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Today's scripture is from Mark 3, 6-35, as printed in your liturgy.
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake,
and a large crowd from Galilee followed.
When they heard about all he was doing,
many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea,
and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him
to keep the people from crowding him.
For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
Whenever the impure spirits saw him,
they fell down before him and cried out,
You are the Son of God.
But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted,
and they came to him.
He appointed twelve that might be with him,
and that he might send them out to preach,
and to have authority to drive out demons.
These are the twelve he appointed.
Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter.
James, son of Zebedee and his brother John.
To them he gave the name Boanerges,
which means sons of thunder.
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas,
James, son of Alphaeus,
Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot,
and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Then Jesus entered a house,
and again a crowd gathered,
so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.
When his family heard about this,
they went to take charge of him,
for they said,
he's out of his mind.
And the teachers of the law,
who came down from Jerusalem,
said,
he is possessed by Beelzebub,
by the prince of demons.
He is driving out demons.
So Jesus called them over to him,
and began to speak to them in parables.
How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand.
If a house is divided against itself,
that house cannot stand.
And if Satan opposes himself and is divided,
he cannot stand.
His end has come.
In fact,
no one can enter a strong man's house
without first tying him up.
Then he can plunder the strong man's house.
Truly, I tell you,
people can be forgiven all their sins,
and every slander they utter.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never be forgiven.
They are guilty of an eternal sin.
He said this because they were saying,
he has an impure spirit.
Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived.
Standing outside,
they sent someone in to call him.
A crowd was sitting around him,
and they told him,
your mother and brothers
are outside looking for you.
Who are my mother and brothers, he asked.
Then he looked at all those seated in a circle
around him and said,
here are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever does God's will is my mother,
my brother and sister and mother.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Good morning, Christ Church.
We are continuing today in the gospel of Mark,
and there are four gospels.
This is the earliest of the four that was written
in about 65 A.D.,
and you can read it.
It's the shortest of the gospels.
It can be read in about 65 minutes or so
over a cup of coffee.
And I want to encourage you
just to grab a Bible that's close at hand
and to open it.
I know we just had some of it printed for you,
but if you could open to page 812,
that's the first page of this gospel.
And I want to just bring you up to speed
if you're just tuning in today.
What we've seen in this gospel so far
is that Jesus has incredible power and authority.
He has power and authority to teach,
so that in Mark 1, 22,
it says,
the people were amazed
because he taught with authority,
as if he's teaching directly from God.
Jesus also has power and authority
over evil and illness,
so that you see there in Mark 1, 27,
the people are saying
he gives orders to evil spirits
and to impure spirits,
and they obey him.
And Jesus goes out from that place,
and he heals the mother-in-law of Peter,
and he heals the people
in the whole town there of Capernaum.
If you turn over to Mark 4,
you can see that Jesus has power
and authority over nature.
There's this incredible storm,
and Jesus brings that storm
down to total stillness.
And in Mark 4, 41,
the disciples say,
who is this?
Even the wind and the waves obey him.
And then you can see Jesus
in Mark 5,
he has power and authority over death.
This man, Jairus,
he's the ruler of the synagogue.
His daughter has died,
and Jesus has the audacity
to go in Mark 5, verse 41,
and say to this dead girl,
he says to her,
little girl, get up.
And that's what she did.
She got up,
and it says the people
were completely astonished.
And most outrageous of all,
Jesus has power and authority
to forgive sins.
And we saw this last week
with this paralytic man
who's brought to Jesus,
and Jesus says to him,
son, your sins are forgiven.
And the people,
in Mark 2, verse 5,
they say,
who can forgive sins
but God alone?
Jesus is a person
of incredible power
and authority,
and the news about him
is beginning to spread everywhere,
even without TikTok.
News is spreading like wildfire,
in Mark chapter 3,
Jesus' popularity
and his fame
is basically at a fever pitch, right?
Word about his powerful teachings,
his supernatural healings,
is spread far beyond
the Jewish towns of Galilee,
so that he's drawing crowds
of people who are traveling
to see him,
people from the Gentile regions
east of the Jordan River,
people to the west,
all the way to the Mediterranean Sea
in the north of Israel.
