Mark 8:31-33: Do you have in mind the things of God or the things of man?

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on March 09, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay

In the last little while I have performed a few funerals / memorial services both here and in Tisdale. They are all a little bit different, of course. Some have been with the physical remains interred in an urn, others in a coffin and I was a part of one ceremony where the remains of the person were not even present at all. Most people have songs. Many have eulogies. Some people have pictures and I often preach a short homily based on the Holy Scriptures.

Of the ceremonies that I have been a part of in the North East here, none of the passings have really been a surprise and for most of them – even from just a humanistic viewpoint – were a blessing: loved ones don’t need to suffer anymore.

Of course from a Christian viewpoint there is another good part of the memorial or funeral ceremony, the acknowledgement that those that love the Lord will be raised again at the last trumpet and will be a part of the Lord’s kingdom either in Heaven or on the renewed earth.

Even recognizing all of that, you know what, in those last hours, before the dying pass on, when we know the end of their time with us is near and soon they will see the Lord face-to-face – in those last hours – at times we still don’t want to let them go, do we? And because we love them, we fight to keep them here even praying and begging God that they not to leave us.

I think this is some of what Mark is telling us about the Apostle Peter in the Chapter 8. Peter has just had an intimate moment (v.29) with the Lord where he confesses his messiahship and then Jesus tells Peter (v. 31) that he is going to die.

Peter and the Lord are close. Peter is part of his inner circle and he has just proposed to Jesus, verse 29, that he is the Messiah. Jesus acknowledges this truth to Peter, tells him to keep it a secret for a while and then proceeds to explain to Peter and all the disciples there what it is that must actually happen to the Messiah, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed …(sic)”

Peter, then as he has just figured out that Jesus is this ‘Son of Man’, this Messiah, Peter is now hearing Jesus is telling the disciples - that this Messiah must die.

Jesus must die. This is hard on Peter. He loves the Lord. Peter will have none of that talk. He has just acknowledged Jesus as Christ; so, Peter pulls him aside, so as not to ruin the secret that he actually is the Messiah, I’d guess. Peter pulls him aside and starts to rebuke him. The text doesn’t say specifically but he might be saying something here like, ‘Now Jesus, don’t talk like that… we won’t let them kill you…we’ll stand by you and protect you… we’ll be here for you… I’ll never leave you; don’t die on us… don’t leave us…”

This response is very much like many people when they find out that one they love is going to die. Peter has just been told that one he loves is going to die and he can’t accept that. Having just found that out he hasn’t come to terms with it yet. He will miss Jesus and he is focusing on that. This is human enough and it is the first of the stage grief cycle, denial.[1]

Jesus’ response to this reaction of Peter’s is far from comforting here; it is somewhat reminiscent of the way he addresses the Pharisees actually so far in this gospel. Notice this – Peter pulled Jesus aside to speak to him privately when he hears that Jesus is going to die but Jesus responds loud enough for all of the twelve to hear. Turning and looking at his disciples, verse 33, Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! … You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus doesn’t stop there; he goes on: after he has called Peter ‘Satan’ in front of the disciples, Jesus calls to the crowds, verse 34, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.”

Peter pulled Jesus aside to talk to him and Jesus responds on the spot by calling him “Satan” in front of Peter’s colleagues and then by making a point to the crowds following them. Peter’s actions here are not acceptable to Jesus. What he says is not just some trivial error that Jesus wants to keep quiet. It is rather an issue so serious that Jesus publicly addresses Peter’s comments with the harsh words that he does choose, but why?

What did Peter do that was so bad here that he merited being called ‘Satan’, dressed down in front of his friends, and becoming a catalyst for such a strong speech that is to follow? What did Peter do?

He - verse 33 records - he set his mind on himself, on human things rather than on the things of God. He put himself before Jesus and Jesus’ mission. In effect Peter here is trading in his treasures in heaven for earthy desires - and as Jesus says (verse 37), by setting his mind on the secular rather than the sacred, Peter is indeed choosing his personal desire to have Jesus avoid an early death over his very own soul.

Peter started thinking about what he wanted instead of what Jesus must do.[2] Peter starts thinking about what he wants rather than what God desires. It is this that earned him the epitaph ‘Satan’

That is not all it is though. The severe way in which Peter disagreed with Jesus is significant as well. Apparently the language Peter uses here to speak with the Lord is quite strong.[3] It says that he ‘rebuked’ (epitimoa) Jesus. That is the same language that the Jesus used to silence people (3:12), to control the storm (4:39), and to control and cast out demons (1:25) thus far in Mark’s gospel. This word epitimoa (rebuked) can mean ‘ordered’ or ‘silenced’[4] and it implies here an attempt to take control of Jesus such as that of his flesh and blood family back in Chapter 3 (verse 21) when they referred to Jesus as being ‘out of his mind’[5] and so tried to ‘take charge of him.’

Peter, like Jesus’ mother and brothers before him, Peter it appears is trying to take control of Jesus, trying to impose his will on Jesus. In Peter’s eyes it maybe for Jesus’ own good but when Jesus’ mother and brothers earlier attempted to do the same, Jesus denied them and now that Peter is doing this, Jesus calls him ‘Satan’. (Some theorists even point us back to Satan’s attempts to tempt Jesus in the wilderness here (Matt 4:10).[6]

This is serious. Peter, like Satan in the desert (Luke 4, Matt 4, Mark 1:13); Peter, like Jesus’ biological family (Mark 3), Peter is apparently wanting Jesus to do Peter’s bidding here. Rather than Peter doing what Jesus wants, Peter suggests that Jesus should do what he wants. Peter is, as it says in verse 33, setting his mind not on the things of God but on the things of man and this is fatal…

Are we ever tempted to do this? Are we ever tempted to take control of God? Are we ever tempted to - instead of asking Jesus what we should do for Him in a situation – are we ever tempted to tell Jesus what he should do for us?

Do these prayers ring any bells: Lord, help me win the lottery. God, please let me get this job whether or not I am qualified for it. Please let the Roughriders (or BC Lions) win the cup. Come on, please let me roll a seven. A six of hearts…please, just a six of hearts…

Are there times when – instead of asking and serving God - we ask God to serve us? I personally have heard people imply or outright say that if they are praying in this manner or that or if they are praying for such and such a thing that God is bound, He is obligated to answer those prayers according to the THEIR will.

