The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 20: "Well Done!"

 

October 20, 2024            NOTES NOT EDITED
The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 20:  “Well Done!”
Mark 7:31-37

SIS – We do things well when we do things God’s Way.

One of the first things my Company Commander in Bootcamp told us was: there are three ways to do things:  the right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way! I’d always thought that the “right way and the wrong way” were the only two options. Boy . . . did I have an awakening in bootcamp!

I think we could modify my Company Commander’s instruction to cover how most people basically live their lives. There’s God’s Way. There’s the Devil’s Way. And, there’s “our” way that we think is somehow different from the Devil’s Way. We somehow convince ourselves that “Our” way is somehow “acceptable” to God even when we know it is the “Wrong Way.”

I think about farming. There’s a right way to farm and a wrong way. A successful Wall Street Stockbroker wanted to simplify his life. He sold his expensive New York condo, bought some acreage in the country and decided to be a farmer. He wanted to be a chicken farmer. He’d never even seen a farm in his life and the only chicken he knew anything about was in the frozen food section of the grocery store. But, he wanted to have a simpler life and was going to give it his best. He bought a hundred chickens and was on his way. Months went by and he had no chickens—none. After a few more months he grew concerned and decided to call the local Government Agricultural Extension Department. When a man answered the phone the new farmer said, “Sir, I am new at chicken farming and I could use some help.” The Government Ag Worker replied, “Sure, what’s your question?” The New Farmer responded, “Well, it has been all most three months now and I don’t have a single chicken. Do you think it was because I planted them to close together or too deep?”

Well, I guess there’s a right way to grow chickens and a wrong way.

As I think about my Company Commander, and I think of this farmer’s story I realize that there are, in fact, only two ways to live our lives: The Right Way, or God’s Way; or the Wrong Way which is the Devil’s Way. One way leads to blessing; the other leads to chaos and a curse on life.  Today, we are going to look at doing things “God’s Way.” We do things well when we do things God’s Way.

America, by nearly every measure, is in decline. American families are in chaos and on the verge of collapsing. Churches, once the focal point of community in that the steeple of the town church was the primary landmark of the community, are in decline.

If we pay attention to recent statistics we will see very clearly that “doing life God’s Way” is no longer central to being an American, as it had been in our past. Doing things God’s Way is not even central to how Christians live their lives. Over 8 out of 10 people profess to be Christians but only 4 out of 10 believe the Bible!  Only half of them attend church; less than 2 of them attend Sunday School; and only two of the eight who profess to be a Christian ever volunteer to serve in the church.

Clearly, these statistics should alarm us as the Church.  I’m not sure they surprise us.  I think we all intuitively sense that the world is, as they said in my day, “Going to hell in a handbasket” and the Church seems to be greasing the slide! 

America’s political, social, and economic problems are not the cause of the decline in Christian devotion, but quite the opposite.  Whatever we are doing as a church, it simply is not working. Our church  shoes are coming untied and we are tripping all over them.

Our way of doing church is not working—in fact, our way of doing Church has never worked and cannot work.  The only way that works is God’s Way.  As the people in our text this morning view the Life of Jesus Christ they exclaim with enthusiastic amazement:  “He has done everything well!” Jesus did everything well because He did everything God’s way.  The Jesus said,

Jn. 4:34: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.” And in Jn. 8:29, Jesus said, “I always do what please Him [the Father].”

And, when the Lord was faced with the most difficult trial of His earthly life—a trial of unimaginable pain—the Lord said,  “Lk 22 ⁴² “Father, if You are willing, take this cup  away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Jesus did “everything well” because He always did things God’s way.  Likewise, we His followers, can “do all things well if we do things God’s Way.”

So, alas! All is not lost.  There is a way for us as believers to experience a new power from God in and through our faith community!  Discover God’s Way and follow it.

Let’s read about Doing Things Well By Doing Things God’s Way.

