Tag: devotions

Jesus Is the Essential Worker

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 1:29-34

Jesus left the synagogue and went home with Simon and Andrew, bringing James and John along, too.  Unlike the religious leaders of his day, who stayed in synagogues and temples, Jesus went to the simple homes of ordinary people.  If you lived in that time and place and asked Jesus to come to your home, he would have done so, no matter who you were, how little you’d accomplished, or the mistakes you’d made. 

Simon’s mother-in-law was sick, so they told Jesus about her.  Jesus went to her room, took her by the hand, lifted her up, and the fever left her.  The word about this miraculous healing somehow got out and soon there were many people at the door asking for Jesus.  “And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons” (34).  Jesus was the essential worker of his day.  

For the past few months, our country has been shut down because of COVID-19 restrictions.  As you know, most have stay-at-home orders from their governor.  If your business is not essential, then it cannot be in operation.  If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus, then you must isolate yourself for fourteen days.  We have to wear facemasks, abide by social distancing rules, stop going to church, and so forth.  We won’t bore you with the rules you already know.  But what you might not know is laws like these are nothing new.

For the people of Israel, there were many similar rules.  However, their rules differed from ours in three general ways.  First, their rules were not temporary, but permanent.  Second, their rules did not originate from fallible, elected governors, but from God himself.  Third, breaking their laws had much greater consequences, including death.  You can learn these laws, if you’re curious, by reading the book of Leviticus.  There are 613 laws Israel had to obey, or else.  Many of these laws had to do with ritual purity, or what to do if you came into contact with various diseases and evil spirits. 

Imagine Jesus going home with Simon and Andrew, entering the house of a diseased woman!  Right away, according to the law, Jesus had become ritually unclean.  The Son of God became impure for us!  

There he is, placing his holy hands on sick and sweaty bodies, making them well.  He’s bent down over people on dirty mats, placing his body against theirs.  He has his fingers and palms in their wounds.  He places his lips on theirs.  He rubs infected skin.  He traces swollen gums with his knuckles.  He spits on his hands and massages it into their eyes and ears to bring sight and hearing.  He does this, again and again and again, until everyone who had come to the door gets some of Jesus rubbed off onto them and can leave having been made whole again.

No religious leader or physician had ever tried a stunt like this before.  Jesus is the Essential Worker.  As we’ll discover in the Gospel of Mark, he heals, feeds, provides income, stimulates businesses, cares for the dead, visits the elderly, reaches out to the homeless, challenges the government, and brings “church” right to your door.  He never wears a mask, he never follows social distancing laws, he doesn’t stay at home, and he keeps on working, day after day, night after night, until the only way to stop him is to kill him.

The writer Mark would later include these words from Jesus, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Did you notice the time of day people brought the sick to Jesus?  “That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons” (Mark 1:32).  Notice the repetition of the time of day.  It not only says, “that evening,” but also it adds, “at sundown.”  The repetition is for emphasis, but why?  The types of people who came to see Jesus were not the types who were supposed to be out in public.  They were diseased and demon possessed.  They had to sneak into town to find Jesus under cover of night.  To go out was illegal.  But, as they would soon find out, when it’s late and nobody else will see you, Jesus is there for you.

What would you risk in order to see Jesus?  When no one else is willing to take you in, Jesus will.  When no one else will listen to your story or hear your cries, Jesus will.  When no one else will get close to you or your wounds, whether physical or emotional, Jesus will.  Whether you’re on house arrest or home restriction, he is your Essential Worker and he never stops laboring for you.  “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working’” (John 5:17).

This story captures the heart of Jesus for our broken world and how he started to make things right.  One day, his work will finally be done, but until then, you’ll find him in ordinary homes throughout the world, ministering to mother-in-laws and doing what nobody else is willing to do for you. 

Without Jesus, there would be nobody to pay the penalty for our sin, nobody to give us unconditional acceptance, nobody to give us a second chance, nobody to silence our demons at night, and nobody to grab our hand and lift us up on the last day.

Jesus is the Essential Worker.    

