Our Spiritual Struggle

The Christian life is a spiritual struggle.  It is not about learning the The Ten Commandments and doing them.  Nor is it about modeling our life after the life of Jesus.  It is a struggle against the power of evil.  Anyone who thinks differently is going to fall by the wayside.  Anyone who thinks it is about the strength of personal will, or determination and perseverance will end up giving up.  The Apostle Paul,  a veteran of the road of faith in Christ, understood something many modern day believers fail to take seriously,  "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His power. Put on the  whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil...for our struggle is...against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:10-12).   

From the very first, the gospel writer, Mark, portrays Jesus as One who battled against the power of evil.  From the moment Jesus stepped out of the baptismal waters, He fought against Satan.  "He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan."  (Mark 1:13).  In the synagogue of Capernaum, He cast out an unclean spirit who recognized in the moment of confrontation that evil was no match for the power of Jesus. (Mark 1:21-26).  Mark records other moments in which Jesus did battle with Satan by casting out demons.  (Mark 1:27, 34, 39, 3:11, 20-28).  It is foolish and unwise for any modern day believer to think differently about the Christian life.  

Even as Satan contested every foot of Jesus' journey to the cross, so will he do in our own journey.  We cannot live the Christian life in our own strength.  We must not forget those words of the Apostle Paul that we often quote so glibly, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)  Neither should we forget the antithesis of those words which is "I cannot do anything in my own strength."  We walk the journey of the Christian faith depending on the power of Christ, or we will stumble and fall until we are finally unable to rise once more.  

Sabbath Rest

When God decided to take a rest on that seventh day, I wonder if He considered the theological debate He was putting on the table.  Surely, by the time His fiery finger etched the words of the fourth commandment on the that tablet of stones up on Mt. Sinai, He was contemplating the confusion which organized religion would create.  Obviously, religious people were heavily into the business of manipulating the meaning of Sabbath rest during the days of Jesus.  The gospel of Mark gives evidence of this as he reports the criticism of the Pharisees when they saw the hungry disciples of Jesus plucking grain on the Sabbath. "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" they asked Jesus.(Mark 2:24).  

As one who grew up in the Blue Law era of the South, I remember those days when the only thing which dared move on Sunday were the leaves on trees.  The Sabbath was for going to church.  It was not for working, or going to stores since they were all closed, or doing anything which might be fun.  My father who was an avid fishermen, but not really a church goer in those days often said no one should fish on Sunday because the fish needed a day of rest. It was certainly a day when the Sabbath was viewed differently than the "anything-thing-goes-on-Sunday" era in which we live.  

The old boundaries of Sabbath rest are now stretched far beyond the boundaries of what used to be.  It is also true that the concept of Sabbath rest means many different things to people.  If we can lay aside all the do's and don't of Sabbath keeping, we might see that at its core it is God's way of calling us to live with some balance in our life between work and rest as well as a way of helping us to understand that it is good to set aside a day in which we look to Him and not just to ourselves for our daily sustenance.   

Patches and Wine Skins

The gospel writer, Mark, presents interesting images in his remembrances of Jesus being confronted by some Pharisees.  On image is about a patch being sewed on old clothes and the other points out the futility of putting new wine in old worn wine skins.  (Mark 2:21-22)  The first one brings to mind a personal remembrance of my mother ironing square denim patches on blue jeans with worn out knees.  Though I have no experience with wine and wine skins, it is an image which even a teetotaler like myself can understand.  New things that speak of life will not fit in old worn out structures.  

It has always seemed that one of the most daunting tasks facing the church is the work of creative thinking, the kind of thinking which can be characterized as outside the box.  When the church starts planning and thinking about the future, it becomes so easy to create new names for new programs that are more like what-we-have-always done than something so new it will not fit into the old structures for ministry. It is hard for the church planners within us to turn loose of what seems to be working.   Our unwillingness to turn loose of what is past really can be a hindrance for the church as it seeks to embrace the not yet seen of tomorrow.  

For the church to turn loose can also be spoken of in terms of letting the Holy Spirit be more of a guiding factor in the equation of going forward.  I have wondered often what would happen if we could close the book on every program we have set in place and prayerfully and expectantly wait on the Spirit to lead us forward.  The bottom line question which continues to be raised is one of wondering what the church's ministry would look like if we were intent on putting new wine in new wine skins instead of those worn out from yesterday. 

Convicted of Sin

When criticized and judged by the scribes and Pharisees because He was eating at a table filled with sinners and tax collectors, Jesus said, "I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners."  (Mark 2:17)  Who are the righteous?  Who are the sinners?  No man or woman knows themselves as a sinner apart from the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.  We know ourselves and others as good people, moral people, decent people, but the general consensus does not speak of any of us being sinners.  

Is it not true that being convicted of our sins is a spiritual experience?  John 16:8 speaks of the Holy Spirit convicting people of their sins.  One of the things the Spirit does is to help us see the truth about who we are.  It could be said that His work in our heart enables us to not only see who we are, but who we are created to be.  This reality does not just come to us because we have decided to consider it, but because of the Spirit's work.  His work is like grace.  