MARK 7:31-37

1.  FIRST, God’s Way is a DIFFERENT way (31)

Our text begins with the description of a very peculiar route Jesus took to get to his destination. His destination was the area called the Decapolis (Ten Cities) on the south-eastern shore of the sea of Galilee. To reach this southern destination Jesus went “north.” And through rough, often hostile Gentile territory.

31 leaving the region of Tyre,  He went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,  through  the region of the Decapolis.

This is like going to So. LA by first travelling north to Ventura, across through Filmore, over to Santa Clarita, and back down to S. LA.  It would have been about an eight month journey for the Lord and the disciples.  To say that this was a “different” route to take for the Lord would be an understatement.

What are we to garner from this peculiar, unexpected, and for some, perhaps even ill-advised route of the Lord?

Well, we know that in chapter 8 Peter will make the quintessential confession of faith in Jesus by answering the Lord’s question, “who do you say I am?”  Peter would declare with confidence and boldness—a confidence and boldness that would help him later overcome a terrible failure in his life—Peter declared, “You are the Messiah—the One Sent From God!”

So, at least part of the Lord’s design for this weeks-long or even months-long journey was to draw His disciples close to Him and pour His life into them.   It takes time to grow “disciples.”  A fungus, such as a mushroom, can grow up overnight; but, it takes many years for a mighty oak to reach its majestic size.  Time.  That is often the missing element in disciple-making.

Another lesson we garner from this circuitous route of the Lord is to demonstrate what we read throughout the Scriptures:  the Way of God is a DIFFERENT way.  Isaiah declared, (55:8)

My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.”

God’s ways are what we might refer to as “counter-intuitive.”  Counter-intuitive means, “contrary to what seems right according to common sense or a ‘gut’ feeling.”  The most obvious answer of a truth that is “counter-intuitive” would be that “the earth is a sphere.”  That is true, but it is counter-intuitive.  The common experience for a human being (given our small size relative to the earth) is that the earth is indeed, flat.  But, of course, further study shows that the world is not flat, but “counter-intuitively,” it is a sphere.

God’s Ways appear so different to us because we don’t see the “Big Picture” as God sees it. He sees a thousand tomorrows as if they are one today. His perspective is “infinite.” Ours is “finite.”

A few years ago a woman was asked to give a motivational speech on “broadening one’s perspective in life.” She took the stage and immediately tacked up a huge white sheet of paper. She then took a black marker and made a “dot” in the center of the paper. She asked a man in the front row, “What do you see.” The man replied, “a black dot.” She asked the person next to him and she replied, “a black dot.” She then went row by row asking random people what they saw. They all replied with the same, obvious, answer, “a black dot.” She then asked for a show of hands of those in the audience who saw a “black dot.” Every hand in the auditorium went up. The woman giving the speech on broadening one’s perspective said, “All of you saw the black dot. None of you saw the huge white sheet of paper. With that, I will end my speech.”

The ways of God are DIFFERENT from the ways of man. We must seek the Lord’s guidance through His Word in all things in order to broaden our perspective and see things the way God sees them. Only when we first “SEE THINGS” God’s Way can we then “DO THINGS” His Way. God’s Way is different from our way. They are very often counter-intuitive. Often we must “go north to get south.”

We can become quite frustrated if we do not accept the fact that God’s Way is DIFFERENT from our way.  God operates on a different time schedule (His own); and according to a different purpose (His own).  That’s why sometimes God says, “no” to what we ask of Him in prayer.  Or, that is why God takes much longer to answer our prayer than we would expect or hope.

God operates according to His Way, not ours; and, His way is a much DIFFERENT way.  We must spend many hours in prayer and constant meditation on God’s Word if we are going to even begin to understand His Way.

2.  God’s Way is an EFFECTIVE way (32-36)                                                           

Thinking about Jesus’s route to get “south by going north” we can say it wasn’t the FASTEST route, nor the EASIEST route, the SAFEST route, or even the USUAL route. . . but it was the most EFFECTIVE route.

