Category: worry

Posted in anxiety, Circumstances, Jesus, Joy, Light, Lighthouse, paul, Prayer, worry

Do not be anxious about anything.

Posted on by narciejeter

As my niece entered middle school, my mom told her, Jesus gives us peace.  You can access it anytime by just calling on the name of Jesus.  She can tap into that hope anytime because she’s a daughter of the Most High King as a follower of Jesus.  I picked these verses specifically for today as we are all feeling anxious in this world.  Watching the news, seeing horrendous images, rising food prices through inflation, shrink flation, rising gas prices, and the angst, bitterness, and division that creep into our cars, buggies at the grocery store, lining up at checkout lines and in extension the way in which we talk and interact with one another, in person and online, we desperately need the words of Philippians.

Listen to Paul’s words to the church at Philippi.

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We as a people are naturally anxious about everything.  And this verse tells us to not be anxious about anything.  Ann Landers, in her advice column, used to get about 10,000 letters a month about people’s problems. She was asked, what is the number one problem that people have? She said the number one concern of most people is anxiety. She said people are afraid of losing their health, afraid of losing their wealth, afraid of losing loved ones. She said people are afraid of life itself.  Your mind can distort anything into a worry or a fear, especially when we are tired, rundown and already in a stressful situation.  Go on a walk.  Listen to Christian, Gospel or any kind of music that makes you chillax.  Read the Word of God.  Get centered with a devotion at the start or end of your day.  It seems we put off the exact things that will help us, when we get stressed out over our to-do lists and worries.

When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison and sentenced to death.  He wrote this letter on death row.  We think we have it bad.  Paul was literally chained to a Roman soldier and guarded day and night.  And yet he could still write, “Do not be anxious about anything . . .”  He had been shipwrecked, beaten, ridiculed, stoned and abandoned and he still said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!”  You and I were made not made for a fearful, anxiety filled life, we were made for joy.

The North Carolina Poet Carl Sandburg understood that. He once wrote about children:

You were made for joy, child.

The feet of you were carved for that.

The ankles of you run for that.

The rise of rain,

The shift of wind,

The drop of a red star on a far water rim . . .

An endless catalogue of shouts and laughters,

Silent contemplations

They made you from day to day for joy, child, for joy. 

The question is how do we tap into that joy that is available to each of us?  

The insightful writer Isak Dinesen said, “God made the world round so that we would never be able to see too far down the road.” And that’s true. We can’t see down that road. That itself is the cause of anxiety for many of us.  Sadly, we often look down that road with fear rather than with faith. But we’re not supposed to.  1 John 4 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”  Some translations say it “expels” all fear and it’s not just sometimes or sometime in the future.  We have God’s promise and God’s peace now.  

I heard a commentator this past week say we take Jeremiah 29:11 out of context.  He accused us of not looking at what was really happening in the Babylonian exile.  What if we knew the context all along?  What if we knew it wouldn’t be a quick fix?  What if we knew it would take time?  But we take God’s peace and promise with us in the exiles of our lives.

Jeremiah 29:10-14, 10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

See the Israelites were in a spin cycle of sin all throughout the Old Testament and they pushed God to act as the Loving Parent giving them consequences.  70 years certainly takes the long view, but the promise is the same.  God’s promises are the same yesterday, today, and forever.  We do not fear or let the anxiety monster grab us because we trust in the Lord, the maker of heaven and of earth.  No matter how long it takes, no matter what circumstances we’re in, as Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”  We grasp tightly to joy because it is a presence we encounter. As the German theologian, Moltmann puts it, “God weeps with us so that one day we may laugh with him.”  God came down to earth to dwell among us, to walk with us, right beside us.  He knows our anxiety and tendency to fret and worry.  What did the angels say to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:  to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”  Joy.  Not just wishy-washy joy, but a joy that lasts.

In his book Talking to Ducks, James A. Kitchens explains there are two major types of joy: internal joy and external joy. Internal joy comes from within, but external joy comes and goes with whatever is happening in our environment. It is extrinsic because it arises from the outside. When the circumstances change in a good direction, joy comes. When fortune reverses, joy leaves. Internal joy stays with us regardless of our external circumstances.

Pastor Anthony Evans tells about the night that darkness descended on New York City during the blackout of 2003.  Evans happened to be there that night and he witnessed the chaos. Manhattan, including Wall Street and the United Nations, was completely dark, as were all area airports and all rail transportation including the subway.