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.  And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. —Mark 1:29-34

The Breakdown

  1. How is Jesus like us?
  2. How is Jesus not like us?
  3. If you had to come up with a definition for “love” based on this passage, what would it be?

The Devil’s Formula for Trashing Your Identity

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 1:21-28

Matt and Tim talked about identity in Episode 29, The Adorned Identity, so we thought we’d take a few minutes here to see what the Gospel of Mark has to say about the subject of identity.  There are striking truths to learn from what we’ve covered so far in chapter one of Mark, but we’re going to concentrate on our most recent passage of Scripture, Mark 1:21-28, which is very important for understanding identity.

The Setting

There was a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue the day Jesus showed up to teach.  Because Jesus taught with authority, the unclean spirit in the man immediately recognized the Lord.  Read these verses carefully, paying particular attention to the pronouns “he/him” and “us” and “I.”

“And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.  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—Holy One of God.’  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!”  And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.”  

He and Us

The Bible states he was “a man with an unclean spirit” (23).  There was a difference between this man and the thing that afflicted him.  He was a man and the unclean spirit was with him.  He was not his problem, in other words.  This is a crucial observation when it comes to discussing our identity: you are not the thing that afflicts you, though it may be with you.

However, the unclean spirit wants you to believe that you are your problem.  The demonic spirit wants you to make the affliction your identity.  Can you see how the demonic spirit does this?  Look at the pronouns (thank God for grammar!).  There was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit, and “he cried out.”  Who cried out?  The unclean spirit is doing the talking here.  The unclean spirit (he) cried out, “What have you to do with us?”  Did you notice the switch in pronouns?  The unclean spirit turned “he” into “us,” as if the man were one with the thing that afflicted him.  

That’s what demons always want!  They always want you to lose your identity as a unique individual and become a generic “us,” in which you can’t think of yourself apart from your problem.  They want you to merge your identity with them.  

The unclean spirit continued, “Have you come to destroy us?”  Again, the unclean spirit, using the voice of the man to speak, wanted the man to think Jesus would destroy him (the man) along with the demon.  The demon wanted the man to fear Jesus had come to destroy him, because, after all, the man had an unclean spirit.  But Jesus didn’t play along, for Jesus did not come to destroy sinners, but save them.  Jesus knew the sinful man was not the same as his demonic problem.  Jesus knew the identity of the man and the identity of the demon with him. 

Jesus Doesn’t Fall for It

Did you notice the demon let down his guard when he switched pronouns again?  The demon said, “I know who you are” (24).  By switching to “I,” the demon showed it was really the demon doing the talking, rather than the man.  So, Jesus spoke directly to the demon, rather than to the man, when he said next, “But Jesus rebuked him [the demon], saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him [the man]!’”  Jesus rebuked the demon, not the man.  Even though the demon tried to merge the identity of the man with itself, as indicated by the pronoun “us,” Jesus knew the true identity of the man.  

After convulsing the man and crying out some more, the demon came out of him (26).  Jesus was able to separate the unclean spirit from the man, releasing the man from the demonic spirit that wished to absorb the man into his problem.  Surely this is an appropriate way of understanding being absorbed by issues in life!

Unclean Means Rejected

What exactly is an unclean spirit, you ask?  The word “unclean” reminds us of the laws in the Old Testament, concerning clean and unclean things.  Clean things were acceptable and unclean things were not acceptable.  The unclean things somehow made a person unacceptable before God in worship, so they were forbidden.  For our purposes in Mark 2, an unclean spirit is an “unacceptable” spirit, which tries to separate you from God.  It plays on your mind, emotions, and experiences.  It’s goal is to get you to think you could never be accepted by God.  It’s goal is for you to absorb rejection into the core of your identity, so you become that which afflicts you.  And it’s goal is to get you to believe God wants to reject and destroy you.  How does it do this?  Again, by merging your identity with it, going from “he/she” to “us.”