I have heard this language around faith healing sometimes[7] where people will command God or His Spirit to heal someone and when that language is used in that way it really is an apparent attempt to control God/Jesus and this language always sends a chill up my spine…I wonder, in such cases, do we really have in mind the things of God or do we have in mind -the opposite- the things of men?

Now we need a little clarification: I am not implying that we should never ask the Lord for anything on our minds. No. Mark’s gospel story here is full of people asking Jesus for miracles that indeed Jesus does perform, in many cases according to their faith but Mark’s gospel also has people’s demand for a sign (Mark 8:11) from heaven flatly denied. Jesus is God.

Because Jesus is God, he is not simply easily swayed by our whims and fancies; Heaven is not a democracy where if we have a simple majority of prayers we can overthrow the will of God. Heaven, Praise the Lord, is a kingdom, a monarchy run by an absolute monarch.

This absolute monarch is a loving king. He is a father who wants the best for us and this, I think, is a big reason why he does not always give us what we want – sometimes the things we want, like Peter in our story here, sometimes the things we want when we set our minds on the things of people, are not what is best for us and neither are they what is best for the Kingdom.

Our fleshly desires are sometimes like a little child whose requests is like reaching for a pot of boiling water on the stovetop. God, the loving father, will swipe away her hand – however much that swat might hurt - before she turns the scalding water on herself.

Sometimes our desires are like the child reaching for the pot. Peter in his rebuke of the Lord was certainly like that child. He was reaching for the pot to look into it and see what it would be like if Jesus never did die. Had Peter’s desire not to lose Jesus, had Peter’s attempt to keep him from his death and resurrection prevailed, it would have been like dousing us all in that boiling water. If Jesus never did die and rise again, if sin and death were not defeated, if we could not experience that victory in Jesus, where would we be? In very hot water indeed. Jesus knows better than we do what is best for us.

It is better for us to have in mind the things of God than the things of man. God is a loving God. God did not submit to Peter’s will. Jesus instead swats Peter’s hand away from that pot of boiling selfishness and, sparing him, scalds him instead with a tongue-lashing, “Get behind me Satan! [He says]… You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Sure that may sting, but it stings a lot less than the eternal pain we’d suffer had Jesus succumb to temptation and his task not been accomplished.

God is a loving father. It says, (Luke 11:11-13) "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” He wants what’s best for us. We need to put our faith in him. We have to avoid trying to control God by telling him what to do for us and instead seek his will for our lives. We have to set our minds on the things of God rather than on our own desires.

God will look out for us. It is like my own daughters. I love them so – as much as they may or may not like it at times - I make them tidy up after themselves, so that they won’t have to struggle with the curse of disorganization for the rest of their lives. We teach them to read so that they need not fight illiteracy for eternity. We teach them to pray and read the living Word of God so that they can live forever and prosper, as the Lord permits, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now these choices to submit to the Lord won’t always be as easy or as clear-cut as the ones we have mentioned here. Verses 34 and 35 of Mark 8 say that we must take up our cross and follow Jesus. A parallel in our world today is to say that we must don our orange jumpsuits and walk down death row, listening to the calls of ‘dead man walking.’ We must seek God’s will not ours – with even our very life on the line.

We have to seek in Jesus’ will; not our own. We have to believe that we will be raised up on the last day with Jesus. We have to seek and be willing to lose our lives for Jesus if we want to gain eternal life. We have to seek Jesus’ will. We have to believe that what he wants for us is better than what we may want for ourselves. We have to have in mind the things of God and NOT the desires of our flesh.

As we finish here today, I am reminded of a comic by Bill Waterson: Calvin and Hobbes.[8] Calvin, in his request, thinks he knows what is best for himself. His loving parent however knows different….




So today we have a choice. We can be like Calvin in our prayers and in our lives and demand that our Heavenly Father give us everything we desire without regard for His will, in which case we will be - Praise the Lord - one disappointed little kid or we can approach the Lord and ask him what is his will and pray for that to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Today, we have a choice, we can chose either the things of God or we can choose the things of man: which we choose?

Let us pray as Jesus taught us to pray…

Our Father who art in Heaven; hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread and
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
For thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen

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[1] The five stages of coping with dying, abbreviated DABDA, were described by Kübler-Ross in her classic book On Death and Dying in 1969 They are D.A.B.D.A. – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
[2] If he’d gotten what he wanted, we know that it would not be better for him –or for us – as death and sin would have never been defeated and we would be back to square one.
[3] Tolbert, Sowing, 202.
[4] Williamson, Jr. Lamar, Interpretation, 153.
[5] Pheme Perkins, NIB, 626.
[6] Palmer, 624; Lenski, 345; Williamson, 153.
[7] I still believe in faith healing provided that one is following God’s lead instead of the other way around.
[8] Bill Waterson, Calvin and Hobbes. United Press Syndication, 1988.

Mark 7:1-23: Inside and Outside

Presented to Nipawin Corps on March 03, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay

We met John in the introductory story the other week. John is now married to Janet and they live somewhere up here in the North where he recently learned some lessons about shovelling snow. Now John didn’t always live here. He actually grew up in a big city down south many years ago. His graduating class though was only about the same size as Tisdale – not Tisdale’s grad class – all of Tisdale. Life was a little bit different.

Now John used to be a Mars Bar fan. Actually, he can still be led astray by a Mars Bar at times but once upon a time when he was in junior high, it got him into quite a bit of trouble.

But in John’s school of 3000 people there were two popular groups of kids: the INSIDE people and the OUTSIDE people. Now the INSIDE people were the one’s who had all the money. They wore the fashionable clothes, they were the one’s that as each of them turned 16, their parents were planning to buy them new cars. Their parents had all the fancy jobs and they knew they were special.

The outside people, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily have all that same stuff and so they hung out outside in jeans and a T-shirt all year long outside for two reasons – one because well, he didn’t live in Northern Saskatchewan so they could be outside in a just t-shirt all year long and 2) they were smokers and jr. high students -even back then- weren’t allowed to smoke in the schools.