There was one exception to that darkness. Evans happened on a restaurant where people were lined up to get hot food. He reports that in this dark situation there was this one place with all this light and joy and music and laughter and warmth. He went over to the assistant manager and said, “Mister, I don’t understand. It’s dark everywhere. The airport is right over there and it’s dark. My hotel is right across the street and it’s dark too. Everything is dark, and yet you are lit up like a Christmas tree. How can this be?”

The manager said, “It’s really fairly simple. When we built this [place], we built it with a gas generator. We’ve got power on the inside that is not determined by circumstances on the outside. Even though there’s nothing happening out there, there’s plenty happening in here.”

Anthony Evans goes on to say, “When you accepted Jesus Christ, He came into the inside. So what’s happening on the outside shouldn’t determine whether or not you’ve got a lighthouse on the inside. What’s happening out there shouldn’t determine your joy. God has given us a generator of life and liberty in our souls through our relationship with Jesus Christ. We don’t have to live our lives determined by life’s circumstances.”  

That’s the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.   How do we get that peace?  That joy?  Prayer plus thanksgiving equals an entirely different view of the world.

Pray

As some of you may know, there is a Bible App by a company called YouVersion which has 400 million users worldwide.  Every year the producers of this app announce the most popular Bible verse as chosen by its readers’ searches.

In 2019, the most popular verse in this online Bible was from our lesson for today, Philippians 4:6, in the New Living Translation. It reads like this: “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” 

Verse 6 is written as a command. This is how we are to live. “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.”

Prayer is as simple as a breath.  A sentence, Lord have mercy.  A plea for strength. Intecessory prayer – prayer for the hostages and their families as well as the people of Gaza and those that area hurting all over the world.

Thanksgiving

There is a “Peanuts” comic strip where Charlie Brown says: “I’ve developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.”  Chuck, oh boy, in fact the opposite is true.  We are to be thankful for each day and count our blessings one by one.  When we are stressed or anxious, that is exactly the perfect time to name the good things God has given us.

Some people lose their joy and peace because they’re playing the comparison game, instead of giving thanks to God for what we have.  Futurist Faith Popcorn says that one possible downside of the Internet is the development of what she calls Comparative Anxiety.  The internet has created a networked world that allows everybody to compare everything, instantly. How much money are you making compared to people your own age who graduated from the same college? How many words does your baby know versus millions of babies her exact age, around the world?  It predicts that this ability to benchmark yourself in seconds with others is creating an increasing epidemic of comparative anxiety and a national wave of insecurity.

Joy is not a product of possessions, pleasure, busyness, affluence, or accomplishment. Joy is the experience of knowing that nothing, not sickness, failure, famine, war, or even death can separate us from the love of Christ.

Joy is a choice we make. Life can make us bitter or it can make us better. It can leave us grumbling or make us grateful.  By remembering to give thanks for the little things, we develop a habit of thankfulness. It won’t happen overnight, but it will change how we view the world.

That brings me to the Big Picture.

Ken Lindner is CEO of Ken Lindner & Associates and the author of the book, Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Time (2004). Ken is also a championship Paddle Tennis player.

A few years ago, Ken’s team lost in the final round of a national Paddle Tennis tournament. Ken was determined to learn from this disappointment. So, he decided to go up into the stands and watch the winning team play a few rounds.

Ken got an entirely different view of the game and of his opponents when he saw them play from up in the stands. From up there, he could see the Big Picture. He recognized the other teams’ techniques, their strategy, their weaknesses. As Ken sat there and soaked up a whole new perspective on his opponents’ game, he realized that he could apply this wisdom to every part of his life. As he writes in his book Crunch Time, “The lesson was: Far too often, while fighting our day-to-day battles on the ground, we never look beyond ourselves, or the immediate moment, situation, need or craving at hand. Therefore, we fail to view things from the fuller, richer, wider context of the Big Picture.” 

When we walk with God, we are able to take a Big Picture view of our lives. We are able to replace worry with trust, choose a gratitude attitude, and focus our thoughts on those things that are not of this world – the peace that this world doesn’t understand because it’s not from this world – Jesus.

A Catholic priest named Johannes Tauler tells of meeting a poor man along the road one day. “God give you a good day, my friend,” said Tauler.

The poor man answered, “I thank God I never have a bad day.”

Tauler, astonished, kept silent for a moment, then added, “God give you a happy life, my friend.”

The poor man answered, “I thank God I am never unhappy.”

“Never unhappy!” cried Tauler, “What do you mean?”