The Formula

Thus, the simple formula of the demon goes something like this: 

Individual (I) + Rejection (R) = Rejected Individual (RI)

or 

I+R=RI

But, as you can see, it doesn’t take a math wizard to notice demons are bad at arithmetic!  Because, I+R never equals RI.  Remember our man from the story; he was an individual (I) with (+) and unclean spirit (R).  But that doesn’t mean he was a rejected individual (RI), for Jesus accepted him and got rid of the thing afflicting him.  Jesus never thinks of you as a problem; but, he knows you have some problems he can fix.  

How It Looks in Our Lives

However, we human beings believe in the devil’s math every day of our lives.  Here are ten examples of how this plays out in our lives.

  • Your parents failed to show you love, so you believe you’re not worthy of love.  “I am unlovable” is your identity.
  • Your friend is mad at you, so you believe something is wrong with you.  “I’m a bad friend” is your identity.
  • You fail to get good grades or a good job.  “I’m a loser” is your identity.  
  • You struggle to overcome a sin or addiction.  “I’m unforgivable” is your identity.
  • You’re not in a relationship, so you think you’re unattractive.  “I’m pathetic” is your identity. 
  • You struggle with a physical or mental affliction, so you think, “I’m inferior to everyone else.”
  • Your mom was always angry, so you think, “I’m a problem.”
  • Your dad was always uninvolved, so you think, “I’m not worth pursuing.”
  • Your neighbor abused you, so you think, “I’m guilty.”
  • Bad things keep happening to you, so you think, “I’m cursed by God.”

Can you see the devil’s math, turning you into the thing that afflicts you?  I+R=RI.  The unclean spirits that afflict us cause us to be unable to separate ourselves from what the world around us says about us.  “Me” is turned to “We.”  Your life is absorbed into the trauma of life around you, so that you become, by some magical force of the universe, a problem to be erased.  “Have you come to destroy us?” (24).  

Gollum’s Voice

But you are not the environment you grew up in or the hardships that afflict you or the ways you’ve failed.  You are not even the good things you manage to do.  Your identity is still you, not “them.”  You don’t have to sulk around like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, referring to yourself and your rejection in the first person plural, “we.”

Just like the unclean spirit used the man to give it a voice, so do our afflictions wish to use us to give them a human voice.  Our afflictions wish to speak louder than our individual identity.

Archie Williams on AGT

I just saw an incredible story of a man who refused to let his demons steal his voice, taking ownership of his identity.  On America’s Got Talent last night, Archie Williams shared his tragic story of being wrongfully accused of a crime.  He spent 37 years of a lifetime sentence in bloody Angola prison, before DNA proved his innocence and he was released.  Speaking of his story prior to singing on AGT, Williams said, “Freedom is of the mind; I went to prison, but I never let my mind go to prison.”  Can you see how he fought against the devil’s math?  The devil wanted him to believe he was cursed or shameful or unloved or rejected, just because of his affliction, but Archie Williams wouldn’t let the devil absorb his true identity.  He wouldn’t let his “me” become a “we” with his experience of rejection. Somehow, he maintained his true identity. 

The devil consumes our liberty by assuming our identity.  

Our Deepest Identity

In reality, you are an individual with an affliction that God can heal in this life or the next.  There’s another place in Mark 1 that speaks powerfully of our identity.  It’s Mark 1:11 at the baptism of Jesus.  When an unclean spirit is trying to take control of your voice, remember another Voice.  The Voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved.”  True, the Father first said these words to Jesus, for he was God’s Beloved.  However, this identity does not just belong to Jesus, but it can belong to us all.  Those who put their faith in Jesus become the beloved children of God.  You are not the object of God’s condemnation, but of his love.  While the devil tries to steal your identity and absorb it into that which afflicts you, God rescues it, embraces it, and loves it.  The devil wants only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but God wants to heal, fill, and enjoy.  

God still wants us to take ownership of our afflictions, as we’ve seen so far in Mark, through confession and repentance, but he does not want our afflictions to take ownership of us!

You can tell you’re believing the devil’s math when you start thinking of yourself in terms of your affliction or when you think God wants to destroy you because of your affliction.

“Cast all your burdens on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).  You are not your affliction, for you can separate yourself from it and give it to God.  When you look in the mirror, you are looking at the face of God’s beloved.  That’s who you are. 