John was neither in with the inside people nor out with the outside people but neither was he in with the outsiders nor out with the insiders; John was quite happy just hanging out in his own little world with a couple of friends until one day, something happened…

John’s social studies class was studying law and as a final project; everyone was going to get dressed up as different characters and have a mock trial. All the kids signed up for what they wanted – prosecution, defence, witnesses, accused, and the leftovers were on the jury. John was on the jury.

Now there was this fellow, Bill. Bill knew John but Bill was a very popular person –too popular for John - Bill was the defence attorney, Bill wanted to win this case and Bill was one of the inside people.

So at lunch hour there was John walking through the inside of the school - thinking about nothing more than, well, Mars Bars – when Bill, the inside person, approaches – “Hello John; how are you John; do you want a Mars Bar John?”

“Why yes I do,” says John thinking how lucky he is to have a Mars Bar offered to him right when he was wanting a Mars Bar…and he begins to eat it…

“Now all you have to do is to get the jury to vote for acquittal on the trial this afternoon,” says Bill, the INSIDE person, as John, thinking of nothing more than his Mars bar, agrees and heads OUTSIDE to go home for lunch and when he is OUTSIDE, he sees Silvia…

Silvia smiles at John. Silvia is a beautiful girl. Silvia is a popular girl. Silvia is an OUTSIDE girl. Silvia has never smiled at John before and Silvia – Silvia is prosecution in today’s trail and Silvia smiles at John.

John is quite surprised by all this attention so he quickly finishes his Mars bar, puts the wrapper in his pocket, scrapes he teeth clean and smiles back in an awkward, Jr. High school kind of way.

“John, what are you doing today … after school?” Silvia asks.

“Going home to watch TV, have a snack…”

“No,” says Silvia who is smiling in a teasing sort of way. “No” says Silvia “John, what are you doing today after school…with me…right after you convict the accused in law class?” She winks, turns, and walks away with the OUTSIDE people.

Oh…wow. Now, this is starting to sound like a date – John had never had a date before. He really didn’t know what to do, he just knew that this was turning out to be a great day; not only has he got his first ever date, but he also got a Mars Bar and …, oh wait.

Well, what to do now? John has a moral decision to make…should he support the OUTSIDE PERSON Silvia, or the INSIDE PERSON Bill who has already paid his bribe…then – for a fleeting moment - he wonders all together whether jurors should take bribes at all and then he has an idea; he runs home as fast as he can. He doesn’t stop to have lunch; he just grabs his change from his dresser. Just enough. He will buy Bill a Mars Bar, pay him back, and tell him that he can’t be bribed and then he’ll have a date with Silvia.

After he buys the Mars Bar on the way back to school, he becomes so pleased with his idea that he starts thinking about what he and Silvia could do on their date. They could go out to this coffee shop that sells deep fried Mars Bars and then it could become their place and they could go there everyday and have deep fried Mars Bars and John is really getting excited now about the prospect of this. He and Silvia could go and have a Mars Bar everyday together and then he thought that he could go for a Mars Bar right now and then, looking down, in all his excitement, he noticed that indeed he is having a Mars Bar right now…Bill’s Mars bar…uh oh.

Ding time for class.

John goes to class and he sees Bill, and the INSIDE people, and he musters as much courage as he can and he tells him that he can’t be bribed… and then he runs to hide in the jury box…

The trial goes well and the jury is sent to deliberate. John is sitting with the other jurors still dreaming of his life of Mars Bar dates with the OUTSIDE PERSON Silvia when all of a sudden he notices – the other Jurors – and one of them is a girl he’s never met before, an INSIDER PERSON named Janet, who says, “so its decided then, he’s innocent.”

“Guilty” says John, who is wondering how this could have gone so terribly wrong. “Innocent” says Janet, “Guilty” says John and Janet pulls out a Mars Bar…the accused gets off. John, never does get a date with Silvia, but he did get 3 Mars bars that day so he figures that it wasn’t all bad a day after all…

If you’ll turn with me to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 7, you’ll notice that Jesus shares with us a little parable about the INSIDE and OUTSIDE of a cup as he speaks about moral dilemma not too far divorced from high school bribery of today’s story.

So here’s the situation: the Pharisees, who we’ve looked at before, they really do want to keep the law and all the traditions. They want everything to be perfect. They are sort of like an albeit misguided type of hyper-holiness movement of their day. It says in verses 3 and 4 that not only do they observe the washing of dishes, food, and hands, but they really do try to keep all the traditions.[1]

Jesus says that the Pharisees of our account here are missing the point. He quotes Isaiah, in Verses 6 and 7 and saying, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites;[2] as it is written: ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”[3]

He goes on, Verse 8: “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human traditions.” These are harsh comments. Jesus isn’t really being gentle, meek and mild in this passage is he? He’s shooting from the hip – so to speak – and this is something he tends to do with the religious people, the synagogue-going people, the church people, isn’t it?

We’ve studied about how he extends so much charity to the outsiders but to those who should know better, he tells it like it is, doesn’t he? Jesus continues, verses 9-13, “And he said to them: ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.’”[4]

Jesus says that by their very traditions they are transgressing the will of God. My question to us is, do we ever do that?

Do we ever worship with rules taught by people (verse 7) instead of with hearts for God? I’ve been in churches where, honestly, inappropriately dressed visitors[5] were asked to leave. I have heard of people asking others not to sing in church because they don’t sing well enough. I have heard people lament the cigarette butts outside their church or even make racist remarks in the service itself. I have seen people miss the whole worship experience because they were upset with other people’s fidgeting children or something else; what are some things that distract us from the heart of worship? I have heard people cry, for example, because others’ act of having a cigarette, they say, is going to send them to hell…

But Jesus, on the contrary, tells the crowd, verse 15, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

Now Jesus says a lot more in this little statement than I can possibly explain in my sermon today because – look at verse 19 – it says that along with everything else he is saying here, Jesus is declaring all foods clean. In our Bible studies, we’ve looked at how Jesus has redefined the Sabbath already, applauded his disciples for not fasting, and how he has openly exposed himself to ritual uncleanness on more than one occasion, and now Jesus is reinterpreting the dietary laws that govern so much of the Jewish traditional life: he is saying here that it is okay to have bacon for breakfast, ham sandwiches for lunch and pork chops for dinner. (Don’t forget its potluck today.) Now, this is alright by me for sure but the world of Jesus day is changing here – but this is, as they say, another story for another day

When Jesus tells the crowd, verse 15, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean,’” he is telling them a very simple truth: what we do, no matter how good, no matter how nice, no matter how proper, no matter how noble, what we do, will not get us into the Kingdom of Heaven. These good deeds, laws, rules, traditions, these things do not matter in this way. What comes from the outside world will neither keep us out of the Kingdom of God (see the parable of the Sheep and the Goats though –Matt. 23- there are certain things that communities that follow Jesus will inevitably do).