“Well,” came the reply, “when it is sunshine—I thank God, when it rains—I thank God, when I have plenty—I thank God, when I am hungry—I thank God; and since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases God pleases me, why should I say that I am unhappy when I am not?”

Tauler looked upon him with awe. “Who are you,” he asked.

“I am a king,” said the poor man.

“A king?” Tauler asked, “Where is your kingdom?”

The poor man smiled and answered simply, “In my heart.” 

As followers of Jesus, we carry around a kingdom in our hearts. We grumble and complain and are fearful and anxious sometimes, but we’re still sons and daughters of the Most High King.   Trying our best and growing in sanctifying grace.  We are the recipients of God’s promises and God’s incredibly gracious love and mercy. If we really understand that, our joy will overflow. If you want to be set free from your circumstances, your stresses and your worries, then follow the instructions God gave us to live in joy: replace worry with trust in God, don’t compare yourselves with others, develop an attitude of gratitude, and think of the bigger picture.  Good wins.  The light DOES overcome the darkness.  Take a deep breath of the Holy Spirit, call on the name of Jesus and let him fill you up with joy and peace, and God will be your strong tower and sure foundation. 

Posted in Acts, Captivity, Captured, Christ, Free, Freedom, Healing, Holy Spirit, Human Choice, Johnny Cash, Jurgen Moltmann, Kairos, paul, Prisoner, Relationship, Salvation, Silas, The Son, worry

Freedom

Posted on by narciejeter

May 29th – 7th Sunday of Easter – Freedom – Acts 16:16-34

This sermon’s titled “Freedom.”  It’s a loaded word.  Songs about freedom from Jon Baptiste “to move your body just like this” to the old school “Freedom” chorus a la George Michael.  Who can ever forget William Wallace yelling, “Freedom” in Braveheart?  Freedom.  Hot button and divisive issues like the freedom to choose and the freedom to bear AK 47’s are taken from our living rooms to social media to protests.  Freedom.  This weekend, as we celebrate the brave men and women who have died in active military service, choosing to fight for this country’s freedom.  As we look at the Ukrainians who actively fight for the freedom of their country right now.  Freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.  Jurgen Moltmann argues that the greatest mystery of human existence is not the reality of evil, or injustice, or hatred. Rather, the greatest mystery in the universe is human freedom — the freedom that God has chosen to give you and me that enables us to order our lives in any way we see fit. We are free to become a Mother Teresa or an Adolph Hitler. We are free to give our lives to God, or free to be the crowd that crucified Jesus.  As we close out this five-part series on the Power of the Holy Spirit displayed in Acts, we get an up close personal look at people in bondage and the glorious freedom in Jesus’ name.

Acts 16:16-34

16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

35 When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; 39 so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40 After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.

Who is actually free?

The slave girl isn’t.  She cries out about Paul and Silas, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”  They are free to choose to spend their time proclaiming the way to true freedom. 

The slave girl’s owners are bitter that Paul lost them their money maker and are imprisoned by their evil ways of earning a living.  They certainly are not free of their greediness.

When the owners drag them before the crowd – they’re suckered in by the mob spirit that makes them look like villagers with pitchforks and torches.  They are certainly not free of their assumptions, rush to judgment, mass anger and group think and they begin attacking them.

Then the magistrates who are supposed to maintain order, strip them of their clothing and order them to be beaten with rods.  They are imprisoned by punitive rules that compel them to pronounce a harsh sentence on two people who are simply preaching love and kindness.  The magistrates could have shown mercy, but their pridefulness and holding onto their power, certainly wouldn’t have freed them.

They threw them into prison after giving them a severe flogging.  Although the jailer wears a ring of keys that open any door in the place, the jailer is just as confined as the prisoners. He’s imprisoned by his fear — by a terror so great that he would sooner impale himself on his sword than face the wrath of his superior officers. 

Then the other prisoners themselves.  Who knows what they could have done to end up here.  They are certainly not free of their crimes.

Paul and Silas are the only ones that are truly free.  Surely, they had heard how Jesus told the Jews that believed in him in John 8:31-36, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” 

If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.  They are free because of the Spirit of Christ that dwells within them — the Spirit which gives them courage to sing and pray, even with their legs immobilized in the stocks.

What do you think the other prisoners thought?  When they heard Paul and Silas battered, bruised and naked praying and singing hymns? 

In Walk the Line (2005), Johnny Cash, who is played by Joaquin Phoenix, is talking to the prison warden.

The Warden: “Mr. Cash? The record company asks that you not play any songs that would remind the prisoners that they are in jail.”

Johnny Cash: “Do you think they forgot?”