The Breakdown

  1. What are some of the things afflicting your life right now (whether caused by you or someone else)?  Write them down, be thorough.  Ask God to help you name them. 
  2. Because of these various forms of rejection, how has your sense of identity been affected?  What names do you call yourself when nobody is listening?  How about when people are listening. 
  3. On a piece of paper, write down the heading “I am God’s beloved.” Then below it, write down at least 10 implications of this truth. If you have trouble thinking of them, then ask for some guidance on our Holy Ghost Notes Facebook Group page.

You Are a Kingdom

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 1:14-15

In the last devotional, we learned the arrival of Jesus (and the exit of John the Baptist) meant the transition of one age to the next.  The former age of the law became the present age of grace, also called the kingdom of God.  Today, we’re going to learn more about the kingdom of God from Mark 1:14-15.  We’ll examine the kingdom of God through the five W’s (and one H), Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.  We can’t wait for you to learn more with us about the kingdom of God!  We hope you will be blown away by what you discover within you! 

Who?

Who gets to be in the kingdom of God? Is the kingdom of God reserved only for angels, spirits, fat cherubs, and the Almighty?  Or do only pastors and priests get to be in the kingdom of God? Absolutely not! The kingdom of God is for greasy swindlers and the unwashed rabble.  It’s for the misfits and malcontents. 

When Jesus spoke these words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), he was speaking to those who only had one thing to offer, their sins. He was speaking to those who responded to the call of John the Baptist to confess their sins and repent. These were not holy people, not even close. They were self-declared sinners.  

Most are too embarrassed of the implications of this truth, for they know it means the kingdom of God is for pimps, pedofiles, prostitutes, and prisoners.  This is truly amazing! If you were a king, and could have any kingdom you wanted, which citizens would you choose to be in it? Would you choose you? 

One more thing, it’s not just that the kingdom of God is for sinners, but it is also that sinners are the kingdom of God! Revelation 1:6 says that God made us sinners into a kingdom.  “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom…”  The kingdom of God is a ruined and redeemed people, who contribute their sins and collect his grace.

What?

What is the kingdom of God?  The kingdom of God is not something made up of bricks and mortar.  Fundamentally, the kingdom of God is a relationship between an individual and God.  The kingdom of God is a sinner’s submission to Jesus Christ as his or her King.  It’s the relationship of Creator and creature.  However, the kingdom of God is not the relationship itself, but, more accurately, it is the relating.  

What do we mean by this?  It helps to think of the kingdom of God not as a noun, but as a verb.  It’s the relating of the relationship between you and God.  It’s the sparks, the fire.  You see, it’s not stagnant, like a noun, but it’s living and active.  It’s growing and expanding, getting higher, wider, longer, and deeper.  

Just think of some of the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is like a farmer who went out to sow; the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that a man planted in a field; it’s like yeast a woman took and mixed in her dough; it’s like a treasure hidden in a field that a man found; it’s like a net that was let down in the water to catch fish; and it’s like a merchant in search of fine pearls.  

Can you see the pattern?  The kingdom of God is action, a verb!  The kingdom of God is not the stuffy, old home you inherit from your granddaddy that reeks of cat urine and mildew.  It’s not a thing, but a movement.  Again, it’s not just the relationship between you and God, but it’s the relating.  Why is this so important?  Because the kingdom of God within you is dynamic, it can grow and shrink.  In other words, it’s not something you inherit from your parents, culture, or church, but it’s a relationship you must pursue and fan.  It’s not a relationship to settle for.  

The formula is simple, God pursues you and you pursue God, like two wild lovers, like the ones we read about in the erotic book of the Bible called Song of Solomon.  Even the Lord’s prayer demonstrates the verbal action of the kingdom of God, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”  Do you see?  When you pray for God’s kingdom, you pray for it to come, advance, and threaten your so-called sovereignty at every moment.  The kingdom of God is the reality of the relationship between you and God that forcibly seeks to express itself through you (yes, sinful you!), into the world, every day of your life, especially the lousy ones.  “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).

When?