What will defile us, however, is what comes out of us (cf. vv.19, 20), Verse 21ff: “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” This is what defiles us.

So this is a very simple truth like I said…it is not what the world pours into us that purifies or defiles us, it is the effect we have on the world as what is inside of us is poured out.

There is a children’s story by Robert Munch (illustrated by Michael Marchenko) entitled the Paper Bag Princess[6]. In this story, Prince Ronald was about to marry Princess Elisabeth when a dragon comes smashes the castle, burns all the royal possessions and carries off – Prince Ronald.

So off to the rescue is Princess Elisabeth. There is only one problem though, the castle is smashed, she is all covered in soot and can’t find anything to wear except a dirt old paper bag.

Undaunted, she puts on the paper bag and proceeds to prove her Royal worth by out-manoeuvring, out-smarting, and defeating the dragon while rescuing Prince Ronald.

When Ronald sees his rescuer, He looks at her and says, “Elizabeth, you are a mess! You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess.”

“Ronald, says Elisabeth, “your hair is nice and your clothes are all pretty, you look like a real prince but you are … [not].” They don’t get married after all.

You see, Prince Ronald was clean on the outside but he lacked some of the good fruit of Galatians 5 on the inside that we read about earlier. Elisabeth, however dirty she was on the outside, showed patience, perseverance, and other beautiful fruit; on the inside she was clean.

So today as we leave here and step out into the world I encourage us all to make sure that we are clean on the inside. Look at ourselves in the mirror of Mark Chapter 7 and make sure that our glasses are shiny indeed. Make sure that inside there is no, as Verse 21ff of our passage today says, make sure there are no “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

If upon examination, we do see these things, reflected in our glass, don’t worry, it doesn’t need to remain that way. There is a great detergent out there called ‘Sin Away’ produced by the blood of Jesus that can remove any stain and get those glasses as shiny as new again.

Then, as we seek the Lord and our glasses become clean, we will find that they are soon filled with, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and the like for against such things there is no law (cf. Gal 5:20-22).

Let us pray…


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[1] Walter W. Wessel Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/ Withdrawal From Galilee (6:14-8:30)/F. Commands of God and Traditions of Men (7:1-13), Book Version: 4.0.2: “..the Jewish custom of ceremonial hand washing [was] a custom based on the "tradition of the elders" (v. 3). This consisted in a great mass of oral tradition that had arisen about the law. About A.D. 200 it was written down in the Mishnah, but in Jesus day it was still in oral form. Its purpose was to regulate a mans life completely.”

[2] The word ‘hypocrite’ (hypokrites) literally means ‘play actor’.
[3] Isaiah 29:13 NIV from MSS: The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” Jesus quoted from the LXX, but as you can see the meaning is in tact, even though the NIV translators translated different versions for the verse and the later quotation of the verse.
[4] CF Exod 20:12, 20:17; Deut 5:16; Lev 20:9.
[5] I think ‘visitors’ is a key term here. If the person is a regular attendee and is able to afford acceptable clothing to the congregation, it would be hoped that someone would encourage them to dress in such a way as to not cause their weaker brother/sister to stumble.
[6] Audio version: http://www.robertmunsch.com/books.cfm?bookid=27; Robert Munsch (Illustrator: Michael Marchenko). The Paper Bag Princess. Annick Press: 1980.

Mark 3:20-35: The Family of God

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps of The Salvation Army on February 17, 2008; Swift Current Corps on February 22, 2015; 614 Warehouse Mission on 06 May 2018; Alberni Valley Ministries on 21 April 2024 by Captain Michael Ramsay

To view the 2015 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/02/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html

To view the Toronto 2018 version click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html

To view the 2024 Alberni Valley Ministries version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/04/mark-320-35-family-of-god.html 

   
On a quiet winter day somewhere here in northern Saskatchewan, there is this fellow – John. Now John has just finished a long tiring day of work and he is quite happy to be home. He comes in and sits down on his chair and picks up his newspaper.

Now John has a wife, Janet, and when she sees John sitting nicely in his easy chair there, she asks him what he is planning to do before dinner.

“Well, I’m planning to read my paper,” John answers, but from the look on Janet’s face he can tell immediately that he has actually gotten the answer wrong. That isn’t what he is planning to do.

He looks at her in that searching way, trying to discern what the right answer to her question could be: what is he planning to do? …Is he planning to - pick something up at the store? …Is he planning to …pick up the kids from somewhere? …Is he planning to…John didn’t know.

“Shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says Janet. “You’re planning to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway.”

“But its 40 below![1] …I mean…Yes dear, yes, Mrs McMillan’s driveway,” says John who, until this very moment, had no idea that he was planning to shovel their elderly neighbour’s driveway. So John grabs his shovel and heads out the door…

At just this time, as John heads outside, providentially around the corner of the house comes John Jr., his 15 year-old son: “What are you planning to do before dinner?” John Sr. asks.

“Play on the computer…” says John Jr. who, just like his father, has gotten the answer wrong. John Junior is of course now planning to shovel the driveway.

“Just let me put my school stuff away,” says Junior who is hoping to escape into the house and forget all about this plan to shovel Mrs McMillan’s driveway - that he never knew that he had made in the first place.

