Order out of Chaos; A warning for the church

My name is Jordan Anderson. I am one of the elders here at Hope Heights. Pastor Drew is out of town this week and so I get the privilege of being on preaching duty. I'd like to start off by addressing what most of us are probably already thinking about our city, our community, our literal neighborhood is hurting. I didn't think that I would ever see Columbia Heights, Minnesota on international news. That is sobering for the reason that we're in the news. Chaotic is certainly the word that has been coming to mind more and more. The violence, the injustices, the disorder have been overwhelming. And talking to Kelly just, just two minutes ago, there is value in saying that this is hard, this has been hard. But I don't know if I've ever been more heartstruck and encouraged by the vast outpouring from our community, especially from you all at Hope Heights, to be a part of a faith in Jesus community that is also putting faith into action when it comes to literal. Neighbors needing food, kids needing help getting home from school, strangers needing clothes or diapers or a hug, crying with each other, praying for each other, praying with each other, the love and the support to the schools, to Primary Iglesia, which is our sister church just down the road to Pastor Renee and his family. I just want to take a simple moment to say that it is hard and it is a mess and I am so proud. So thank you. In our fighting the good fight, this most certainly includes us doing the very thing that we are doing right now, gathering in the name of Jesus. Jesus who saw this mess and came anyway. It likely feels like a lifetime ago, but we're really only but a few weeks away from Christmas where we celebrated Emmanuel. God with us. God came to earth. Not God separate from us, but God entering humanity and entering the mess to provide a pathway out of the mess and the good news of Jesus. The great tidings of Jesus, as the Gospel of Mark says, is still good news and great tidings for us today and us gathering, likely having different opinions about what's actually going on, what to do about it, how to do it, when to do it, what to say. I offer that our fighting the good fight starts with remembering and resting in Jesus gathering with his church, his bride, his messed up but redeemed bride. I'm grateful to be here with you all today. I was encouraged and I was challenged by our passage and I pray the same will be for you. Let's pray again as we move to our passage today. Lord Jesus, you are just that. You were lowered over everything and I confess that I am quick to think and believe that it is my kingdom and that I'm. I'm supposed to be on the throne. It is times like these that I'm reminded there's no one else but yout that I would want to be on the throne. Right now. You have dominion, power and authority to be just and compassionate in ways that I cannot. Lord, we pray for Liam Ramos and the Ramos family. Children are so precious to you, Father. And we know that you see and that you care. We lift up Alex's family to you. Lord, humble our hearts to have eyes to see and ears to hear. From your good Word this morning, bring life and healing and revival to our city, starting with us. We pray in your good and powerful name, Jesus. Amen. Let's get into it. We are still in a sermon series in the Book of Mark. I wanted to take a moment to remind us where we've been, because I think looking at where we've been will help us with where we are going today. Also for you geography folks, I have maps today. I know. And a laser pointer. So in chapter four, this is the first map. Okay. It's generally understood that Jesus was up here in Capernaum, teaching in the synagogue, sharing parables. At the end of the chapter, he and his disciples travel to the other side of the sea. Over here somewhere. Maybe down here, over here. Okay. But everything on the eastern side, this isn't a Jewish area. This is a Gentile area. In the meantime, though, while they're still on a boat, a great storm comes up. And all of the disciples are just freaking out, thinking, believing the boat's going to swamp and they're going to die. And Jesus is asleep in the bottom of the boat. So they go wake him up and he says a word. And the wind and the waves just calm immediately. And they're astonished. Found this new artist that I'm really, really digging, Paul Ohman. He's got a website. You should check him out. He does these oil on canvas paintings. Just. With one word, the storm is calmed. They reach the other side. Again, not a Jewish area. They meet a man who's been living amongst tombs and is possessed by a legion of demons. Not one, but a legion of demons. And he was out of his mind, possessed. And with a word, Jesus cast them out and the man was healed. Then Jesus and his disciples traveled back across the sea. Not to Capernaum, but likely somewhere around here, near Tiberius. At this point, Jesus has a reputation. Stories of him healing are traveling further and