Abridged Worship – February 4, 2024

Jesus is Jesus All of the Time

Abridge Worship Provided By: Rev. Jacob Shaw ^{(Please note that this is not a verbatim account of our Sunday morning worship, but rather a condensed version for those at home to study and enjoy, Blessings)}

Opening Prayer: Lord we lift songs of praise to You, we rejoice, for You are our Creator. Open our hearts to be inspired by Your Word and Your Grace, so that we may more fully dedicate our lives to the work of Your Kingdom. Amen

Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 40:21-31

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Mark 1:29-39

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed 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.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

We give thanks to God for the Scriptures and ask God to have these words inspire our hearts and minds.

Reflection:

Our Gospel reading this week carries on from our reading last week, where Jesus exorcized the man processed by an impure spirit in the synagogue. Following that very public event, Jesus and his disciples retired to Simon and Andrew’s house, where Simon’s mother-in-law was staying due to illness. Jesus healed the sick mother-in-law, and she was restored to her normal health instantly.

A little side note here to say, the scripture notes that Simon’s mother-in-law began to “serve them”. The feminists in the room might feel a bit irked to think that the woman who was just ill was expected to get up and serve the men as soon as Jesus healed her. Here is your healing, now back to the kitchen. But this comment here in the Bible isn’t intended to mark the gender roles in ancient times, rather it is to note the completeness of Jesus’ healings. When Jesus healed a person, it wasn’t just a Band-Aid solution, he didn’t just give Simon’s mother-in-law two Tylenol and tell her to call him in the morning, rather she was restored to full health. She went from run-down to running.

It’s like when you have the flu for a week and you just can’t move because you have no energy, but then after a few days of exhaustion you get that first day you feel alive again, and you just get up and get so much stuff done. Simon’s mother-in-law was just eager to go and show gratitude by being a good host to Jesus.

But back to the focus of discussion today, with the healing from an impure spirit in a very public place, to this intimate healing of one of his students’ loved ones, we see something special about Jesus. It shows us a Jesus, whose public life and his personal life were of one nature. Jesus was there to heal, to set free, and to liberate the oppressed – no matter where he was. Public of private, Jesus was Jesus.   

Later that evening, people from the community who likely saw or heard about the Synagogue came to Simon and Andrew’s place and Jesus continued to heal and cast out demons.

Then Jesus takes a break, to connect with God, he has some prayer time with his Father. When the disciples come to find him, he tells them it is time to keep going, go to a new place, proclaim, preach there, and continue to give sight to the blind, to liberate people from the oppression of demons and illness.

And in this story, we get an image of what life with Jesus was like, what his ministry was like. It wasn’t just Jesus preaching on the mount, but it was a ministry of proclaiming the word amongst the people, it was a proclamation that entwined healing and exorcism as part of the daily works of the Lord.

You can maybe look at it this way. We see by these healings that Christian ministry has real-world application, it is not just a philosophical exercise.

If we are to follow Jesus as disciples as students, trusting in his ways, trying to emulate what he did, then if our ministry is just a ministry of words from a pulpit on a Sunday morning but doesn’t contain healing or liberation from darkness, we are missing the mark.

You could say something similar about the contrast we spoke of earlier, the public versus private ministry of Jesus. If our ministries are vibrant in the public square and at church, but then when go home to our private lives, and we do not live out our faith to those closest to us, then we miss the mark. 

For Jesus’ ministry, what he taught was his life, Jesus’ way of living. He was just as much the Christ in every part of his day. Thus, his ministry was full, dynamic, involved, engaging, loving, true, powerful, and genuine. In Luke 4:18 Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sign to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….” So no matter where he was, that is what he did, Jesus was always Jesus.

What I’m not saying is that we all must suddenly start a revival healing and exorcism tent ministry out in the countryside, nor do I expect you all to go home and evangelize aggressively to your family and friends. However, if you feel called to, great!

Rather, what I am noting is that by the scriptures we see what God’s presence is like in human perfection. The nature of God’s love is always working both in public and in private, God’s work whether in public or in private is never partial, it is always whole, it contains the word of hope, but also actions of liberation; it is spirit and mind, mixed with heart and body.

So, wonderful, Jesus was good at what he did! He was divine of course he was good at what he did, what is your point?!

Last week I told you, that to help prevent impurity and falsehood from destroying the church from within, we must first use the rubrics of the Bible to help us see the planks in our eyes first, and then the specs in others.

Well, when it comes to a ministry, here is a rubric for you. It is a rubric for the individual Christian, it is a rubric for a church, it is a rubric for a denomination, and it is a rubric for the whole Christian body. To be present, to proclaim, to teach, to preach the Gospel, to heal, to cast out demons, and to share God’s love, at all times, in the public and the private.

And, do you know what happens when people live out a ministry that follows Christ like that?

It calls to people!

Jesus’ ministry was so impactful, so animated, and genuine, that it called people to him. It called to the sick, it called to the broken, it called to the worried, poor, and homeless, it called to the diseased and sinful, the processed and impure. It called people of all walks of life, all strata, all levels of success.

So, when we look at our lives, as Christians as individuals and as a church when we live out our ministries into the world, we should ask ourselves if we are doing it in a way that is present, that proclaims, that teaches and preaches the Gospel to both who know it and those who have never heard it, do we heal and share Christ liberation from all manners of darkness, are we sharing God’s love, at all times, in the public and the private.

And we should ask, are we doing it in a way that will call be the way Jesus did? When people in the world look at us, do they see a person, a church, or a ministry that is entwined in Christ’s teaching; in God’s grace, and wisdom, and which trust in Jesus’ command enough that the people begin to see Christ through us?

Do we have the broken, tired, and worn finding asylum in Christ by our invitation? Do we have the stricken with torment coming to salvation in our ministry? Do we offer those in pain a path of healing?  Do we have the word of the Lord and the Gospel being proclaimed in action and thought to all those who wish to seek it?

–            –      –

Our ministry won’t be perfect like Jesus, but Jesus left us the Gospel as a guiding torch, a rubric to help us continually move towards the standard of perfect.

And by looking at the rubric of ministry and by responding to it in humility and faith, two things happen, our ministry draws ever closer to God’s perfection, and God will use our imperfect ministry to bring more people to the perfection of Jesus. 

Homework:

Think about what ministry God is calling you to serve for His Kingdom, and ask yourself, how can the rubric of the Ministry of Jesus help me bring this ministry to its greatest potential in Christ?

Closing Prayer:

Loving God, we come to you in faith, we come to seek and learn Jesus’ way of ministry and love for people. We see Jesus proclaim and perform great things for your glory, and in many ways, those attributes of ministry may feel out of reach. But we must remember that before the perfection of Christ, You, our Lord, have always used everyday imperfect people to do miraculous things for your glory and will, so with the rubric of Christ life and promise of the Gospel as guiding lights in the dark, help us find a way to a ministry as individuals and as a church that is full and genuine and that in our ministries we might be so fortunate to welcome the broken, sick and weary to find the healing of You, our God.

Please bless all your children this week, as their ministries as believers are before them, help them see that you are calling them to live and serve as Jesus did. Amen. 

Meme of the Week

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