The Rhythm of a Gospel Life: Mark 1:35-45

Our scripture reading this morning for the sermon comes from Mark chapter 1, verses 35 to 45.

Mark 1:35–45

We are in this new sermon series in the Gospel of Mark.

And we follow Jesus' journey through his earthly ministry of some three years.

Reading from God's Holy Word.

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's 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.

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean.

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, I will be clean.

And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once.

He said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priests, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them.

But he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, and errant word.

May we pray to the God who gave us this word.

Father, we thank you.

We thank you for the word that you speak.

Lord, we thank you for your powerful word to create, to heal, to cleanse, to forgive.

May we experience the power, your power by your spirit as we listen to your word.

In Jesus' name, amen.

This morning we're looking at the rhythm of a gospel life.

Did you know that there is a rhythm to a gospel life?

It was in the life of Jesus, and there is something for us to learn as well as we look at this gospel.

As we've seen, there's really two primary questions, at least as I think of them, as we study the gospel of Mark.

The first question is: who is this one who calls us?

Do you know the real Jesus?

I ask that question all the time.

I'm a pastor.

I have a lot of conversations with people.

Do you know the real Jesus?

I mean the real Jesus.

Not the figment of your imagination, not the myth, the man.

Do you know the real Jesus of Nazareth?

I find that many people today in our increasingly biblically illiterate society don't know the real Jesus.

Jesus wants you to know him as he really is.

What does it mean, secondly, to follow him?

This is what this gospel is about.

My prayer is that as we go through this sermon series, that you and I will both read the gospel of Mark with fresh eyes.

That's always a good thing.

I've been reading the Bible since I could read.

I've read a lot of Bible.

How I love it when the Holy Spirit opens my eyes to new understanding in this season of my life.

And he does.

And he can do that for you.

He can open your eyes to the things that you thought you knew that you didn't know.

And to understand and to see Jesus in a way that you did not see him before.

This is the power of the gospel.

We are called to be followers of Jesus.

Jesus said in Luke 6, verse 40, that a disciple, when fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Luke 6:40

We've talked about that recently over the last two years since we came into this building, this focus on discipleship.

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Are you a disciple?

Are you a follower?

Then you will study what he taught.

Then you will grow as you learn, and you will be transformed in your heart as you do.

So what was his rhythm?

What are we to learn after Jesus' pattern, the rhythm of his life, his ministry?

We see it perfectly laid out here once again in the text before us this morning.

Engage and withdraw.

Minister and step back.

Rest.

Be refreshed.

Be renewed.

Mark chapter 1, verse 29 to 34, that Pastor Nathan preached on last week.

Mark 1:29–34

It says, That evening at sundown, they brought to Jesus in Capernaum all who were sick or grieved, oppressed by demons, and the whole city was gathered together at his door.

Don't just read right past that.

Get that picture in your mind.

The whole town of Capernaum, once they hear that Jesus of Nazareth is there and he has this kind of power, he healed Simon's mother-in-law.

He had healed before.

The word is spreading.

This man has power like no one else.

He has an authority when he teaches like no one else.

And so what do they do?

Naturally.

If you were in Capernaum at that time and you heard these stories, what would you do?

If you were sick, if you had an ailment, if you had a significant problem, you would have found yourself at that door also.

Jesus, would you just touch me?

Because when you touch people, people are healed.

Whatever it might have been.

Jesus, this divine being in a human body, needed a lot of rest after that day.

It was a very busy day of ministry.

Some of you know what a very full, busy day of ministry looks like.

Or maybe you don't think of it perhaps as ministry.

You just know what a very full day is.

And you know what it's like to be exhausted at the end of the day.

Well, this was Jesus.

He was in a human body.

He wasn't Superman.

He got tired.

He needed rest.

I suspect he fell asleep quickly that night.

Because he knew he was going to get up early the next morning.

Because he needed to be alone with his father.

To obey the laws of humanity.

He needed rest.

And he needed to be in solitude with his father.

And so do we, by the way.

If we go and go without Sabbaths in our weeks, things break down.

Some of us know that better than others.

Things have a way of breaking down when you just go and go and go and you don't stop.

Let's take a closer look at the rhythm of Jesus' life.

Again, after a very full, fruitful day of ministry, Jesus needs time alone.

So what does he do?

Mark tells us he got up very early in the morning while it was still dark.

Interesting word that Mark uses.

He went into the wilderness.

We've already been looking at the wilderness motif so far in this sermon series.

It's the same word that we saw earlier when he went out into the rugged desert.

Well, he probably didn't go that far out into the rugged desert, but I find it interesting that he used the same word.

This wilderness theme runs throughout the gospel of Mark.

While it was still dark, he went into this desolate place.

Why?

What did it say?

So he could pray.

So he could have his spirit refreshed, renewed by his father in meeting with his father alone.

