Mark 7:31-37
We continue our sermon series today with our 4th letter of the acronym “BLESS”. You’ll remember that we’ve been studying together on how we can bless those around us. How can our lives be used by God to bless others? How can we best share this good news of the gospel with those we come in contact with? Our text and model for this is God’s promise in Genesis to Abraham… where God promises to make Abraham into a great nation….and to then bless the entire world through him.
God told Abraham: “I will bless you and make you a great nation, a great people. And then through you I will bless the whole world.”
This is God’s mission. It is His desire to bless the whole world. And He chooses to do it, not independently, but through his people. We too, can be part of this mission. God has blessed us, and it is God’s desire that we now bless others.
How can we do this?
We’ve used the acronym BLESS to consider 5 different activities:
- Begin with Prayer
- Listen with Care
- Eat together
- Serve with Love
- Share your story
Today our theme is to “serve with love”.
After we’ve prayed to be available, after God has led us to someone, after listening with care to truly understand and know them, after eating and sharing meals and times of food together….
Then, the next step is to find ways to serve them with love.
What are their needs? What could we do for them? That is today’s theme. As always, Jesus will be our example of how to “serve with love”. In Mark 10:45 (which is a bit farther in the gospel than our text for today) Jesus says the following about serving others with love. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Our text today is from Mark 7:31-37, where Jesus heals the man who was unable to hear or speak.
In this account, Jesus has traveled a long ways….and people bring to him a person who cannot hear or speak. They beg Jesus to lay his hands on this man and heal him. Jesus does so in a very loving way and the people are amazed. I want to highlight just three aspects of this account:
- Jesus has traveled a long way but he serves one who is brought to him. He serves someone who is right in front of him, close by
I believe God intends for us to serve those who are close to us. We may travel to another country as a missionary, we may fly across the country for work. We may cover vast distances, but when we serve others in love, it will be someone close.
Obviously, there are ways to serve and love those who are far away. We are being called on to pray for, to give toward, the people of Puerto Rico, Houston, Florida, or Mexico. We maybe can’t go there but our prayers and offerings matter.
But in our mission to bless others, the people we will be serving are close at hand. A family member?, someone you just met on the street?, a neighbor? Take a moment to think about the needy that are near you.
2. Jesus reaches out to this man very sensitively, with love
This is where our term “serving in LOVE” becomes important. He takes the man aside – away from the crowd.
Maybe this person has been made fun of because he can’t talk properly. We don’t know. But Jesus very sensitively takes him away from the crowd and to a quiet spot by themselves. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, touches his tongue and then looking up to heaven groans, sighs, moans, feels the man’s pain, becomes personally involved – and then says “Epatha”, be open!
3. Jesus heals him with power
When we serve others in love it’s important to remember that we do so with God’s power. No, we’re not Jesus so we may not have the same power Christ had. Yet, as the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the Spirit, scripture tells us that the Spirit has sent us, – and given us the same authority that Jesus had!
In other words, we are not to just see our serving others as a “good deed”, but instead as an act that embodies the power of God. Maybe we can’t perform miracles ourselves, but we believe in miracles for others. When people are sick, we pray for their healing, even though we may have no power to heal them ourselves. When people are caught in addiction, we pray that they will be set free! – not just survive, but actually freed from bondage. We don’t have that power, but we believe God does. When serving others in love, it’s important to remember that God’s power and blessing is working THROUGH us! It’s not us, it’s God!
Close your eyes with me…..
- Think of someone close to you.
- Think of what you can do, and how you can do it sensitively.
- Believe that God is using you, that His power is flowing through your actions.
“Lord Jesus, we are yours. Please use us today….that we may serve others in love.”
(The above is a summary of the sermon that was shared during worship on August 6, 2023.)
Japanese Congregational Church 