In the same film, this is an exchange between Johnny Cash and a record company executive.

Record Company Executive: “Your fans are church folk, Johnny. Christians. They don’t wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin’ to cheer ’em up.”

Johnny Cash: [pause] “Well, they’re not Christians, then.”

The text doesn’t say whether Paul was a tenor and Silas a bass. It doesn’t mention guitars or other instruments.  The text says: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” The other prisoners were listening to Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns.  The text doesn’t say what the prisoners were guilty of, it only says when there was a massive earthquake all the prisoners’ chains were unfastened and the prison doors were wide open, but none of them left.  None of them left.  When we’re singing in the rain, people are going to stop and take notice.  When we’re singing even through our adversity, when we’re trudging through the valley of the shadow of death, people are going to stop and take notice. 

God acts through the form of an earthquake that effectively removes the chains of all the prisoners, and opens all the doors, while, miraculously, not harming a single person.  I’m always curious what happened to the prisoners after the story leaves them.  I wonder if it was a Kairos ministry moment.  Kairos Ministries brings the life-changing message of Christ’s love and forgiveness to incarcerated individuals.  It is an ecumenical, lay-led ministry that relies on 20,000 volunteers per year to carry out its mission.

“I’m glad I got caught because if I hadn’t been caught and sentenced and sent to this place, I might never have met Jesus Christ, never have known God is real,” says one of the 170,000 incarcerated men and women who have experienced Kairos Prison Ministry International, since it began in 1976.

The impact of Kairos is immeasurable. Whereas an estimated 30 to 70 percent of released inmates will return to prison, Colorado’s Department of Corrections found that only 10 percent of incarcerated individuals who had experienced Kairos ministry returned to prison. Lives are changed and when these individuals are released from prison they are better able to be the kind of spouse, parent and employee they want to be. Many even become volunteers themselves.

One inmate sums it up this way, “I came full of hate and resentment. I’m going out with love, a new Spirit … Christ within me.” 

A new Spirit is what the jailer wanted too.  When we’ve tried everything the world has offered and we’re desperate for an answer that completely satisfies us, we cry out to Jesus.  I can imagine the heartbreaking sincerity in his voice as he asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities contains a famous character known as Dr. Manette. Imprisoned for 20 years by the king, the doctor is finally freed by the revolution. Through his long imprisonment, the doctor has taken on a new trade, that of cobbler. In the gloom of his prison cell, he has lived out his days tapping shoes with a hammer.

Finally, the day comes when Dr. Manette is led out into the sunlight, but the light of day terrifies him. The good doctor has lived too long in the shadowy recesses of his cell. The only way he is happy, it turns out, is for a servant to lock him at night in a tiny attic room. There he spends his time tap, tap, tapping on the shoes, just as he did for so many years.

Dr. Manette’s story  it’s not so uncommon as you may think. How many have been led time and again to an open door through which can be glimpsed the bright sunlight of God’s freedom? Yet how many of us, when faced by such a beautiful scene, have shielded our eyes from the light, and have turned back into the shadows of our cells, retreating into the same destructive habits time and again?

Richard Rohr writes in “Restorative Justice,” “Step Five of the Twelve Steps – “We admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”

“As any good therapist will tell you, you cannot heal what you do not acknowledge, and what you do not consciously acknowledge will remain in control of you from within, festering and destroying you and those around you.

Step Five fits the biblical notion of restorative justice — to restore relationships themselves, to restore integrity with myself, and to restore a sense of communion with God. Humanity needs such an honest exposure of the truth, and true accountability and responsibility for what has happened. Only then can human beings move ahead with dignity.

Only mutual apology, healing, and forgiveness offer a sustainable future for humanity. Otherwise, we are controlled by the past, individually and corporately. We all need to apologize, and we all need to forgive or this human project will surely self-destruct. No wonder that almost two-thirds of Jesus’ teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. Otherwise, history winds down into the taking of sides, deep bitterness, and remembered hurts, plus the violence that inevitably follows. As others have said, “Forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different or better past.” It is what it is, and such acceptance leads to great freedom, as long as there is also accountability and healing in the process.”

Jesus Christ offers us freedom such as the world can never know. In him is healing and wholeness and strength for the living of these days.