faster than what he himself can actually travel. So when they get to the other side, near Tiberias, they're met with a synagogue leader named Jairus, who begs Jesus. His daughter is sick and dying. Jesus, please come. I've heard, I believe, please come heal her. Jesus says, yeah, yeah, let's go. On the way, though, a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years has sought medical help. Nothing has helped. Touches his cloak and she's healed. Jesus senses this and. And he's willing to be interrupted and in his compassion, ends up talking to her. While this is all going on, Jairus finds out his daughters died. If only Jesus had gone a little faster. If only he hadn't been interrupted by this woman. But Jesus says, do not fear. She is asleep. He gets laughed at. They. They are a culture that is well acquainted with death. They know what death is. He gets laughed at. Jesus says, do not fear. In his compassion and in his power, in his authority. He goes to the girl, says, little girl, it's time to get up. She rises and then he feeds her breakfast, which is wild. So just in the last two chapters, we've seen Jesus teach with wisdom, calm a raging storm, cast out demons, heal an unhealable woman, and raise a little girl back from the dead. That's his resume going into chapter six, where we'll be today. We're going home to Jesus, home to Nazareth. Okay? It's not the place of his birth, but it is the place that he grew up. This is the second time he's been home within the account from Mark. The first one is in chapter three with questionable results. I'll let you all go back and look at that yourself. But let's zoom in. Nazareth is in the hilly party part of Galilee. It would have been roughly a three day walking journey from the Sea of Galilee. Nazareth back then was presumed to be about 500 people. Pretty small 500. My wife grew up in a town of 500. It's small, okay? And it only encompassed about 60 acres. Now, some of us are better with figuring out what that might look like for those of us who can't or for those that love maps. Okay, this is. We are right, right there. Okay. This is Highland elementary and Columbia Heights High School. Okay? And this, this rectangle here's central, here's Savers. Okay? This is roughly 60 acres. 65.2. But. Okay, but this, this gives us an idea of What. Okay, imagine 500 people and they all, they are all in each other's business. Okay? If we want a zoomed out version to figure out what that might look like in the metro. I also did that. Okay. That little. You can't see it. That little orange dot. Okay. For all you map nerds and you're wondering how I did this, there's a really cool website. I could talk to you later, but that's 60 acres in the midst of the metro. 500 people. 60 acres. Pretty small. Okay, that's our context for our passage today. Let's get into the passage. We've been doing this just as a way to show honor to the word of God. So I'd invite you to stand. This is Mark, chapter six one through six, and I'll read this to you. He went away from there and came to his hometown. And his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many who heard him were astonished, saying, where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? And is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. You may be seated. Short passage today. And yes, I am aware that verse six has a second part tagged onto it, kind of. Kind of moves into the passage for next week. So we're just going to leave it there. We've covered verse one for the most part, just through our context. He, Jesus, went away from there, came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. It is worth noting, though, that his disciples are there and they're observers. Not much else is said about them. But it becomes important because for our passage next week, they become very, very active participants in Jesus ministry. But for now, for today's passage, they're just observed. Okay. All right. Verses two and three. He goes into the synagogue, as was his custom, and starts teaching on the Sabbath. It doesn't say what he's teaching about. So presumably Mark rather wants to highlight the response to his teaching, the response of his hearers. In previous chapters, we get a lot more detail about the content of Jesus teaching, but we don't hear it. It's flipped. So the focus is entirely on the response, which I think is important for us to pay attention to. Now, sometimes with written word, it's it can be hard to determined tenor, determined tone of what's being said in the conversation. Thankfully this time Mark gives us a clue. Right at the end of verse three, it says, and they took offense at him. They took offense at him. They were offended by Jesus. The Greek word for offense is actually where we get our word for scandal. They were scandalized by Jesus and his words. So now we can actually reverse engineer the tone back onto their comments and see the offensiveness and how dare you. Where did this man get these things? Again, dripping