But Dad, who is wise to Junior’s plan, hands him the snow shovel, takes his school bag, sends him off to Mrs McMillan’s and then John promptly disappears into the garage so as to avoid finding out from Janet if indeed there is anything else he had planned to do that he didn’t know about…

Now as John Jr. is standing outside old Mrs McMillan’s driveway, who should come walking by but his little brother, Mark, and a group of his friends…Jr. yells to his 10 year-old brother and his seven or eight friends, “guess what you guys are planning to do?!”

Mark and his friends are all very good-natured and they do start out in earnest shovelling the walk but they only have 3 shovels between the eight of them and it doesn’t take too long for one of the boys to realise that this snow today actually packs quite nicely.

This friend of Mark then quite innocently makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and even more snowballs and stacks them beside the shelter of a hedge. When he has got a nice lot of snowballs in front of him, Mark, who has actually been working quite diligently, notices him and asks his friend - as forcefully as he can muster - “and what are you planning to do with all those snowballs?” to which his friend replies by throwing one right at Mark. Within 10 minutes the eight boys are in a full-blown snowball fight. Having completely forgotten about any of their work when John Sr., Dad, comes around the corner,

“What do you think you are doing?”

Now Mark, in the boldness of a 10 year-old surrounded by his friends, takes the initiative to show his dad exactly what he is doing and promptly hits him with snowball. This is too much for John who then dives behind the car where he and his eldest son assemble their own arsenal and try to hold off the pack of ten year-old boys.

They are now divided into two groups and they have quite a bit of fun until all of a sudden everyone goes quiet as John and all the boys notice Janet –mom- standing, arms crossed, asking, “And what are do are you doing?”

“Shovelling the snow?” Answers John - and indeed for the next hour that is exactly what John, John Jr. and Mark are doing with their three shovels as Janet and Mrs McMillan look on from her front room.

If you’ll turn with me to Mark Chapter 3, you’ll notice that today’s pericope, which was read from Mark’s gospel earlier, is also about a divided house and a bit of a family conflict as well. You remember, of course, how our story starts today, Verse 20 of Chapter 3 reads: “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.” Verse 21, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

Jesus is portrayed here as almost a workaholic (not quite because of course Jesus’ shows through the dessert temptation account that he does not give into temptation – cf. Lk 4; Jas 1:13). He is working late and yes indeed he takes his work home with him and his work right now is casting demons out of people and he has a lot of work to do.

Can you imagine the scene? It is dinnertime. He comes to a home to eat with the twelve, his disciples, and there is so much going on. There are so many people crowding into the house that they aren’t even able to take time to eat. There must be people everywhere. This must be so noisy – and Jesus is just working away – he and his disciples are just ploughing through people healing them, casting out demons and doing what needs to be done.

His family no doubt is worried about his health. They are no doubt worried because he’s not eating anything. They are no doubt worried because he is not taking enough time for himself. He is not taking time to relax. He is just working, working, working – without a break – this can’t possibly be healthy can it? Is it any wonder that his mother and brothers, throw up their hands when they hear all of this and say, Verse 21,“He is out of his mind” – “he’s crazy” – “he’s nuts.”[2]

How do you respond to those whom you love who won’t stop working? Well, Jesus’ family decided that it is time to go and take charge of him. They are going to make him rest and take care of himself. (Now this is interesting because the Greek word KRATESAI is actually the same word that is used when you go to ARREST someone. So this is serious.) They are concerned about him and if Jesus won’t take care of himself, they will take matters into their own hands, they will take charge of him because, as they understand it, “he is out of his mind.”

“He is demon possessed,” the teachers of the Law say. “He is [even] possessed by Beelzebub…the prince of demons,”[3] Verse 22 records the learned, esteemed, intelligent, and respected teachers as saying – “[It is] by the prince of demons [that] he is driving out demons.”

So this is interesting. Both Jesus’ family and the religious experts agree that Jesus is not acting normally here. He is out of his mind; he is demon-possessed. And again, in this crazy scene, we can probably understand what they are saying to some degree, can’t we?

Jesus understands and he answers the teachers who –unlike his biological family (cf. 3:31-32)[4] - are right there, near, or even in the house with him and his disciples. Jesus understands what they are saying.

Now what the Pharisees might actually be doing here is certainly more than just looking out for his well-being, like is his family -probably. What they might be doing is more than just mocking him or writing him off. What they may be actually in the process of doing is gathering evidence or at least inspiration to formulate an official charge against him.

In our society today we think nothing of people using the language of demon possession and witchcraft: we hear it everyday on TV, radio, in pop culture and in casual colloquial language. It is so common that many times we don’t even twig when we hear it but it was different in Jesus’ day (cf. Dt. 18:10; 1 Sam 28:9; 2 Ki 19:22; 2 Chr 33:6; Micah 5:12; Na 3:4; Gal 5:20).

Witchcraft is a serious crime. It was a sin punishable by death (cf. 1 Sam 28:9).[5] These religious teachers cannot be left to make these remarks unchallenged. It must be addressed. They are in essence accusing Jesus of divination, of witchcraft, of sorcery, and in those days (unlike today) people won’t stand by and let that evil go unchecked.

And Jesus won’t let these accusations go unchecked; he speaks to them in a couple of very short parables or metaphors.

Verse 23ff: “So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

Think about it in terms of our world today…

Afghanistan is torn apart. It has been balkanized and polarized for many, many years; so when we -and our allies- launched the most recent attack on their country. The country didn’t stand. They were already divided. And now as we are sending our soldiers around their country hunting for people, the people not surprisingly aren’t rallying behind us en masse but neither are they taking up the cause of the resistance against us en masse and things there are now worse than they ever have been in anyone’s memory.[6] Civilians are dying and the drug trade there -which had been virtually eliminated before we invaded- it now provides the bulk of the world’s opium supply.[7] A divided house cannot stand. How can they ever be liberated, if they cannot even be united? How can we ever be liberated if we are not united?

This is the kind of thing that is playing out in our very houses here today. If husband and wife aren’t on the same page, how can their children grow up in the strength of a solid family? If mom won’t stop yelling at dad and dad stops coming home altogether, how can little Janet learn to be kind to her future husband and how can little John learn to stick it out when life gets difficult? If the house is divided, how can it stand?[8]

We’ve seen in this country, Canada, very quickly, the results of divided houses, haven’t we? Many of these houses are no longer standing: “Between 1965 and 1988, Canada's divorce rate went from being one of the lowest among industrialized nations to being one of the highest.”[9] Divided houses do not stand.