And basically in this moment,
Jesus being overwhelmed
by the crush of the crowd.
All the people are trying
to get near him,
and yet,
as we notice in our reading,
not everybody's on board
with Jesus.
Not everybody's on board
with his mission.
His family,
his biological family,
it says in Mark 3, 21,
they go to take control of him,
to seize him.
Why?
Because he's out of his mind.
The religious types,
the religious leaders,
they go one step further than that.
In the next verse,
in Mark 3, 22,
they say he's possessed by Satan.
So,
popular opinion right now
is that,
you know,
some people are saying,
well,
Jesus is a lunatic,
Jesus is a liar.
Today,
many people will say
Jesus is a legend,
right?
We,
the first Christians
created these stories
about his power and authority,
and we can't really trust
the Gospels
to be historically credible
and reliable,
and so Jesus is dismissed
as a lunatic,
a liar,
a legend,
but Jesus' disciples,
they call him Lord,
Lord.
And,
when you look at
Mark 1,
17,
Jesus issues this invitation
and this challenge
to Peter,
Andrew,
James,
and John,
and he says to them,
come follow me,
and I'll send you out
to fish for people.
And how do they respond
to this invitation
and this challenge?
It says that they left
their old life behind,
and they started
a new life
with Jesus.
Now,
what does that mean?
I want to kind of outline
what that means today
in this sermon,
and over the next few weeks
begin to unfold
and unpack
and explore it together.
But Jesus had
a three-dimensional life.
I appreciate
one of you pointing out
the amazing triangle
that I drew up here
to demonstrate,
and some of you
roll your eyes
at these triangles.
You know,
Martin Luther King Jr.'s
first sermon
and a sermon
that he preached
throughout his career
was called
The Three-Dimensional Life
is the Complete Life.
Right?
So,
I think I'm on pretty
good grounds here
for this three-dimensional life.
And Jesus,
we're going to talk today
about how he had an up,
he had an in,
and he had an out.
This Jesus-shaped life
is up with the Father,
it's in with his disciples,
and it's out with the crowds.
These are his three great loves,
his three great priorities,
and it's simple enough
for a child
to understand.
Right?
But it's very difficult
to actually do,
as we'll see.
But being a disciple of Jesus,
following him
as your Lord,
means that he's inviting you
and he's challenging you
to share
in the pattern
of his life
and to be conformed
to the shape
of his loves.
And that's what I want
to explore
with you now.
Jesus calls us
to share in this up,
in and out.
He calls us
to share this up,
in and out.
And the first dimension
of his life
is this up
with his Father.
And if you look
at Mark 1,
verse 10,
this is at Jesus' baptism,
and it says,
just as Jesus was coming
up out of the water,
he saw heaven
being torn open
and the Spirit
descending on him
like a dove,
and a voice came
from heaven,
you are my Son
whom I love,
with you I am well pleased.
The most important thing
about any of us
here in this room
is who God the Father
says that we are.
Doesn't matter
where you came from,
where you went to school,
what you've accomplished,
the most important thing
about you
is who God the Father
says that you are.
And what does the Father
say about Jesus?
God the Father
affirms his basic
covenant identity
and says,
you are my beloved,
well-pleasing Son.
And ever since Jesus
was a child,
he lived into that identity,
and he developed
this up relationship
with his Father.
And his great task now,
from his baptism onwards,
in his life,
and in his service
to others,
will be to continue
in his true identity,
and to operate
first and foremost
out of his relationship
with his Father.
And as you probably know,
immediately after Jesus' baptism,
he goes out
into the wilderness
and he's tempted
by the voice
of this accuser
who's saying to him
over and over,
are you really
the Son of God?
Are you really
who the Father
says you are?
And he'll continue
to be attacked
over and over,
not just in the wilderness,
but throughout his life,
he's attacked
by this voice
that's trying
to pull him away
and question his identity
at every turn.
And to get him
to move out
of that relationship
with his Father
and to in some way
live apart from
and live without God
and God's purposes
for him.
