for us – he not only leads from the inside out, he lives from the inside out.
5. Jesus needed a break from the crowds & their demands. He needed time with his Father in solitude, silence & prayer. He needed to replenish his empty ministry tank.
6. leaders need time alone with God. Apart from the crowds & their demands. Time away from the phones, email, faxes & pagers. Time to shut out all the outer distractions & pay attention to one’s soul.
7. 2nd, Jesus was recharged & energized by his time of prayer & solitude. Prayer is where the battles of life are often times won or lost. Again & again Jesus gets alone with his Father to pray. Everything that happens in his ministry – the miracles, the healing, the teaching, the deliverance, the compassion, the love – flows directly from his time alone with God.
8. this kind of prayer discipline is not just for leaders. It’s for everyone. The goal of discipleship is to be conformed into the likeness of Christ – Romans 8:29. Part of which means to life a life of prayer like Jesus did.
9. this will mean 2 things – a place & a time. Discipline. Place. I was reading this week where excavations of homes from the Roman Empire often included little chapels or prayer rooms. Some pagan, some Christian. The point is prayer & sacrifices were such an important priority in the lives of the people that they created a “space” in their living quarters for meeting God.
10. do we have a “sacred space” in our homes? Bedrooms + bathrooms + kitchen + dining room + family room + office + studio. But no designated space for God. Find your place.
11. Time. Can be anytime. But I believe it needs to be the time where you are most alive & can be fully present to God. For me that’s early in the morning – what about for you?
12. without a place & a time our prayer discipline, if we have one, will be sloppy & shallow.
Jesus declares his Purpose (38)
1. let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come. We need to jump on these words – they were birthed in prayer. It’s time to hit the road. He leaves behind a city full of needs in Capernaum.
2. a couple of things here. 1st, Jesus left behind people in need of healing & deliverance. In this time of the in-breaking kingdom of God – the already but not yet time – some are healed & delivered but not all.
3. the pages of Matthew Mark Luke & John are filled with stories of Jesus making people whole. But he only touched a fraction of those with needs.
4. we still live in this tension. Jesus heals today but not everyone is healed. I’ll deal with this more as we go through Mark.
5. 2nd, Jesus kept moving before others were ready for him to move. There is a driven-restlessness to kingdom work. Jesus wanted to move on before he finished what he started in Capernaum
6. the work of God’s kingdom is never static but fluid & flowing. We see this in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit keeps pushing the church forward.
7. case-in-point: the church in Antioch Acts 13. This was a great church, a celebrated center for the vitality of the gospel. The Holy Spirit moved in & said, Set apart for me Barnabas & Saul for the work to which I have called them (13:2). Suddenly 2 of their best leaders are taken from them. Why? God has other places he wanted the gospel preached, just like here with Jesus.
8. right now we are in the midst of a huge financial challenge – raising $800,000 or more in the next year for rebuilding. It would be very easy to pull back & gather all of our resources to meet this challenge.
9. but we are not going to do that. The Center. Our church leadership overwhelmingly voted to step out & become a founding church of The Center. We want to join with other churches in Canby – the First Church of Canby – to show our community that Christ really cares about them. Here’s some food, clothing, counseling, a place to hang out. We want to share our finances & our people to advance the kingdom of God in Canby, Not only build the Canby Alliance Church.
10. let’s go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also.
11. Susu Partnership. This October we will be sending a team of people to Guinea, West Africa to renew our partnership with the Susu people. In 1999 we made a decision to assist missionaries in Guinea in to reach the Susu people for Christ – a group of 1,000,000 Muslims untouched by the gospel.
12. we’ve sent money to buy church property, pay for travel, dig wells & provide ½ of the yearly support for Sam & Josephine Sesay (national Southern Baptist missionaries working with the Susu people). We’ve sent short-term mission teams to serve the missionaries at their yearly conference, assist them in their home-schooling, provide medical services & do repair & maintenance on their facilities.
13. the last several years our partnership has been on hold due to a change in missionary personnel in Guinea. A team of us will go to Guinea in October to jump-start our partnership. We want to remain faithful to what we’ve promised to do in Guinea.
14. let’s go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also.
Jesus responds with comPassion (40-45)
1. filled with compassion. This is what got Jesus back on the road again – this is what will move us a long. Compassion for hurting people.
2. compassion is the word for bowels or intestines. It means to feel something deep, deep inside us.
3. Jesus’ insides were torn up for this leprosy-struck man. The man asked to be made clean – healed – and Jesus cleaned him up. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
4. lepers were the worst of the worst in Jesus’ day. They were quarantined. If you touched one you were declared unclean. If you simply went near one, you were unclean.
5. this leper broke the rules. He came up to Jesus, making Jesus & everyone nearby unclean. Jesus broke the rules. He touched the leper. True compassion will thrust us outside of our comfort zones.
6. how are we doing with compassion? Do we feel anything toward the people around us?
7. The Center – do we really care about people in our community? Enough to write checks, serve in its leadership, volunteer our time & contribute our abilities?
8. the Susu people – do we care about these 1,000,000 mostly poor, mostly fisherman, almost totally unreached people who are made in God’s image? Enough to send a team of people this fall to discover ways that we can help missionaries share God’s love for them?
9. Jesus wants to disrupt our lives by prayer, by kingdom priorities, by compassion. We can let him & join him for what will be a wild & exciting ride. Or we can resist him & use our energies to maintain the status quo. What’s it going to be for you?
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