Like with John and his sons, John Jr. and Mark, from our introductory story, when they were divided, their work did not get completed and they faced the wrath of mom.

This is what Jesus is telling his accusers. He is saying that if he is on the same side as Beelzebub, if he is on the same side as the devil, he wouldn’t attack him because then he would be in essence – if he WAS working for the devil – by attacking him, he would be destroying himself.

Casting out demons is like shovelling the walk in our earlier analogy. If that snowball fight had persisted then that driveway would never have been shovelled.

If Jesus were working for the devil why would he cast devils out? Why would he let them continue to play in driveway of the demon-possessed man’s soul? He wouldn’t. He doesn’t. Jesus comes out as stern and as commanding as Janet and orders that driveway cleared.

There can be many reasons and motives for the Pharisees to accuse Jesus of working for the enemy but he lets them know that their argument doesn’t make any sense.

Jesus uses the analogy also of robbing a house. Jesus says that, Verse 27, “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”

If Jesus were on the same side as the devil, why would he even want to rob the devil of his prize? He wouldn’t. If he was working for the devil, then he would not be freeing this man from Satan’s power; because by casting out the demons, he is weakening the Republic of Evil and in the process strengthening the Kingdom of God and when one is at war, one tries to kill one’s enemies and one’s not allies. And this is what Jesus is saying: Jesus is showing those present that indeed he is intentionally attacking the devil’s dominion, freeing his captives, liberating his territory and in these stories Jesus is reminding us, in effect, that no one intentionally kills with ‘friendly fire.’ If Jesus were on the same side as Satan, he says in this parable, he would not rob him of his prize. Instead, as Jesus is more powerful than Satan, by freeing the demon-possessed man, he binds the metaphorical strong man and robs his house.

Jesus makes his point. He makes his point well. We realise, as we have seen, that divided houses cannot stand. Houses cannot be robbed without first taking care of the security guard, as it were. But Jesus doesn’t stop at making this point.

You’ll notice that this story doesn’t end here. Jesus now has some strong words for the people who are accusing him of working for the Beelzebub. He says, Verses 28-30, “I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”[10] He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”

So do you see what the author of Mark here is doing as he relates this story about Jesus? He is showing us that Jesus is warning the Pharisees not to say that he is demon-possessed. He is telling them point blank that all other sins will be forgiven – EXCEPT for blaspheming the Holy Spirit – He says that there is no sin as bad as this one that they may be committing here. Calling the Holy Spirit evil, rejecting God in this way. There is nothing worse Mark tells us that Jesus says here.[11]

But what about Jesus’ family? Remember that as the Pharisees said ‘he has an evil spirit (v. 30)’, his own family said that he was ‘out of his mind (v. 21)’ and they came to take charge of, or even ‘arrest’ him; what about his flesh and blood relatives?

What does Jesus say when they arrive to ‘take charge of him (v.21)?’ Verse 31. You’ll notice that they even don’t come in. It says that they were still standing outside. They don’t come into where Jesus and his disciples are working. They don’t come in to arrest him, to take him home. They, instead, want Jesus to come out to them.

I’ve seen people act like that. It is never a good thing. People who refuse to face others seemingly are either more concerned about themselves than others (fear of embarrassment or whatever else) or else they just plain realise that they are not in the right. People who have travelled all that way and are there anyway, people who don’t go in but stand back and send someone else to do their bidding, they cannot be up to any good, can they? Maybe.

Even if they are more saintly than some of the cowards of today’s world and even if there is a noble purpose to their refusing to enter, Verses 31 & 32 say, they send someone in and the crowd tells Jesus that his family- his flesh and blood – those who think he’s out of his mind for doing the will of God – those who gave birth to and grew up with him – Jesus’ family is here. The crowd tells Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

What does Jesus reply? What does Jesus reply? This is important to our story, I think. Jesus replies, verse 33ff, “‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’…Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.’”

So this is interesting isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t go out to his family in this story. In fact, he denies them, doesn’t he? His mother and brothers are not supporting his doing the work of God and he is not acknowledging them.

Just like Jesus told the Pharisees, that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven” because they said he has an evil spirit. He says of his mother and brothers, who went out to take charge of him, “Who are my mother and brothers?” They are not those who are my flesh and blood if they are opposing the work and will of God.

My family, Jesus says, is “whoever does God’s will.” In our passage here today, the author of Mark has revealed a great truth to us. The family of God is not necessarily the educated, the theologians, scholars and the pastors. The family of God is not necessarily those who are born into the churches and their loved ones.[12] The family of God is quite simply those who do the will of God, which, of course, we discern as we pray and read the scriptures.

So today, as we have looked at divided houses – that of the parable, that of the different Jewish teachers in Mark,[13] that of Jesus’ own biological family – as we have looked at these divided houses, we have some things to consider from Mark Chapter 3. In this story of the divided houses, are we really members of the family of God, or are we more like some of those who were not acting that way in this story?

Are we like the Pharisees? They knew a lot about God, probably more than anyone but they though they knew better than Jesus. Do we think we know more than God? Do we reject, by our words and/or actions, that Jesus Christ is real in our society today? Do we treat what he says and does as if it is not truly of God? This is what the Pharisees did in today’s story. Are we like them?

Or are we like his biological family? They grew up with him. They knew him but they wanted to ‘take charge’ of him. Do we ever want to ‘take charge’ of Jesus, like his family whom Jesus did not even acknowledge in this story? Do we try to ‘take charge’ of him and mould him to our idea of what Jesus and God should be rather than to let him teach us? This is what his family was doing in this story. Are we like them?

Or are we like his true family, the family of God, the disciples and others with them here, who were doing what Jesus was telling them to do? Do we in our daily lives discern through prayer and the Scriptures the will of God, and seek to do it - because it is only then that we will we truly be Jesus’ brother and sister and mother. It is only then will we truly be a part of the family of God. And this is what Jesus wants of us. He wants us to be members of his family and heirs in His kingdom.