Grace comes to us long before we realize it is being given to us and so it is with the work of the Spirit.  His work begins long before we are consciously aware of it.  When we think about what it means to be convicted of our sins, we often think of Isaiah who became aware of the holiness of the Lord and cried out, "Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"  (Isaiah 6:5).  Being convicted of our sins is akin to the spirit of David as he cried out to the Lord, "...I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against You, You alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight." (Psalm 51:3-4).  When the Spirit shows us how we have separated ourselves from the God who brought us into being, it is not a moment of casual regret, but a moment of a broken heart.

Intercessory Faith

The value of the care we offer to others and the prayers we offer in their behalf is immeasurable.  As the second chapter of Mark begins, thre is a wonderful story told about four friends who bring a paralyzed friend to Jesus. The place where Jesus was staying was overflowing with those who were listening to His teaching.  The friends who carried their friend on his mat could not push through the crowd so they went up on the flat roof, listened for the voice of Jesus, and tore open a big enough hole to lower their friend into His presence.  

It is a story which opens the door of our imagination.  We can imagine the room becoming quiet as roof debris started falling into the room and a small hole became a larger hole filling up the room with blue sky.  Suddenly the light from above was filled with the mat being lowered into the room and then when the man on the mat was on the ground, the hole was filled with the faces of the four caregivers peering down to see their friend and Jesus.  The paralyzed man had his sins forgiven and then was healed with the words, "...stand up, take up your mat, and go to your home."  (Mark 2:18).  What we must not miss is that all this happened without any reference to the faith of the man on the mat.  Instead, the Word says that every good thing which happened to the paralytic began when Jesus saw the faith of the four men peering through the hole in the roof.  

We must not grow weary in well doing.  We must not cease in our praying.  We must not let our faith be replaced by skepticism.  Other people are depending on us.  They are depending on our acts of compassion and our prayer.  They are also depending on our faith to hold them up in those moments when their own faith may be wavering.  We must not forget the importance of carrying our hurting friends into the presence of Jesus through our praying.

A Vile Thing

While John Wesley's preaching was received with open hearts by the masses of England, the church which ordained him found it to be offensive and soon one pulpit after another was closed to him.  After watching George Whitefield preaching to great crowds outdoors, Wesley who had always been hesitant to do that kind of preaching wrote in his journal, "At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand people."  Such preaching became the norm for the rest of his preaching years as well as the norm for Francis Asbury and the circuit riders who rode into the history of frontier America.  

As they did so, thy followed in the footsteps of Jesus.  When we read the gospel of Mark, we see Jesus preaching in the synagogues (Mark 1:21, 39),  but in the last verse of the first chapter we read about a movement in a different direction.  After healing a leper, the man made whole went out telling everyone he met what Jesus had done for him.  The result of his testimony was such a popularity that Jesus, "..stayed out in the country and people came to Him from every quarter."  Certainly, others had preceded Him in this practice, but to see Jesus preaching in such a way reminds us of our call to take the gospel beyond the walls of the church building.  

One of the reasons for the rapid growth of Methodism in the eighteenth century was because it became a spiritual movement not bound by walls.  It was a movement that did not wait for the coming of people, but one that moved into the places where ordinary and common folks gathered.  It was movement that welcomed the poorest, the dirtiest, and the most despised social outcasts of the day.  Whether our church sends out street preachers or not, it is called to find a way to make the overlooked and ignored people of our day know that they are a part of the people of God.

The New Taboo

As Mark unfolds the ministry of Jesus, he brings us to the moment when He healed a leper.  "A leper came to Him, begging Him, and kneeling he said to Him, 'If You choose, You can make me clean,'  Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose.  Be made clean!' "   (Mark 1:40-41)  While it was amazing that Jesus healed this leper who had been sentenced to community ostracism until his death, what must have shocked the disciples from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet was seeing Jesus stretch out Hand to touch this man who had been declared untouchable.  To see Jesus in this moment is to not only see Him healing, but also touching.  

One of the things Covid taught us was how to do ministry without touching.  It taught us how to practice long distance service.  We learned how to take worship out of the pews to sofas and recliners.  Zoom calls transformed church meetings.  Even though six years away from those days, we still see evidence of the change it had on our society and our church. Many people are still uncomfortable with the moment of congregational mixing and greeting at the beginning of worship.  Actually, some people have never returned to the church.  In many places fist pumps have replaced the handshake.  Communion Tables have the Holy Meal plus liquid sanitizer and disposable gloves. The small individual sealed packs of bread and juice are still available for the germ conscious at the altar rails.  

We have become a society and church afraid of touching.  It is an unfortunate shift for a church with the laying on of hands as a part of its spiritual heritage.  While there is always a concern that our touching be appropriate and welcomed, human touch has the inherent power to communicate a sense of fellowship and care that goes beyond the ability of the spoken word.  Many have been the times when I have entered a room filled with grief and brokenness and the only words which could be spoken were words spoken by a hug and the feel of hot wet tears being passed from the face of the caregiver to the face of the broken.  Jesus was not afraid to touch others, neither should we.