And that same voice
is the voice
in my life
and in your life
as well,
trying to do
the very same things
to get us busy,
to get us distracted,
to get us stressed out
and hurried
so that we begin
to put other priorities
before our greatest priority,
which is our creator God,
so that we are lured
into other identities
and other relationships
as if those are more important
than God.
God.
But Jesus holds fast
to his identity
as the Son
and his relationship
with the Father.
He says,
his great message,
if you look at Mark
chapter 1 verse 15,
the thing he said
in town after town,
place after place,
was that the kingdom
of God
has come near.
The kingdom of God
has come near.
And when he says that,
Jesus is saying,
the kingdom of God
is my priority.
That's what I'm about.
The rule and the reign
of my Father
who's the King,
that is why I've come.
And we're told
in Mark chapter 1 verse 35
that it says,
very early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up
and he left the house
and he went off
to a solitary place
where he prayed.
And Pastor Andrew
said two weeks ago,
this is just Jesus
keeping first things first.
He's nurturing
his union
and communion
with his Father,
just enjoying
and delighting
in the loving presence
of his Father.
And when you think
about Jesus
and his power
and his authority,
where do you think
that came from?
Like how was Jesus
empowered
to teach the truth
and to cast out evil
and to heal illness
and to calm the storm
and to raise the dead
and to forgive sins?
What power source,
what power outlet
was Jesus plugged into?
Well, he tells us
in the Gospel of Mark,
he says this in,
sorry,
the Gospel of John
chapter 5 verse 19,
Jesus says,
the Son is not able
to do anything
on his own
but only what he sees
his Father doing
and whatever the Father does,
the Son does likewise.
He goes on
in that same Gospel
in John chapter 12 verse 50,
he says,
the things that I speak,
I speak just as the Father
has told me.
Jesus is saying,
everything I do,
everything I say
is flowing out of my up
relationship with my Father.
And notice at the end
of our passage
that we just read,
what matters most to Jesus
in verse 35?
If you look at it with me,
Jesus says to them,
he says,
whoever does God's will
is my brother
and sister
and mother.
The Father's will.
Where do we learn
about God,
the Father's will?
Well,
we study
what's written
in the Father's word.
And how do we get
the power
to live out
the Father's will
which is revealed
in the Father's word?
Well,
Jesus would spend time
in the Father's presence
and he would pray
and he would say,
Father,
fill me with your word.
Fill me with your love.
Fill me with your power.
And for Jesus,
that was like
spiritual breathing.
He would just inhale
the Father's word
so that he could exhale
the Father's will.
He was like this sponge
that would go
and just soak
in the Father's love
so that when he went out
with the people,
he could just be squeezed
and the Father's love
would come out of him.
And friends,
this is how Jesus
wants his disciples
to live as well.
And this is really
just a preview
of coming attractions.
Next Sunday,
we're going to talk about
how we can adopt
Jesus' predictable patterns
and his healthy habits
and his life-giving rhythms
of how he stayed connected to
and in union with
his Father in heaven.
But this is the most
important thing for him.
Up with the Father.
We tracking?
Okay.
Jesus calls us
to share in his up.
But he also calls us
to share in his in.
This Jesus-shaped life
is three-dimensional.
The first dimension
is up with his Father.
The second dimension
is his in
with his disciples.
And what did this look like?
Well, again,
you go back to his calling
of Peter, Andrew, James, and John
in Mark 1, 17.
He says to them,
follow me
and I will send you out
to fish for people.
When a rabbi
in the first century
would call disciples
to follow him,
discipleship in the first century
was this committed
covenantal relationship
in which the rabbi
would invite his disciples
to share in every aspect
of his life
so that they would become
like the rabbi.
And so Jesus is,
from these crowds,
he's gathering
a smaller group
of disciples
who will live
in the kind of relationship
with him
that they'll not only
be taught
to know what Jesus knew,
but they'll also
be trained
to do what Jesus did
and ultimately
to become like Jesus.
And that's what you see
in Mark chapter 1,
chapter 2,
chapter 3.