The wilderness is a place that Jesus knew very well.

We said it before, we'll say it again in the sermon series.

Jesus understands your wilderness.

He understands your desolate place in life.

He understands where you feel like you are in barren space.

He knows what it's like when you feel like you're thirsty.

He experienced it far more than you will ever experience it.

He knew his desert.

I was thinking about this this week and how radically different this whole experience was.

The only thing he knew from eternity was what?

Heaven.

The only thing he knew from eternity was paradise.

And yet he chose to live his life on this earth, a ministry and his public ministry in the most desolate places.

This theme of Mark, a distinctive wilderness theology, could not have been more different from the paradise he knew.

A secluded place, a place to get away, a solitary place, to be alone with God.

Jesus understood the need to get away, to be alone with his Father.

Do we?

Do we?

If we do, we will practice this.

If we do know this, we will be disciplined, yes, to put this in our daily schedule.

But it's not just being disciplined, it's being desperate.

It's being desperate to know I need this time alone with my Father.

For the same reasons Jesus did.

And it kind of befuddles us, doesn't it?

Well, if anybody could sleep in and skip his devotions, it was Jesus.

You would think.

Apparently not.

What did he need from his father?

The same thing that you need from your father.

He needed his daily assignments for the day.

How do you get your assignments for your day?

How do you get your assignments for your week?

I don't know that it should be any different than how Jesus did.

We meet with the Father.

We say, Father, this is your day.

This is not my day.

What are your assignments for me this day?

The people that I'm going to meet with, I'm going to talk with, the meetings I'm going to be a part of, the meetings I'm going to lead, the interactions I'm going to have with co-workers, family, strangers.

This is how we start our day, friends.

It's how Jesus started his day.

And yet you're going to find, just like Jesus did, somebody's ready to interrupt you.

Who was it?

Peter.

Where did Mark get this gospel from?

Primarily, Peter.

Peter's telling on himself.

Peter was humbled by the gospel.

What does it say?

Peter takes a few with him.

They're not named.

It could have been James and John.

We don't know.

But Peter gets up.

You know, Peter wakes up, you know, he yawns, he stretches, maybe he gets his breakfast.

I don't know what he did that morning.

But then he starts looking around.

Well, where's Jesus?

Because Jesus has been staying in his house.

Where's Jesus?

It seems as though what Peter's thinking is, Jesus, yesterday was a fantastic day.

We got a lot done, didn't we?

Well, Jesus did.

It just seems like Peter's thinking, well, we've got work to do.

Let's go.

Is that how you start your day?

We've got work to do.

Let's go.

That's not how Jesus started his days.

Peter finds him finally.

What does he say?

Everyone's looking for you.

As if, Jesus, what are you doing here?

Jesus, is this, are you really, is this the best use of your time?

When you're out in a secluded, solitary place, recharging your batteries, having intimate conversation with your Father in heaven?

Is this really the best use of your time?

Peter, this is my work.

Peter, how do you think I get my work done?

Let that question reverberate in your mind this week.

How do we get the real work done in our lives?

My time with my father is not wasted time.

This is where I get my directions for my day.

This is where I get my strength for my day.

This is where I get my fellowship with my father.

Like the way Henry Nowen put it in an article that he wrote on solitude.

Solitude is being with God and God alone.

Is there any space for that in your life?

Why is it so important that you are with God and God alone on the mountaintop?

It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the one who calls you the beloved.

To pray is to listen to the one who calls you my beloved daughter, my beloved son.

To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being.

That voice to resound in your innermost person.

There are many other voices speaking loudly today, and we all know it.

Prove that you're the beloved.

Prove that you're worth something.

Prove that you have any contribution to make in this world.

Do something relevant.

Be sure you make a name for yourself.

At least some people will then love you.

At least then some people will love you if you get out and get things done in life.

Then some people will say, You're wonderful.

You're great.

The voices in this world are strong.

These were the voices that Jesus heard as well after he heard, You are my beloved.

Prove yourself.

This is what the temptation of the desert was about.

Jesus never felt the need to prove himself because he knew who he was.

He was the beloved Son of God.

That was his identity.

And friends, your identity is not in what you get done this week.

Your identity is not how well you perform at your office this week or school.

That's not your identity.

Sometimes we forget that.

Now it says if you keep that in mind, you can deal with an enormous amount of success without it going to your head.

As well as an enormous amount of failure without losing your identity.

Because your identity is that you are the beloved of God the Father.

Does that resonate?

How hard we work.

How hard we try to prove to others that we're worthwhile.

That we should be accepted.

That we should be loved.

That's not for you.

You meet with your Father in the heaven.

Let him speak his words.

This is my beloved son.

This is my beloved daughter with whom I am well pleased.

In Christ.

That's you.

This is what Jesus did.

This is what he's calling us to do.

As now and says, in solitude alone we get rid of our scaffolding.

