Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  The Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2:23-3:6 Introduction : You may remember the story of the pastor who found the roads impassable one Sunday morning, but… The river was frozen so he decided to skate on the river to get to church. When he arrived the deacons of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord's day. After the service they held a meeting to rebuke his worldly behavior. The pastor explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally, one deacon asked, "Did you enjoy it?" When the preacher answered, "Well no, not really" the board decided it was all right. One of the great temptations facing fallen humans is to define spirituality in terms of what we don’t do! Nowhere was that tendency more evident than in the Sabbath regulations of first century Judaism . The background of course was what God told Israel as he gave the Ten Commandments… 8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.   9 Six days y...

  Tradition or Transformation? (Or, Fasting, Feasting, and Wineskins) Mark 2:18-22 Introduction : One of the things we see in the Gospel of Mark is that Jesus is guiding the story, first, revealing himself to those who would believe, and laying a foundation for what He would soon do as the Father’s plan unfolds, all the way to Calvary and beyond. He is also exposing unbelief, as he seemingly provokes the religious leaders time after time. His actions are shocking… he claimed to forgive sins (2:5-12) and was eating with sinners and tax collectors (2:13-17). Soon he will claim (and demonstrate!) that He is Lord of the Sabbath (2:23 ff). Jesus subtly turns the discussion from what people were doing (or not doing!), to what He Himself was about to do … As he said in the previous passage, He “… came not to call the righteous, but sinners …” to repent and believe the Gospel.         As we look at this exchange in 2:18-22, those three (3) simple (b...

  Jesus, Friend of Sinners (or, “Infiltrate, don’t Isolate!” ) Mark 2:13-17 Introduction :  Jesus was called a “friend of sinners” by the religious leaders of His day. Are we? Can we be? What does it mean for us to be salt and light in the world? Do we isolate ourselves from sinners? Or, do we realize, “ There, but for the grace of God, go I …”? One of the most fundamental concepts of our faith is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. If I really believe that, instead of looking down on my pagan neighbors, I will realize at best, I am one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread . “Grace” runs against the thinking of most of us, at least before we believed. Manmade religions are an attempt to respond to the truth that we have eternity in our hearts, and that we long for something more, but with-out confessing our spiritual inability to do anything to merit God’s favor. Billy Graham illustrated the idea of grace with a story from h...