When does the kingdom of God happen?  By now, you’ve probably realized the kingdom of God, which is also called the kingdom of heaven, does not happen just in the future, but it is happening now.  Actually, as we learned in our last devotional, the kingdom of God began with the arrival of Jesus Christ in this world.  Remember, Jesus clearly said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15).  Put another way, the kingdom of God is right at your fingertips.  The past age of the law has given way to the present age of grace.  One day in the future, this present age of grace will give way to the new heaven on earth, which we commonly think of simply as “heaven.”  

Again, the implications of this reality are colossal.  If the kingdom of God is happening right now, then there’s no time to lose.  You must take responsibility for your life today, because you don’t know what the next moment will bring.  You must stop being the pawn of others, pushed around or silenced.  You must let the kingdom of God within you erupt around you.  If you’re waiting for a time when “more of God” will show up, then you are deceived.  You have all the God you need right now.  You have enough kingdom of God within you right now to deal with sin, impact your community, fight the devil, and strengthen your relationships.  

The writer Mark chose his words very carefully when he recorded, “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand’” (Mark 1:14-15).  When Jesus proclaimed the gospel, the kingdom of God arrived.  And this formula is not just true of Jesus, but of all citizens of the kingdom of God.  Whenever you proclaim the gospel, the kingdom of God shows up.  The more good news of Jesus you share, the more life the kingdom of God will take over.  The more you show and share the love of Christ, the sooner the kingdom of God will come in full.  

Yes, it’s happening right now!  God looks into your searching eyes and tells you to forget the mistakes of the past and stop fearing the future, for the kingdom of God is yours to live in and enjoy right now.  

Where?

Where is the kingdom of God?  Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” which not only shows the timing, but also the location.  The kingdom of God is near both in time and space.  Where is it?  It’s wherever you are.  Jesus boldly said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21, NKJV).  Allow those words to settle in your soul for a moment.  The religious leaders of Jesus’s day wanted to know where the kingdom of God was, probably so they could manipulate it, but Jesus refuses to give them something they could twist for their own purposes.  Instead, Jesus tells them the kingdom of God is within each believer.  

Again, the kingdom is not a noun (person, place, or thing) with an address, but it’s an action with an actor, which is you!  Have you ever felt as if you were living too small a life?  Have you ever felt something stirring within you, which you couldn’t quite label, but you knew it wanted out?  Most people walk around in shoes that are too small for them, if you know what I mean.  Most don’t realize the enormous capacity of their souls, big enough to enclose the kingdom of God!  Yet, we continue to feed our souls the breadcrumbs of the kingdoms of this world, when they were meant for the feast at the table of the kingdom of God.  What is the kingdom of God within you demanding of you right now?  It is only as large in you as the decisions you entrust to it.  

Why?

Why the kingdom of God?  Why does the kingdom of God exist how it is today?  Why is it here?  Why is it now?  Why is it in our tired, broken world, rather than in some other kind of shiny, fixed one?  To put it simply, it’s because of you.  You are the “Why.”  To see what we mean, read these two short stories (parables) Jesus told about the kingdom of God in Matthew 14:44-46: 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.  Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” 

Most likely, when you read those parables, you put yourself as the subject of the action.  Most of the time, this is how these two parables are taught to us.  We’re told something like, “The kingdom of God is worth so much, so you better be willing to sell everything you’ve got in order to get it…Do whatever it takes to make it yours!”  However, there’s another, much better, way to understand Jesus’s two parables.  After all, as we learned above, if the kingdom of God is within you and if you are the “who” of the kingdom of God, then why would you need to go searching for you?  That makes no logical sense!  Instead, the “man” in these parables is Jesus, not you.  And, guess what he’s searching for?  He’s searching for you.  Here are the parables again, but with some clarifications added: 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure [YOU!] hidden in a field, which a man [JESUS] found and covered up.  Then in his joy [HEBREWS 12:2] he goes and sells all that he has [ON THE CROSS] and buys that field [IN REDEMPTION].  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant [JESUS] in search of fine pearls [FALLEN HUMANS], who on finding one pearl of great value [YOU!], went and sold all that he had [ON THE CROSS] and bought it [WITH HIS LIFE].”  