John Ortberg put it like this: being hurried and rushed around in my life, in my schedule, is not only a disordered schedule, it really is more than that, a disordered heart.

I think he's right.

When my heart is all torn in pieces, when I'm looking to prove who I am, I'm not at peace.

You're not at peace.

And we miss what the Father is offering us that day.

And so Jesus meets with the Father, and now he says to Peter and to the others that were there, okay.

I'm good.

I got my orders.

Remember Jesus said, I do nothing apart from the Father?

Nothing.

Jesus was far more dependent on his father than you and I are.

That should speak to our souls.

Jesus says, Okay, I'm ready now.

I know my assignment today.

Let's go.

Let's go, gentlemen.

Let's go do the work that he's called us to do.

Let's go to the next towns that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.

And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

This is benevolent power on display.

What we're going to see, what happens next, verse 40.

And they're walking along, and suddenly a leper came to him, imploring him, kneeling before him in total abject humility, a leper, and this leper has already crossed all the lines, all the boundaries.

Leviticus tells us in the Old Testament that if you were a leper and there was nothing worse than being full of leprosy.

Luke tells us in his gospel that this man was full of leprosy.

It was eating away his skin.

It was eating away his nerves.

He was losing sensitivity to pain.

He was supposed to stay far away.

If you were a leper that day, stay far away from everybody else.

You had to wear a covering over your mouth.

It was a very contagious disease.

And you were supposed to, when you saw anybody coming near you, you were supposed to cry out, unclean, unclean.

Don't get near me.

You were isolated.

You no longer had a family.

You lost your family.

You were losing your health.

You lost, you you became isolated.

You became marginalized.

It was your life was over.

This man breaks those barriers.

And he comes running up to Jesus and then he kneels down, imploring him.

He says, Jesus, if you will, you can make me clean.

There's power in that truth.

This leper.

What is the gospel?

What does Mark tell us?

What did Peter see?

What did Peter see?

Jesus moved with pity, stretched out his hand and touched him.

Jesus, you don't do that.

You're gonna get the disease.

Nobody touched a leper but Jesus.

He stretched out his hand and he touched him and he said to him, I will be clean.

And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean.

In an instant, this man was cleansed.

It's interesting that in the New Testament accounts, there's only two accounts of a hep of a leper being healed.

It doesn't say healed, it says cleansed.

Two times in the Old Testament a leper was cleansed.

Two times in the New Testament.

It didn't happen very often, at least not reported in the Gospels.

Why does it always say they were cleansed?

Well, we we know that leprosy in some ways was a symbol of sin.

Full of sin.

What does a sinner need?

Even more than healing, what does the sinner need?

Cleansing.

We are the lepers, are we not?

Born in sin.

We are the lepers, the moral, spiritual lepers, and we are full of sin.

What we need most of all in our life is for the cleansing of Jesus Christ, to offer his cleansing, his healing power in that way.

It says Jesus moved with pity, touched him.

You know, it's pretty hard to miss the pity in someone's eyes if they're compassionate.

This was the attribute of Jesus that is most frequently commented on in the Gospels.

Of all the things that is said about Jesus, what he was like, who he was, he was full of compassion, is said more than any other attribute.

Jesus didn't pass over people.

When he was with them, he was with them.

When he saw them, he saw into them.

You know, again, you see that I think when you're around somebody who's compassionate, don't you see it in their eyes?

Their eyes are not hard.

Their eyes are not harsh.

When you look into their eyes, somebody who's full of pity, they're not looking at their watch.

They're willing to be inconvenienced.

They're willing to stop their day because there's a need in front of them.

They see that need and they respond to that need.

That comes from Jesus.

This leper must have heard of the healing power of Jesus, and he experienced his compassion and his pity, communicated through his voice, through his eyes.

I like the way Paul Miller said, Jesus gave God a face.

You know, God the Father doesn't have a body, you know that.

God the Father does not have a body.

But we see God's face in Jesus like no one else, like nowhere else.

Jesus brought it all, the fullness of God to earth to touch people that no one else wants to touch.

Very interesting prayer that this leper prayed.

Jesus, if you will, I know that you can.

Where did he get this kind of faith?

Do you have that kind of faith?

A little sneak preview.

In a few months we get down to Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

There's a father with a very sick, demonic child.

And this father comes begging to Jesus.

But do you know what he said to Jesus?

He didn't say, if you will, I know you can.

He said, if you can, will you?

Now which way do you think he wants us to pray?

He wants us to pray like the leper.

Father, I know you can.

You have all power.

You are sovereign over everything.

Is it your will?

Father, if it's your will, please heal me, forgive me.

Change me.

Jesus touched the untouchable then, and he's still touching the untouchables today.

I don't know if there's anything in your life that you feel like is off limits to talk about.

There might be.

Person said to me, Pastor, I've never said this to anyone in my life.