with offensiveness? What is this wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by him? They've seen them again. Word is spread about Jesus. It's not like they don't know about the miracles, but still they're offended. Is this not the carpenter? The son of Mary? His brothers and sisters are here. We know him. He grew up here. If there's anyone that knows him the best, it's us. Who you trying to kid. We know he's not a rabbi. We know he didn't go off and train for years and years with the best teachers. He's a carpenter. I'll step over here when I'm not being offensive. Okay, Carpenter. This word actually is probably better translated as just craftsman. Jesus was just skilled as a craftsperson, especially because the, the area around Nazareth at that time is actually pretty barren. There's not, there's not a lot of trees. And so woodworking, like woodworking, carpentry was actually a skill, but probably pretty, pretty low. Okay, all right, back to offensive. Okay. Who does he think he is? Isn't this the son of Mary? Okay, this would have, this would just flown at the faces of the original hears because the, the, the normal naming convention would have been son of Father. But here this is Son of Mary. Even if the father father is passed on Joseph, which a lot of people actually believe Joseph likely did die at some point. But this is, this is meant to communicate. They are calling to mind that they just still see him simply as the illegitimate son of Mary. The, the scandal that it, that it would have been for Joseph and Mary to have been betrothed, but it wouldn't have been Joseph's kid. Okay, we all remember that from the Christmas story. Okay? This is them saying, we know you. You're just the son of Mary. The townspeople dig their heels in and effectively say, we know you. We know who you really are. And everything that's happening. Scandalous. Jesus responds, A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. Prophet is not without honor. Except in his own hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. Jesus is being rejected by those who supposedly know him the best. And this doesn't just happen here in this small context of Nazareth. This actually is just simply a microcosm of what ultimately happens to Jesus at large when he is just simply and fully rejected by the Jewish people, the people that he came to and was sent to first. John, John 1:11. Just says he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. A good, a good summary of Jesus life of just simply being rejected by the very people that he came to serve. Acts 4 says it this way. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, the people were supposed to know. He has now become the cornerstone. And this is actually tragically but beautifully poetic when we think back to that Jesus Christ craftsmanship actually probably looked more like he was a stonemason, that he worked with stones his entire life and now he becomes the cornerstone of the faith. Jesus was rejected from the very people who were supposed to know him the best because they claimed to know him the best. What he was about, how he operates. I know you, Jesus, I know your family. I know where you grew up. And what you're doing now doesn't fit into the self constructed box that I've created for you. I know better. So what's the result of this calloused hardened heart, position and attitude? Mark tells us. And he, Jesus could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. Mark as a writer is very, very big on kingdom of God language. Jesus himself says the kingdom of God is near. The kingdom of God will be like this. The kingdom of God is like that. And Aaron a couple weeks ago did a phenomenal reminder that if anything that the kingdom of God looks like. It looks like bringing order out of chaos. You want to know what the kingdom of God looks like? It looks like bringing order out of chaos. The undoing, the curse in chaos, when sin entered the world. So I would ask us, let's review his resume again from the last two chapters. Jesus brought order out of chaos. That was the storm. Jesus says calm and the wind and the waves obeyed the absolute chaos that it is to be possessed not just by one demon, but an entire legion of demons. And Jesus just says stop. And brings order to this man's life. The chaos that is sickness. I read this quote the other day. Sometimes Sickness can only be explained as the shrapnel that came from the dirty bomb. That was the fall. Sometimes sickness can only be explained because it's shrapnel from the dirty bomb. That was the fall. That is chaos. There's no explanation. 