Gtcotr/ws081215
Mark 1
14 ¶ Now after John was put
in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 and saying, "The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the
gospel."
·
Jesus preached a message of “change and
believe the Good News!”
16 And as He walked by the
Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea;
for they were fishermen.
·
We
understand that the Gospel according to Mark is most reasonably the Gospel
according to Peter. It is uniformly accepted that Peter either dictated these
accounts to Mark while he recorded them or at the very least repeated them over
and over in their journeys together so often that they were indelibly impressed
into Mark’s memories.
·
It
is interesting to note that the Gospel message is a personal message and in
many ways the work of God really begins when it first touches and changes your
life.
·
Note
as well that Peter and Andrew were casting a net – indicative of an evangelist
who has a passion for gathering …
17 Then Jesus said to them,
"Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."
18 They immediately left
their nets and followed Him.
19 When He had gone a little
farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.
·
James
and John, in contrast to casting their nets, were rather mending their nets
when called by Jesus to follow Him.
·
The
mending of nets speaks of the pastoral grace which Jesus was adding to His team
of ministers.
40 ¶ Now a leper came to Him,
imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are
willing, You can make me clean."
41 Then Jesus, moved with
compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him,
"I am willing; be cleansed."
42 As soon as He had spoken,
immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
·
If
You are willing? … “I am willing …” Healing is the will of God!
43 And He strictly warned him
and sent him away at once,
44 and said to him, "See
that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest,
and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony
to them."
45 However, he went out and
began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus
could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and
they came to Him from every direction.
This
cleansed leper was so blessed by Jesus and yet did not respect Him or His
authority enough to simply obey His instructions. This healed man broke The First Principle of Spiritual Authority -
When we know who, and the who is God, the why is no longer the
question.
I
can’t imagine anyone wanting to hinder the work of Jesus however that’s exactly
what this report confirms. God sees so much farther than we can imagine and His
plan stretches for generations; He knows the end from the beginning.
The
Bible gives very plain general orders concerning obeying God and His ordained
Authorities. The reason I say general orders is because of the extreme
situations a few might face in which other higher principles of God’s Word
override the general orders to obey husbands or parents or bosses or teachers. God
did not legislate to loopholes or focus our instructions on the lowest common
denominators in life – rather He gave a picture of the perfect and instructed
us to strive toward that goal.
If
you find yourself in a legitimate position of authority over others, natural
authority or spiritual authority, recognize that there are limits and
restrictions placed on you as a God ordained leader. As well, in the places in
life where we find ourselves in a God ordained submissive or supportive role,
we must also embrace, obey and support those in authority over us and their
decisions.
What
are some possible reasons why this person did not obey? The same reasons why
many choose to not obey their God ordained authorities:
·
They
don’t agree with the decision
·
They
don’t like the decider
·
They
didn’t listen to the instructions
·
They
don’t fear the consequences
·
They
don’t understand the potential overall negative impact
·
They
can’t see a reason why the decision was made
·
They
are stubborn and opinionated and unbroken
·
They
have never really seen themselves as in light of their actions but rather in
light of their intentions.
·
They
have a reasons
The
first chapter of the Gospel of Mark covers quite a lot of ground. This is
indicative of the life and temperament of the Apostle Peter. He had quite the
sanguine personality and often spoke or acted before he obeyed.
More
than once Peter is rebuked by Jesus, both before and after the resurrection,
because Peter thought that he had the better idea. More than once decided that
he would tell the Lord where the Lord had it wrong and help Jesus see it more
clearly.
·
Once
when it came to the crucifixion and Peter’s outburst about Jesus not going to
the cross.
·
Once
on the rooftop in Joppa when Peter argued with Jesus and reused to eat what was
offered to him.
Jesus
said it’s not enough for us to claim that we love when we don’t obey.
The
first chapter of Mark is an exciting account of disciples in boats and demons
in church, of mothers and friends, the devil, temptations, open heavens and
early-morning prayer. Mark established the fact that Jesus came to work.
Tonight Mark will leave us with this encouragement:
Mark 1:35 Now in the morning,
having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a
solitary place; and there He prayed.
Since Jesus found it necessary to pray before
beginning His day … us too!