I just, I have to tell someone.

I have to tell someone.

And there's a place for that.

Even though Jesus ultimately is the only high priest.

Have you had that experience of really opening up and trusting somebody else with what's weighing deeply on you?

I've done that.

I have found at times it feels like a hundred-pound weight has been lifted off my shoulders when I have stepped out in honesty and transparency to just let somebody else know.

Would you pray for me?

Do you know what that looks like?

It can be powerful, but nothing as powerful as coming to the one who created you.

He knows the parts of you that feel untouchable.

He knows the parts of you that have been scarred.

He knows the parts of you that feel nothing but shame.

And he has nothing but pity.

He says, I know what happened to you.

And I hate it as much as you hate it.

Let me heal it.

Let me heal you.

Let me touch you.

The touch of Jesus Christ is as powerful today as it was on that day with that leper.

Have you experienced his healing touch in your life?

That's what we're talking about.

How did this leper know so much to approach Jesus in this way with such confidence?

Surely he heard Jesus teach with authority.

Did he see the compassion on his face?

I think he probably did.

I think he probably did.

Did he know the promise of God?

I think he did.

He believed.

He believed.

And you can believe this morning.

Whatever it is that you feel like is off limits.

Whatever it is in your doubts and your struggles, whatever you feel like is off limits, that you can't tell anybody else, you can't tell Jesus.

And he will listen and he will hear.

What did the leper say to Jesus?

Unclean.

Unclean.

Do you know that you will never receive the healing touch of Jesus until you acknowledge that yourself?

Have you ever acknowledged him?

Unclean.

It's not a skin condition that's devastating my body.

It's a soul condition that's keeping me out of fellowship with you, Father.

It's separating me from you, Father.

Have you ever said to Jesus, heal, touch my uncleanness.

He knows what to do with that.

But you have to come.

And you have to acknowledge that.

You have to be honest with him.

He knows what to do.

He knows what to do with you, with me.

This is why Jesus interrupts his ministry of miracles to go elsewhere to proclaim the gospel of God.

His purpose is not here on earth to heal as many people as possible, but to confront us all with the demand that we all have to make a decision.

Who is this person that calls us?

What does it mean to follow him?

Surrender your life to him?

What does it mean to acknowledge his lordship over my life?

That's what every worship service is about.

We're here this morning to say, Jesus, would you please reveal yourself to us?

But frankly, it's not just to us.

Jesus, would you reveal yourself to me?

Would you?

He knows how to do that.

The elders have heard so many testimonies even recently.

Some of you have been touched recently.

You said unclean.

And Jesus has said, clean, cleansed.

I came.

I came to bring healing to your body.

I came to bring healing to your soul.

Be cleansed.

Has that been your confession?

Believing that Jesus can make me clean, the foulest of sinners.

You know, we say this in spiritual leadership class, and we say it in other contexts.

But do you see yourself as the biggest sinner in your family?

Do you see yourself as the biggest sinner?

I find that many people have come to this church over the years just like look at me like I'm crazy when I say that.

No, it's true.

It doesn't mean that you sin more than other people, but do you see yourself as the chief sinner?

Or are you more focused on other people's sins?

God will bless you richly, and the people around you will find you far more helpful if you see yourself as the chief sinner.

Jesus won't use that against you.

Jesus will use that in an amazing way to transform you.

You will be more helpful to the people around you.

I promise.

Jesus said, if you want to be great in my kingdom, you have to be least among everyone.

This is his invitation to us.

Usually when something clean touches something unclean, it becomes unclean as well.

But here it just went in the opposite direction, didn't it?

As the cleanness of Jesus cleansed the unclean leper.

What I want to say in closing, it just took one touch.

It took one touch by Jesus.

And that man was cleansed.

He got back his health, he got back his family, he got back his life.

One touch.

And I don't think that's all that different from what we have to experience in our lives.

I don't.

Maybe some of us are just waiting.

Today Jesus would say, come, confess your uncleanliness.

Confess your leprosy of sin.

And watch what I can do in bringing you healing.

Watch what I do with one touch, with one word.

I can pronounce you whole.

I can announce pronounce you clean.

Can you imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life believing that?

Can you imagine?

You'd be different.

And that would be good.

I'm different when I believe that.

And that's good.

Pass me not, O gentle Savior.

While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

Kneeling in deep contrition, help my unbelief.

Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry.

While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, this is our prayer.

Please do not pass us by.

Do not pass me by.

You know what I need.

You know what my friends need.

We believe that you are just as powerful today as you were then.

You know the parts of us that need your healing touch.

You know the parts of us that are locked up.

Lord, so many times we don't know why we're so locked up, but you do.

Free us.

Forgive us.

Heal us.

Receive us for your sake because you are merciful and you are full of compassion.

We come.

Amen.

Let's stand and respond to this, God.