Let us pray…

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[1] As I was informed that a snowball fight at –40 was not probable in Northern Saskatchewan, let’s assume for the sake of the story that John is speaking in hyperbole here.
[2] Cf. C.L. Mitton. The Gospel According to Mark. London: Epworth, 1957, p. 26: “If they reveal his family's failure to understand him, they are also a measure of their concern for him.”
[3] Cf. Williamson Jr. Interpretation: Mar., Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1983, p.84. Beelzebub literally means, “Lord of the flies”; this was a derogatory term derived from ‘Beelzebul’, which was the name of a Canaanite deity. By Jesus’ time the words had come to be associated with the accuser, Satan, the prince of demons. Cf. also RCH Lenski. The Interpretation of St Mark’s Gospel. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1964, p.148.
[4] Walter W. Wessel Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/ Introduction to Mark, Book Version: 4.0.2 suggests that the family is probably in Narareth but Jesus himself in Capernaum. RCH Lenski, pp.5-20 discusses the idea that he is possibly even in the house of John Mark himself. Lamar Williamson Jr., p.83, points out Jesus may now be at the house of Simon and Andrew. Either way his blood family does not appear to be actually with him now, cf. v.31.
[5] Cf. also Gal 5:20 for a NT comment on its seriousness
[6] Esp. re: drugs which had been albeit eliminated as a problem before our invasion according the UN and other sources: http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html Andrew North BBC correspondent in Kabul, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/ 3476377.stm states that since the invasion “an opium farmer may be earning 10 times as much as the government soldier or policeman whose job it is to enforce the law against growing the crop.” And the number of civilian deaths has greatly risen as a direct result as well: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html
[7] “U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer.” - Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban: JALALABAD, Afghanistan February 15, 2001
[8] CBC put our rate at almost 40% in 2002: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/05/04/divorce040504.html cf. Ambert, Dr. Anne Maire DIVORCE: FACTS, FIGURES AND CONSEQUENCES. Child and Family Canada. http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/vanif/00005_en.htm
[9] http://family.jrank.org/pages/191/Canada-Divorce.html">Canada - Divorce
[10] Walter W. Wessel Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Mark/ Book Version: 4.0.2l: The words of v. 29—"will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin"—have caused great anxiety and pain in the history of the church. Many have wondered whether they have committed the "unpardonable sin." Surely what Jesus is speaking of here is not an isolated act but a settled condition of the soul—the result of a long history of repeated and willful acts of sin. And if the person involved cannot be forgiven it is not so much that God refuses to forgive as it is the sinner refuses to allow him. Ryle's famous words are great reassurance to any who might be anxious about this sin: "There is such a thing as a sin which is never forgiven. But those who are troubled about it are most unlikely to have committed it" (J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [New York: Revell], 2:59). On the other hand, those who actually do commit the sin are so dominated by evil that it is unlikely that they would be aware of it
[11] Ibid: "because they were saying, `He has an evil spirit'"—suggests an explanation for the unforgivable sin. Jesus had done what any unprejudiced person would have acknowledged as a good thing. He had freed an unfortunate man from the power and bondage of evil (cf. Matt 12:22; Luke 11:14). This he did through the power of the Holy Spirit, but the teachers of the law ascribed it to the power of Satan. Taylor (p. 244) says that the sin described here is "a perversion of spirit which, in defiance of moral values elects to call light darkness." Further, Mitton says, "To call what is good evil (Isa 5:20) when you know well that it is good because prejudice and ill will hold you in bondage, that is the worst sin of all. The tragedy of the `hardening of heart' (as in Mk 3:5) is that it makes men capable of committing just this sin" (Gospel of Mark, p. 28). Perkins, Pheme. NIB VIII: The Gospel of Mark, p. 547: The evangelist’s comment in V. 30 shows that the judgement saying is directed against those who have charged Jesus with using Satan’s power.”
[12] Grant, F.C. The Gospel According to St. Mark. Vol. 7. IB. New York: Abingdon, 1951, p. 694: “In place of broken family relations, ostracism and persecution, was the close and intimate relation to the Son of God.”
[13] With Jesus on one side and his opposition on the other…

I Thessalonians 5:12a,13b-18 - Sundae of Christian Unity

Presented to the Tisdale community at the ecumenical Day of Prayer for Christian Unity Service and to the Nipawin Corps of The Salvation Army on January 27, 2008

1 Thessalonians 5:12a, 13b-18: But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters... Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.

For our message this week, I do not have my typical style of sermon, where I am painstakingly exegeting a passage and trying to illustrate with a number of neat stories that I hope that you will remember.

Today is going to be a little different. Now, you’ll understand that I wasn’t initially on to preach this weekend. Captain Susan was. She was very much looking forward to it but she then realised that she would be out of the province this weekend. So, while I did read up on the day of prayer for Christian unity and the theme of praying without ceasing, it occurred to me that the Lord has let me see a lot about these two things – just this past weekend.

Something exciting happened a week ago today: Irving, a member of our Nipawin congregation, was baptized. There were many of us there1 (maybe 9 or 10) from The Salvation Army to support and encourage him. It was great. I praise and thank the Lord for Irving and I was delighted to be able to be there to witness this outward expression of the inward reality of what Jesus is doing in his life.

But, now I don’t know how many of us here are familiar with The Salvation Army’s stance on water baptism. It is noteworthy for sure. We, denominationally, would look at it like … well...if salvation were ice-cream baptism to us would be sort of like... chocolate sauce atop the ice-cream. Sure many people like it. And many of us probably wouldn’t say ‘no’ if it were offered to us, but we – The Salvation Army, denominationally – we pass. We don’t see it as necessary for the enjoyment of our ice-cream of salvation for which, like 1 Thessalonians says, we can rejoice always.

Like many Christian denominations, though not all, The Army believes that baptism in water is not necessary for salvation: Jesus’ death and resurrection is all that is ever needed for that.

In the early days of The Salvation Army, we actually did used to practise the rite of water baptism but – for many reasons pertaining controversies [in 19th Century England] when and where the Army was born, we decided as a movement, that abstaining from this rite, this chocolate syrup of our analogy this evening, as it were, - for us - would be right.