The opposite of freedom is captivity.  And aren’t we captured by our fears?  Yes!  They are like old worn, comfy pajamas.  They keep us captured, I mean safe.  Here’s what God’s word says about fear:

Joshua 1:9 (NRSV)

9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

John 14:27 (NRSV)

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NRSV)

6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 34:4 (NRSV)

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Romans 8:38-39 (NRSV)

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.  It’s that simple.  Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Lay down all the fears.  Lay down all the heaviness this world has put upon you and take on the light of Christ.  Shout a big whopping “Freedom” like Braveheart because if the Son makes you free, you WILL be free indeed.

Posted in Authority, Autopilot, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Mark, Sermons, sin, worry

What have you to do with us?

Posted on by narciejeter

In our text today, we see Jesus preaching in the temple with authority.  He doesn’t have authority because he outranks the people like in the military, nor does he have authority because he’s the boss of people.  Jesus was a carpenter. He had no positional authority in the community. His authority came from his wisdom and knowledge and his competence at interpreting God’s Word. Even as a boy Jesus wowed people with his wisdom and his grasp of scripture.  The people in Capernaum could not possibly have known that his authority came from God.   All they knew is that they had never heard an individual teach like Jesus taught.

I’ve always imagined Jesus as one of those people whom you might not see enter the room.  He doesn’t seem like one who would ever make a grand entrance. But before long you would feel His presence. You might not even be aware of it at first because it was something subtle. But pretty soon you’d find yourself drawn to Him, like everyone else. Why? Because His words rang true. His words sprang from the heart and they resonated with power and authenticity. It was as if He had a direct line to God. And that’s what amazed His listeners.  There were no gimmicky tricks or false promises to get folks to open up their wallets to support His ministry. There was no phony manipulation. Jesus was truly concerned about everyone who came to hear Him. Jesus wanted them to understand, to know, to learn about God’s love and forgiveness and this is why this passage is so important.  Jesus has authority over everything and if we give Jesus authority over our lives then he will make us clean.

Mark 1:21-28
21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

We’ve all faced the challenges of 2020 and its dragging into 2021.  How are we to respond in the face of so much mess?  So much in this world we can’t control.  From the tensions of our politics to loneliness and isolation.  We turn to Jesus.  He has the Authority to cast away the evil and bitterness that creeps in.  He has the Authority to cast out the complacency and apathy that we so easily fall into.  And most of all Jesus can cast away the doubt and fear that seems to plague us like a lion that’s stalking its prey.  The demons ask, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  And we confidently and boldly answer EVERYTHING. 

We give authority to Jesus, the Lord of our lives.

First, Jesus has the Authority to cast away the evil and bitterness that creeps in.  I don’t know about you but I’m generally a positive, glass half full person.  I seek joy.  It’s been hard, y’all.  It’s like we’re horses that used to be free to roam all over the hills and the meadows, and now we’re in downtown Charleston carrying tourists on our backs with the eye guards that block our vision.  I’ve started recording the Today Show.  I watch the little bit of news at the beginning of the broadcast and fast forward to Hoda’s Morning Boost.

https://www.today.com/video/-who-can-be-quiet-the-longest-not-these-4-year-old-twins-99255365842

We are called to bring joy.  We are called to shine our light.  We are called to fix our eyes on Jesus in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”  The sin that so easily entangles us.  I appreciate the word entangle as it gives us this image. 

Our sin ensnares us but if we fix our eyes of Jesus and rest in His authority and love we’re standing on solid ground, we won’t slip or fall. 

We don’t want to be arrogant, and think of ourselves better than what we are, because that also is not of God.  The elder brother was just as sinful in the prodigal son passage.  He may not have cashed in his inheritance, but he was resentful to the point of bitterness.  Hebrews 12 goes on to say in verse 15, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”  We can’t let the negativity of the world, the gloomy days, the circumstances creep in and make us see with shrouded eyes.  Jesus is the mighty One, our Savior, and He lives within us who claim Him as Lord. Don’t ever forget: “Greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world.”

Second, Jesus has the Authority to cast out the complacency and apathy that we so easy to fall into.

I’ve always loved Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird.  It’s based in the South and one of the main characters is a lawyer, Atticus Finch.  Atticus Finch is defending a black man in a system in which he doesn’t have a chance of winning. But he defends him anyway, because he knows that the system is unfair and evil and he feels as if he has a moral obligation to take the case. In the end he lost the case, the innocent man is convicted, and the innocent man is later shot and killed.

The lawyer’s daughter, Scout, is in the courtroom at the conclusion of the trial. She is sitting in the balcony that is segregated for blacks. There is no room on the main floor. The courtroom is packed. The verdict is given. The judge leaves. The white people downstairs all leave the courtroom. The people in the balcony remain.