Of all the healing stories thus far in Mark, the Lord’s actions regarding the deaf man with a severe speech problem is by far the most unusual.  The man’s condition is not all that unusual, but the Lord’s method of healing is unusual.  Unusual—but EFFECTIVE.  Let’s read it again:

³² They brought to Him a deaf  man who also had a speech difficulty,  and begged Jesus to lay His hand on  him. ³³ So He took him away from the crowd privately. After putting His fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, He touched his tongue. ³⁴ Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!”  (that is, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed,  and he began to speak clearly.  ³⁶ Then He ordered them to tell no one, but the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim  it.

Keep in mind the guiding truth of this passage:  “Jesus has done everything well.”  We might say in this age of business coaches and success gurus, “Jesus was highly effective.”  He got the job done and he did it well.

Too often in life we look for the FASTEST way, or the EASIEST way, or the SAFEST way, or the USUAL way, but the most EFFECTIVE way is always, “God’s Way!” Don’t question it—just do it.

If you don’t realize that his purpose is always to be “Effective,” then the actions of the Lord may call upon us to perform will indeed seem quite strange; perhaps even a bit gross.  But, everything the Lord does was to assure the “effectiveness” of His ministry.

When the “church growth experts” of the 70’s and 80’s looked for models on how to build “big” churches, they looked to the business world, not the Bible.  The classic example would be Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral. This “Business Model” brought us the “megachurch movement.” Church became two miles wide and inch deep.

I do not want to wholly discount practicing sound principles of marketing and business, for the Word of God has much to say about these things.  We do err greatly, however, when we look first, or even exclusively to the world, instead of the Word.  Whatever “methods” we may choose, they must conform to the message we have in God’s word.  Function must always proceed form.  The message must always have precedence over the method.

So, why all this seemingly bizarre activity of putting fingers in a man’s ears, spitting on one’s finger and touching the man’s tongue?

Well, the point is, the finger-jabbing and spitting is not the point!  Effectiveness in ministry—that’s the point. The point is: EFFECTIVENESS.

Consider the man was deaf.  Jesus could not tell him what He was going to do for the man, so Jesus showed him.  Jesus spoke with the man in a language the man could understand and respond to – the language of “touch.” 

Doing things well means doing things God’s Way.  Doing things well means “doing things effectively.” We need to stop regularly and reflect upon our lives. Is what we are doing being “effective,” that is bringing the desired RESULTS of godliness for us personally and extending godliness to our community. Are we GETTING RESULTS?

So much of the modern church’s ways of doing things are INEFFECTIVE.  The declining “State of the Church” as I outlined in the statistics above, should cause us to reflectively and resolutely reevaluate every activity in our church to see if it is effective in meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our community. Every once in a while we need to “overhaul” the processes and practices of our ministry and align, or realign them with God’s Ways.

Just consider something as simple as our name. First Baptist Church. What’s the “First” mean? Where’s the second and third. First in regard to what? First in the rapture? What? Then think of the word, “Baptist.” First of all, what does “Baptist” imply? Does that mean we exclude anyone who had a different religious background? Is “Baptist” a positive term in our community or a negative one? When did the “Baptist Church” start? What started it? When? Even most Baptists don’t even know. My point is that we need to constantly evaluate everything we do to make sure that it is:  One, Biblical; and TWO, effective.

By effective I mean:  Is the Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven as a result of the way we are doing things?  Are the blind receiving their sight?  Are the lame walking?  Are the deaf hearing? Are the lost being found? Are we being EFFECTIVE?

Notice carefully the instruction Jesus gives to the people (and instruction He has given several times before).  Verse 36 says:

³⁶ Then He ordered them to tell no one. 

Why not tell everyone?  Certainly if any man today did anything like what Jesus did or taught in the manner Jesus taught, that person would have his own television program—or even broadcast network.  Such exploits would be nothing short of “sensational.”