Jesus is there
in this little town
on the north shore
of the Sea of Galilee
called Capernaum.
It's his adopted home base.
After he got basically
kicked out of his own hometown.
And he's there
gathering men and women
in both the synagogue
and in the home
of Peter and Andrew.
And what they're doing
there in that home
is that they're sharing
life together
in this large house
full of disciples
not unlike this group
here today.
And in that place,
in that house,
they would listen
to Jesus teach.
They would observe
his way of life.
They would eat meals
with him.
They would experience
his power
and his authority.
They would welcome
outsiders.
If you remember
last week,
the friends who came
and unroofed the roof
to get their buddy
down to Jesus.
And as broken people
were being brought
to Jesus,
they were being healed.
They were being liberated.
They were being forgiven.
And Jesus was using
this extended family
as the base
of his mission.
And now in Mark chapter 3,
it's come time
for him to choose
a team who can lead
this larger band
of disciples.
And I want you to look
with me at verse 13.
It says,
Jesus went up
on a mountainside
and he called to them
those he wanted
and they came to him
and he appointed 12
that they might be with him
and that he might send them
out to preach
and to have authority
to drive out demons.
These are the 12
he appointed,
Simon to whom
he gave the name Peter,
James son of Zebedee
and his brother John
to whom he gave
the name Boanerges
which means
the sons of thunder.
All the rest
of the disciples,
you all need
to keep your day jobs.
But these 12
are going to travel
with me now full time.
And the first three
of those 12
are Jesus' inner circle
to whom he gives nicknames.
Simon he names Petros
or Peter
which means Rocky
or Rockman
or just The Rock.
James and John
he gives them the name
sons of thunder
or thunder boys.
Mary Magdalene
he had female disciples.
Mary Magdalene
Magdala is probably
where she's from
but Magdalene means tower.
I like to think of Mary
as this towering woman
of faith.
She's the lead female disciple.
There are other
female disciples
Salome,
Joanna,
Susanna,
Mary,
we learn in Luke 8
they were Jesus'
financial supporters
and all four gospels
tell us that
these women
were the eyewitnesses
to Jesus' crucifixion
and resurrection
because all the guys
abandoned Jesus
in the end
so thanks ladies
for saving the movement.
Two weeks from now
in Mark chapter 6
we're going to see
how Jesus trained
and then he sent out
these 12
on mission
to go and do
what he did
to serve people
in word and deed
to teach them,
to touch them,
to bring the truth
of God
and the power of God
to people's lives
and then Jesus
later on
after he sent the 12
he'll send this whole
house full of 72
followers
to do the same
to go out
and operate
in his power
and his authority
to do the things
that he did
and Jesus invested
three years
of his life
trying to help
this circle of people
learn what it means
to have this up
in and out life
and I want you
to notice
that he's not
gathering his disciples
just to hang out
as a social club
because they have
nothing better to do
right?
In verse 20 and 21
they're back at the house
of Peter and Andrew
and Jesus' biological family
comes to seize him
because they say
he's out of his mind
he's gone off the deep end
he's lost his grip
with reality
and if you choose
to follow Jesus
as your Lord
your family
and your friends
might say the same thing
about you
you flipped
you're insane
well in verse 32
a crowd was sitting
around him
and they told him
your mother and brothers
are outside
looking for you
and Jesus asks
this provocative question
he says
well who are my mother
and my brothers
and then he looked
at those who were seated
around him
in a circle
and he said
here are my mother
and my brothers
whoever does God's will
is my brother
and sister
and mother
Jesus is radically
redefining family
in this moment
and he says to them
my true extended
spiritual family
are the people
that I've chosen
to be right here
inside with me
people that I've circled
around me
and have come
to center their lives
on me
people who've come
to me
to learn
God's word
and God's will
from me
and they're not
just here
to learn
God's word
and God's will
but they're here
to do it
they want to put it
into practice
they want to obey it
they want to put it
into action
and Jesus is saying
if that's you
then you're my
little sister
if that's you
then you're my
little brother
and I'm your big brother
and we're here
in the family
of God together
and here's what I want
for my disciples
all of my disciples
I want you to love
one another
just as I love you
this is what he says
throughout the gospel
he says
the way that I'm
giving you my time
the way that I'm
serving you
encouraging you
teaching you
praying for you
forgiving you
washing your feet
and the way that I'll
lay down my life
for you
that's exactly
what I want
for you to do
with this family
circled around me
and at the resurrection
Jesus will take that up
just even another notch
because he'll say
I not only want you
to love my family
of disciples
I want you to go out
and make more disciples
and bring them
into this family
in Matthew 28
he says
I want all of you