12 years and she touches his cloak and she's healed order from chaos. And then what should be most shocking, a little girl who was dead again. They knew what dead was. They were a culture that was well acquainted with death. They knew what death was for a little girl. And Jesus says, get up. Resurrected from death. Jesus has authority and power over every form of chaos known to man and the natural world, including death itself. And, and you're telling me that he couldn't do any mighty works in their midst. We have two chapters of his resume of bringing order out of chaos and he could do no mighty works except heal a few sick people. This chasm of difference should be screaming at us. And we have to ask why? Why this difference? Because of their unbelief. Time and time again it says throughout Mark that when Jesus does something, people are astonished, people are amazed, people are marveled. And this time it says Jesus marveled at their unbelief, their calloused hearts, their pride in assuming that they knew who the real Jesus was. Their hostility when confronted with something that doesn't fit, fit into the box that they've created. And the scariest part about all of this is that their unbelief looks like conviction. I know better, Friends. This, this should smack us just, just absolutely right upside the head. There's no getting around that. This is a warning. This is a story about a group of people thinking and assuming that they knew Jesus the best. And it ends with Jesus marveling at their unbelief. And their unbelief has consequences such that Jesus bringing forth kingdom of God realities is hindered to a significant degree. I know. I don't know about you, but whenever I come across a warning in scripture or hear a preacher getting after something, my first go to is thinking, man, I sure hope so. And so was paying attention. I should really send this to this person or that person. I am glad I am not like them. When in reality, our response, my response because I'm tempted to do just that. You know, let's actually just pray right now. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna pray through what I wrote. I'm bow our heads. Jesus, forgive me. Because I am like them. I more often contribute to the chaos than to the order I judge harshly. When you yourself have been merciful. You heal the sick and protect the oppressed, even at the expense of your own body and life. While I'm tempted to turn my eyes away because it's uncomfortable, my pride in needing to defend the right answer prevents me from humbly seeing humanity the way that you do a flock without a shepherd. Lord, thank you that you are our good shepherd, leading us through the valley of the shadow of death. That you entered the fray that was the dirty bomb of the fall. That we can have true hope in the promises that one day all of this will be made right. But in the meantime, Jesus, we believe. We believe that you can enter this chaos and bring order. Give us strength to seek justice, to love mercy walk humbly with you as we serve because you first served us. Give us courage to love because you first loved us. Thank you for being the way and showing us the way. No other strength but your great power, Jesus, can bear us safely through. We pray. Amen. Shorter passage for us today, but timely and once again the good news and the great tidings of Jesus. Have a good word for us today. I'd like to invite the band come up. And I'd like to invite you all to respond. We can do this in different ways. First, just one question for us to ponder. What chaos in your life can Jesus bring order to? Many of us might have the same answer to that question. Some of us might not. And that is okay because Jesus brings order from chaos. With that, Heavy hearts are best carried to the Father through prayer. I'm going to say that again. Heavy hearts are best carried to the Father through prayer. So I would invite you to pray. Pray there just by yourself. Silently grab a friend. We'll have folks in the back that are more than willing to pray with you and pray for you. Heavy hearts are best carried to the Father through prayer. Call out to our good shepherd. I'd invite you to sing. There's deep gospel truths that speak to our hearts when we sing collectively as we are gathered and remind ourselves of who God is and how he operates in this world. I invite you to give. We have a lot of financial needs going on right now and I am grateful that we are partnered with Boots on the Ground people and organizations that are helping our community and our neighborhood. But it might not just be money. There are a lot of opportunities to give of your time and to give of your hearts. So I'd invite you to do that too. I'd invite you to take communion. Scripture teaches that this is an act of remembrance for the believer that every time we do this, we remember Jesus sacrifice and all that he has done for you. The cracker represents his body broken for you. The juice represents his blood shed and poured out for you. This is a meal that we get to take together that we've contributed nothing to except rebellion. And Jesus still says, come, take and eat. Let's pray one more time. Lord Jesus, you saw the mess and came anyways. We're thankful that you did remind us of your great love as we sing these songs, reflect on your word and seek not only to know you more, but to be like you more. We pray. Amen.

John 1:11