That’s the point.  Jesus did not come to be “sensational,” but to be “effective.”  He did not come to gain popularity, but to prepare a way for us to be saved.  Ministry is never about being “sensational,” but about being “effective.”  It’s never about being the “biggest,” but about being “effective.”  Ministry is not about making a name for oneself, but about making a difference in one’s world.

They exclaimed about Jesus, “He has done everything well.”  A major issue in doing things well is to do them EFFECTIVELY.

God’s way leads to a job “well done.”  God’s way is a DIFFERENT way.  God’s way is an EFFECTIVE way.

3.  God’s Way is the ONLY way (37)

There are 66 books in the Bible.  There are 1189 chapters.  There are 31,103 verses (+/- 137).  But, there is one theme.  That theme can be summed up in one name:  JESUS.

Jesus is His name, and Christ, or Messiah is His title.  It’s all about “who” Jesus is and “what” He came to do.  The story of Jesus takes many turns, crosses many rivers, climbs many mountains; but there is only one theme:  Jesus and His cross.

This text is not about a deaf man that was healed.  This story, like the entire story of the Bible is about a “Dead Man Who Brought Life.” Jesus died so we might live.  The crowd exclaimed when they watched all those who Jesus was healing, including this deaf man, “He has done all things well.”  And, indeed He did.

 

But, the one thing above all things that Jesus did well was to “die and then raise from the dead so that, “whoever would believe in Him need not perish but could have eternal life.”  Think about it. If all Jesus ever did for this man was give him hearing until he died, the man would have remained eternally lost forever. What good is it to be able to hear if nobody ever shared the message of the gospel so you could be saved? Healings and miracles can become like the “BLACK DOT” on the WHITE paper. Too many people miss the “big picture” in the healings of Jesus—THEY POINTED TO WHO HE WAS—THE MESSIAH. THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.

Jesus did all things well because He did all things God’s Way.  God’s way is a DIFFERENT way, an EFFECTIVE way, but more than anything else God’s way is the ONLY way one can be saved.

This text is about Jesus—“who He is and what He did on the Cross.”  This text is not about Jesus, the Healer, but Jesus the Messiah—the One From God Who Would Be a Sacrifice For All.

The healing is the “black dot.” The message of the Messiah is the “white paper.”

Look closely at how the crowd associates Jesus with the healing of deafness and the healing of speech:

³⁷ They were extremely astonished and said, “He has done everything well! He even makes deaf people hear, and people unable to speak, talk!”

 Now, listen to how Yahweh describes Himself in Exodus 4:11 when Moses protests that Pharoah would not listen to him because he did not speak well:

¹¹ Yahweh said to him,[ei. Moses] “Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? 

And, listen to Isaiah describe the coming Messiah (35:5):

⁵ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Mark closes this section of Scripture with a summary statement pointing to the identity (and authority) of Jesus Christ.  We know this is a “summary” declaration of the identity of Jesus by the words, “extremely astonished.”  In several places Mark talks of the crowd being “astonished or amazed,” but here adds a very descriptive adjective “hyper abundantly astonished.”

Mark wants to affirm the identity of Jesus as the Promised One of God.  Mark wants to move from the healing power of Jesus to the Saving power of Jesus.

Jesus did all things well because he followed the way of God. That Way is All About Jesus. Jesus IS “The Way.”  (Jn. 14:6). Jesus, is in fact, the only way in which any person will ever finish well in this life.

It is not the “good deeds” of our lives that will save us, but the Deed Done By Jesus.”  He is the Messiah—the God-Man—the ONLY way anybody can please God and “do all things well.”

One day, everyone of us will stand before God and will be judged according to the “way” in which we lived our lives.  Did we “do all things well?”  Did we live in a way that was DIFFERENT from the world?  Did we minister in a way that was EFFECTIVE in the world.  And, did we follow in the ONLY way that would lead to eternal life after this world?

Jesus did all things well because He did things God’s way.  If we follow Jesus, one day we will stand before Him and we will hear Him say,

“Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into your eternal reward.” 

Always remember when raising chickens: don’t plant them to close together or too deep!