Amazing, isn’t it!  Can you see?  You are the treasure; and you are the pearl of great price.  Jesus is the man who sold everything he had to purchase you.  Jesus is the merchant who sold all he had to buy a pearl such as you.  Why?  For the joy of finding you!  You are the reason for the kingdom of God.  “Worthy are you…for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

How?

Finally, how does the kingdom of God begin in your life?  If the kingdom of God is to be understood as a verb, the action of God relating to you and you relating to God, then Jesus gives us two verbs, perhaps the greatest two verbs in the Bible, repent and believe, with which we are to make it ours.  Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “repent and believe in the gospel.”  So what do we need to repent of?  And what do we need to believe?  

You need to repent of your self-righteousness.  According to Wikipedia, “Self-righteousness is a feeling or display of moral superiority derived from a sense that one’s beliefs, actions, or affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average person. Self-righteous individuals are often intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others.”  This may surprise you, but, in a manner of speaking, it’s not really your sins that condemn you, but it’s your self-righteousness.  Do you know how you can tell if you’re self-righteous?  You won’t embrace your flaws, or those of others. You won’t be kind to your faults.  You won’t accept your failure.  You always play it safe.  You can’t let go of your missed opportunities.  For some reason, you act more like a god than a normal human being.  Normal humans fail, but you refuse to accept that reality.  Jesus calls us to repent of our self-righteousness, so that we might depend on his righteousness, which he freely gives to us by faith.  The proof you’ve accepted Christ’s righteousness is that you’ve repented of your self-righteousness and accepted your sinful humanity, warts and all.  Remember, your sins don’t prohibit the kingdom of God from growing in you, but your self-righteousness does.  

What do we need to believe?  Of all the doctrines of the faith, there’s one that’s most important for you to believe in.  When Jesus called us to repent and believe, he called us to believe in the love of God.  You must believe God loves you. The gospel is Christ’s righteousness and love given freely to you.  God is our heavenly Father, whose heart breaks when his children believe he does not love them.  The first thing you must know about the kingdom of God is that it’s a world of his love for you.  His love is behind every stone and in every gust of air in the kingdom of God.  You’ll never be able to repent until you believe in God’s love for you.  You’ll never be able to change, accept yourself, move forward, have hope, or find joy, apart from the love of God.  Sin entered this world, not because Adam and Eve did something wrong, but because they doubted God’s love for them.  Think about it.  If you have trouble seeing the love of God in your life, then look at the cross of Jesus Christ.  “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).    

There’s a connection between repenting of self-righteousness and believing in God’s love, and it is this.  As you acknowledge and accept your shortcomings and sins, your knowledge of God’s love for you will increase; however, if you hold onto your self-righteousness, then the knowledge of God’s love for you will diminish.  Those who truly realize the greatness of God’s love for them are those who do not depend on their self-righteousness.

The kingdom of God is the doing of the relationship between Creator and creature in the present world that begins within every person who repents of self-righteousness and believes in the love of God in Christ for him or her. 

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” —Mark 1:14-15

The Breakdown

  1. When you think of the kingdom of God as a verb, rather than a noun, how is your relationship with God affected?  
  2. Who is it hardest for you to accept?  Why?
  3. In what areas of your life do you need to take more responsibility?  Why is it a struggle?  Are there fears?  What is the kingdom of God within you asking of you?
  4. Spend two minutes thinking of the ways God has loved you into being (include all the people, events, opportunities, obstacles, and gifts he has put in your life).

The Outsider

Posted on by holyghostnotes in Book of Mark, Devotionals

Mark 1:12-13

An outsider is someone who does not belong to a particular group.  He’s a visitor, a stranger.  You’ve probably felt like an outsider.  You feel you don’t really fit in at a church; it’s hard to belong at school; you have little in common at work; and your peers and family seem to ignore you. Jesus can relate. 

“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (12).  Jesus was an outsider.  He was rejected by men and rejected by God.  The Spirit drove him outside, into the howling wilderness, where his companions were wild animals, the devil, and a few brave angels.  Everything about this story screams “outsider!”  One minute, his Father was bragging about his love for his Son, “You are my beloved Son…” (11), the next minute, Jesus is starving, hunted, and alone.  One minute, Jesus is being encouraged and supported by his Father, “…with you I am well pleased,” the next minute, he is being threatened and tempted by the devil.  God sure has a funny way of showing his love.  