not just the leaders
not just Peter
James and John
not just the 12
I want all of you
to go out
and make your own disciples
after the model
that I've given to you
and friends
I think this is how
the obscure
marginal
Jesus movement
turned the Roman Empire
upside down
within the course
of about
three centuries
they somehow
became the dominant force
in the Roman Empire
because
over the course
of 300 years
disciples
followed Jesus' example
by training
smaller groups
of people
and here's
some of the elements
of what that involved
they would enter
into personal relationships
and they would take
spiritual responsibility
for others
they would invest
time and energy
into them
through life-on-life
mentoring
they would invite
and challenge people
to come and be
with Jesus
as we see in verse 13
to come and center
their lives around him
to learn from him
and listen to him
as we see in verse 34
they would invite them
to say
let's practice
the word and will
of the Father
together in our lives
verse 35
and they were
basically teaching
people to obey
everything that Jesus
commanded
and helping them
to practice
this up
in and out
Jesus-shaped
life
and in so doing
they were fostering
and facilitating
the replication
of Jesus' DNA
in other people
who were then
empowered to tap
into the spiritual
authority of Jesus
so that they could
thereby go out
from their gatherings
together
and they could do
what Jesus did
and say what
Jesus said
in the power
of the Holy Spirit
discipleship was
about developing
a life worth
imitating
and then turning
around and saying
to other people
come follow me
as I follow Christ
come imitate me
as I imitate
Christ
and as they made
new disciples
with the DNA
of Jesus
they could then
turn around
and multiply
more disciples
to replicate
even more
of the DNA
of Jesus
in others
and this is what
I think explains
the spiritual potency
and the exponential
growth of the early church
that converted
half the Roman Empire
in a matter of 300 years
now I know
what I'm saying
sounds crazy
right
because everything
I'm saying right now
cuts against the grain
of our western
do-it-yourself
individualism
right
or I'll just
kind of google
this discipleship thing
and figure it out
and it also
flies in the face
of our Bay Area
culture of professionalism
and expertise
which says
unless I have a PhD
in disciple making
I can't do
what Jesus did
but here's my question
to some of you
is
is there a more
experienced
or mature person
in your life
who knows
how to build
this Jesus shaped life
that God has designed
for us
who could show you
how to do it
and might you
somehow get connected
up with them
and if you happen
to be that more
experienced
and more mature person
my question for you
is
who are you taking
spiritual responsibility
for here at Christ Church
who are you
personally investing in
how are you replicating
the DNA of Jesus
into the lives of others
to make disciples
Jesus calls us
when he calls us
to follow him as Lord
to share in his up
with the Father
but also to share
in his in
with disciples
and finally
he calls us
to share
in his out
with the crowds
I'll do this quickly
Jesus came
to do the will
of the Father
and the will
of the Father
is that
the kingdom of God
would come on the earth
as it is in heaven
that the kingdom of God
would break through
in the lives
of every person
that is made
in God's image
which is everybody
and Jesus
has this fascinating
conversation
in verse 23
it says
so Jesus
called them
over to him
and began
to speak
to them
in parables
how can Satan
drive out Satan
remember Jesus
is healing
broken people
the very first act
of his ministry
in the gospel of Mark
is to cast out
a demon
and this doesn't
set well
with the leaders
of the synagogue
they're deeply
threatened
by Jesus' wisdom
and his authority
and his power
and they say
he's not just mad
they say
Jesus is downright
dangerous
he's possessed
by Satan
he's in the grip
of demonic forces
and he's actually
being used
as an agent
of dark powers
and how does
Jesus respond
to this accusation
well he says
well you know
to attribute
to demons
the very power
I use
to cast out demons
is a contradiction
in terms
he says
that's like a king
waging war
against himself
it's civil war
it's suicide
it's crazy
and what Jesus
says next
is going to be
the most uncomfortable
thing you've heard
yet today
but it's also
the most exciting thing
and here's what he says
in verse 27
no one can
enter a strong man's
house without
first tying him up
then he can plunder
the strong man's
house
Jesus
likens the world
to this kingdom
that's dominated
by a strong man
this dark war lord
this evil prince
with his unholy spirits
and this evil prince
has a castle
Jesus says
and in that castle
he has a prison
with a dungeon
where he puts people
like us
in bondage
so that we're oppressed
and so that we're
dominated by the will
of another
who's seeking
to steal from us
and to kill us
and destroy us
Jesus believes that
Jesus says
Satan is real
and he says
Satan is in fact
very strong
how else can you
explain our world
that's in bondage
to sin
and evil forces
and disease
and injustice
and poverty
and hunger
and brokenness
and alienation
and fear
and anger
and violence
and death
how do you explain it?