He was defeated. But he was on the side of truth and righteousness and peace. So he won.  He didn’t let complacency with the status quo, nor did he let the excuse of apathy of the racial situation in the South get him down.  He stood up in truth and empathy and stepped into another person’s shoes.  We have to act with humility and live out God’s grace especially during these times of challenge. 

Jesus didn’t ignore the unclean Spirit or act like he wasn’t aware of it.  He called it to the front and rebuked it.  He wasn’t apathetic or complacent, he did something about it.  We have a responsibility to not be lulled into bobbing along on the log.  We have to STAND UP.

Mark doesn’t tell us word for word what Jesus taught, but he emphasizes the result of that teaching.  He does that throughout his Gospel.  He shows us the results that Jesus’ teaching had on others. It should be evident in our lives that we are under the authority of Jesus Christ.

Third, Jesus can cast away the doubt and fear that seems to plague us like a lion that’s stalking its prey.

Matthew West has a song out now called “Truth be told” that says:

Lie number one you’re supposed to have it all together

And when they ask how you’re doing

Just smile and tell them, “Never better”

Lie number 2 everybody’s life is perfect except yours

So keep your messes and your wounds

And your secrets safe with you behind closed doors

Truth be told

The truth is rarely told, now

I say I’m fine, yeah I’m fine oh I’m fine, hey I’m fine but I’m not

I’m broken

And when it’s out of control I say it’s under control but it’s not

And you know it

I don’t know why it’s so hard to admit it

When being honest is the only way to fix it

There’s no failure, no fall

There’s no sin you don’t already know

So let the truth be told

There’s a sign on the door, says, “Come as you are” but I doubt it

‘Cause if we lived like it was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded

But didn’t you say the church should look more like a hospital

A safe place for the sick, the sinner and the scarred and the prodigals

Like me

Like us. We’re so afraid to let our doubts and fears show.  We’re so afraid to set aside our masks and be honest.  Under the authority of Jesus Christ, under the Lordship of Jesus, he wants us to bring our true, honest and authentic selves to the table.  He wants our mess, not our curated lives on Instagram.  He wants the church to be the hospital the Great Physician is working through.

Singer and songwriter Gloria Gaither put it this way: “Jesus. The mere mention of His name can calm the storm, heal the broken, raise the dead . . . I’ve heard a mother softly breathe His name at the bedside of a child delirious with fever, and I’ve watched that little body grow quiet and the fevered brow cool. I’ve sat beside a dying saint, her body racked with pain, who in those final fleeting seconds summoned her last ounce of ebbing strength to whisper earth’s sweetest name Jesus, Jesus . . . Emperors have tried to destroy it; philosophers have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claim it. Yet still it stands . . . Jesus . . .” Friends, that’s authority.  And we have access to that authority.

Every Sunday morning during the first block of songs, I pray that the Holy Spirit reign in this place and us gathered here and at home.  I pray that we would be renewed and refreshed in the service.  I pray that hearts will be awakened and moved.  I pray that whatever needs to be extinguished in our lives, be extinguished.  I pray that whatever needs to be lifted up, awakened, and urged forward will be.  I pray to Jesus cast anything not of You from this place and this people and bind it at the foot of your cross, covered in your precious blood in Jesus’ name.  I pray this prayer each week knowing and trusting in the authority of Jesus that he can make a way even through all of the distractions in our hearts and our heads.  All the technical difficulties.  The Holy Spirit can intercede even with my stumbling speech.  The Holy Spirit can even reach through those screens and grab you in the name of Jesus.

Jesus has an intimate interest in our lives and if we invite him, if we abide, or make a home with him as he has made with us then our lives are going to be more.   Jesus won’t take away the problems or the challenges, but Jesus will be with us to help carry the load.  As it says in Matthew 6:25-26, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  Trust that if you’re seeking him first, you are seeking his authority over your life, then he will be faithful and good. 

Back before this pandemic when I would travel for meetings or even going on vacation, I rarely used cruise control.  I’m too much of a control freak.  It’s hard for me to sit on autopilot.  Releasing that control to the One who holds the future, the One who knows each step that is part of the Master plan, is scary for me, but freeing.  I’m not talking about an autopilot that relinquishes our free will, I’m talking about one that frees us from the bitterness, complacency, and the fear.  Jesus setting our course.  The Enemy wants to twist us up inside and Jesus offers the vaccine to that jumbled mess of our lives, that sweet, precious relief that only He can give.  As John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”   So when the demons ask, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  We with a bold confidence can answer EVERYTHING.