In fact, the Outsider is so alone that the story mentions no other human companions, just non-human participants: the Spirit, Satan, angels, and wild animals.  Quite a party!  He has been driven out to another world, far away in time and space from support, care, and understanding.  He has no Heavenly Father and no earthly friends. 

But why?  Why was he driven outside into the wilderness?  If the first part of his mission was to identify with the human race by being baptized in the Jordan River, the second part of his mission was to do what the human race failed to do in the garden of Eden.  Jesus is returning to ground zero, not to rescue the human race, but to rebuild the human race. While Jesus will rescue the human race at the cross, he will rebuild the human race in the desert wasteland. In order to rebuild the human race, he needs to turn himself into a second Adam and do what the first Adam failed to do.

All the clues of a connection with the story of Adam in Genesis are right there in the brief text of Mark 1:12-13.  When the Spirit hovered over the earth it became a paradise for Adam; but when the Spirit descended upon Jesus, his world became a desert.  Adam was in charge of civilizing the animals by naming them; but Jesus was surrounded by wild animals.  Adam was driven out of the garden after he sinned against God; but Jesus was driven out into the wilderness after he obeyed God (by being baptized).  Angels were sent to block Adam from access to the tree of life; but angels were sent to sustain Jesus and keep his life.  When Satan tempted Adam in the garden, Adam failed; but when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus prevailed.

Jesus is going back to ground zero of the Fall of Adam and Eve, in order to rebuild the human race, by becoming a faithful second Adam. Jesus is going to earn and merit righteousness before God, which Adam failed to do. And by becoming a fully righteous human being, Jesus will prove that he has what it takes to rescue the human race.  He will do this by offering his perfect life as a sacrifice on the cross, giving his righteousness to those who lost theirs.  The righteousness we lost in the garden, Jesus regained in the wilderness, and offers to us on the cross. 

Let’s apply this truth in two ways.  First, you can accept the righteousness of Jesus as your very own.  Technically, Jesus “imputes” his righteousness to you.  Let’s put it in more familiar terms.  Pretend you need a hundred trillion dollars to enter heaven when you die.  Obviously, nobody has that kind of money.  Then pretend the only Person who has earned one hundred trillion dollars is Jesus, so he transfers it to your account.  Now it’s yours. Now you have what God requires.  Those who want his expensive gift of righteousness can have it.  He earned this righteousness for you by living a perfect life that upheld God’s law, including what he did in the desert.  When he was driven outside, he made a way for you to come inside.  Even more, your sins do not deplete the righteous account Jesus has given to you and your good works do not add a friggin nickel to it! 

Second, outsiders save the world.  Jesus was the Ultimate Outsider, who had to go where nobody else could go to do what nobody else could do.  This was his mission to rebuild humanity.  Likewise, God tends to use outsiders to do his most important work today.  In fact, God has a habit of using outsiders to carry out his mission.  God loves those who don’t fit in, whom the world looks down upon, and who feel they have little to offer.  Perhaps you think you’re the least likely person that God would use.  Perhaps you think you’ve sinned too much, went too far, and waited too long.  Perhaps you think you’re too outside to be useful to God.  Remember, God loves to use the outsider, because it helps God convince the world that people are saved by grace, not by works.  Jesus dealt with plenty of people who thought they were on the inside track, and showed them how far their hearts were from God.  And he dealt with plenty of outsiders, showing them how close they were to the kingdom of God.  God has a special mission for every outsider.  Hold on to that truth for dear life. 

Ultimately, outsiders will rule the world.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.  And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.  —Mark 1:12-13

The Breakdown

  1. What did you learn from this passage of Scripture?
  2. Have you ever felt like an outsider? Write about it or talk with someone about it.
  3. How do you think Jesus can relate to you?  Try to list five ways.  And if you’re up to it, share your list on the Holy Ghost Notes Facebook page.