this is how Jesus
explains it
he says
Satan is real
and he is strong
but then
he has the audacity
to say
but I am stronger
Jesus says
make no mistake
there are two rival kingdoms
in conflict
and Satan's kingdom
is in fact
under attack
but it's not from the inside
no Satan has
an external enemy
and Satan's downfall
is going to be
his conquest
by this stronger power
who has in fact
already entered
his dark realm
and who is
in this very moment
storming the castle
and confronting
his forces
and declaring
war
and mounting
a full scale
spiritual assault
on his kingdom
that's what Jesus
out
is all about
he says
I've come
to begin
my campaign
of binding up
the strong man
and you can see
that in verse 11
it says
whenever the evil
spirits saw
Jesus
they fell down
before him
and they cried out
you are the son
of God
they instinctively
pay homage
to Jesus
as this superior
authority
they know
that they're in
the presence
of a power
that's greater
than they are
and Jesus
continually
is putting
the strong man
in bondage
he's subduing him
so that he can
come in
and plunder
his kingdom
and his castle
and his goods
so that he can
steal back people
from his prison
and he can release
people from his power
and he can set
captives free
Jesus is saying
in this moment
I am a person
of irresistible
strength
and power
and I've come
to confront
and to dethrone
Satan
I've come
to conquer him
I've come
to be victorious
but it's not
until the end
of the gospel
where Jesus
fully binds
the strong man
not by raw power
and domination
but how does he
bind the strong man
through his
humiliation
through his weakness
through his
sacrificial self
giving on the cross
the key verse
in the gospel
of Mark
Jesus says
the son of man
has not come
to be served
but to serve
and to give his life
as a ransom
for many
and it was on
that cross
where Jesus
gives his life
to ransom
the many
from their bondage
to Satan
and from that
moment on
from Good Friday
on
Satan
is real
and he's strong
but he's bound
and his possessions
as a result
of what Jesus
did on the cross
his possessions
are left vulnerable
to this stronger one
who's come
to confront him
and to plunder him
now we're going
to say more
about this
in two weeks
so you've got
to come back
but the amazing
thing is that
Jesus wants
you and me
to share
in his out
with the crowds
he wants
you and me
to take part
in his overthrow
and the complete
collapse
of the kingdom
of Satan
the plundering
of his house
and his kingdom
so that the kingdom
of God
can erupt
and the rule
and reign
of our father
can break through
into the lives
of people around us
and that's very
very good news
because the father's
rule is a gracious
rule
and his reign
is a liberating
reign
and Jesus'
basic call to us
is come follow me
and I'm going
to send you out
to fish
for people
I'm going to send
you out
to be part
of my plundering
of the strong
man's house
if that's something
you want
we're going to be
learning about that
and if it's not
well don't come back
for a little bit
okay
come back at Easter
Jesus calls us
to share in his up
and his in
and his out
and may he give us
the power
and authority
to do that
in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Amen