At this time in the Army, baptism actually became almost like circumcision was to Paul in his letters to the Corinthians, Romans, and yes even the Galatians to whom Paul writes that “neither circumcision nor un-circumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love (Galatians 3:6; cf. 6:15).” That is our belief. And today in Canada our leadership is certainly firm in our stance that our Officers (our clergy) are not to baptize people. We have the opportunity, we are told, to show the world, as it were, that it is okay to pass on this chocolate syrup on your ice-cream of salvation.

We again acknowledge, of course, that there is nothing wrong with water baptism, and we are certainly an organisation that from its earliest days is both Christian and very evangelistic; we just prefer to have our ice-cream without toppings. (Actually there are some Salvos who would argue that since we are to lead fully sacramental lives, we shouldn’t have ice-cream at all – but I’ll save that for the holiness debate!) We are joined by our friends, the Quakers, in declining this rite of baptism - by the way.

Now, I am taking my time explaining this, and you’ll have to forgive me but there is good reason for this relating to our theme today of Christian unity and our sub-theme of praying without ceasing.

You’ll remember that I said that we do not believe that baptism is necessary for Salvation. And you’ll remember that I said that we do not practice the ceremony. You’ll remember that The Salvation Army does not forbid people from baptizing or being baptized nor do we discourage others from doing it: we are merely abstainers. We have no theological problem with the rite at all.

I must confess now that this stance of ours, a month or two ago, provided a good catalyst for ceaseless prayer on my part because Irving, our brother in Christ; Irving, a faithful member of our congregation; Irving, at the Lord’s prompting; Irving came to me letting me know that Irving was being called by the Lord to the waters of baptism - and then Irving paid me a great honour by asking me, as his Corps Officer, to baptize him.

I am excited delighted that Irving was following the Lord’s leading and I told Irving that I would pray and I would ask the authorities over me if I was permitted to baptize him but that I thought it would be highly unlikely.

So I pray. And I pray. And I pray. And I ask those in authority over me if I can perform the rite and they say, 'no', for good reasons, they say, 'no, that would not be right.'

So I pray and I pray and I pray some more - Now every Tuesday there is a ministerial prayer meeting at The Salvation Army Ministry Centre in Nipawin that is open to any Christian clergy so that we can come together and pray and support each other. Some of our most faithful attendees are a Baptist preacher from Smeaton, a Pentecostal pastor from White Fox, a Narrazene minister who leads the Holiness church in Nipawin and, of course, a Salvation Army Officer or two from Nipawin and Tisdale.

These prayer meetings are a great source of encouragement for me. It is a time when we can share things with the Lord and each other that we won't necessarilly share in other places. It truly is a place where we can encourage and help each other. It is a place where we can share about the miracles that God is performing in each of our lives, communities, denominations... It is a place where we can pray together as an ecumenical community.

It is a place where our different theological flavours - of the ice-cream of Salvation can be brought together into a wonderful Neapolitan type ice-cream; where, while we maintain our denominational distinctions much like the chocolate, vanilla, and the strawberry, we mingle in prayer and support in such a way as to produce a taste that we hope is always pleasing to the Lord. And we hope to never cease offering this pleasing dessert to the Lord.

So of course, on this one particular Tuesday, having just spoken with Irving and having just spoken with my authorities and while continuing in personal prayer, I added prayer about Irving’s baptism as – a sprinkle atop our Neapolitan prayer meeting.

I told my friends everything. I told them that The Army does not oppose baptism but that we do not perform the ceremony; I told them that God is asking Irving to be baptized and Irving is asking me to do it. I told them that the Army, however, has strongly recommended that I not personally touch the water. I was wondering if they could encourage me and be united with me in ceaseless prayer.

I also had another request. On this particular Tuesday, there is - a, sort of, - well, let’s say a chocolate flavoured Baptist preacher present. So I bring specifically to him the challenge of the chocolate syrup of baptism. I ask him some questions.

Now, as some of you may know, I have studied Baptist theology a bit and I know that different Baptists feel very differently about baptism: what it means, who can do it, and the works. After much prayer, I do ask pastor Darcy if he could and would add the chocolate sauce of baptism to Irving’s spiritual ice-cream sundae.

Now, this Baptist preacher, who does not live in the same town as Irving, as it turns out, does not travel with a baptismal tank in the back of his pick-up. (Go figure) but he would ask Pastor Brian of the Pentecostal Church in White Fox if the ceremony could be performed there. We prayed. I spoke with Irving. Darcy spoke with Brian. They prayed. Irving spoke with the others. We prayed. And in the end there really was the peace among us of Verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians 4.

So on this Sunday that just passed, the Lord poured the strawberry of The Salvation Army corps into the vanilla of White Fox Pentecostal Church and then added the chocolate of the Baptist preacher and the chocolate syrup of water baptism to Irving’s spiritual sundae. This indeed was a glorious sundae. This sundae of Christian prayer and Christian unity was completed on this past Sunday through the power of and to the glory of God.2

The Lord used this Sundae to show me a perfect example of Christian unity of prayer and service and He reminded me that the new testament letters weren’t written to the churches (plural) at Thessalonica, they were written to the church (singular) at Thessalonica and today, as members of the church at Nipawin/Tisdale/whatever city you happen to be in, I encourage us all to pray without ceasing for this same sort of Christian unity that Paul has been calling for since his letter to the Thessalonians.

Now, we have not always done so well at being united with our Lord have we? Many times and places today and throughout history members of Jesus’ Church have fought with each other. Many times we have put our own selfish ambitions before the Gospel of Jesus Christ himself. Many times we have let the devil tear us apart and divide us. Many times we have tried to exclude rather than encourage each other. Many times we have devoured each other and there are many examples of actual physical wars where Christians have dared to use a force of arms against each other instead of against the real (spiritual) Enemy.

We should not be fooled. Let us not be fooled. When we attack each other when we waste our efforts fighting with one another, then we are distracted and Enemy needs not worry about us, does he? When we concentrate on our differences, it only serves to divide us and then we cease to be this tasty ice-cream dessert for the Lord. When the sparks of discord fly, when we repay perceived or real evil with evil then, instead of being this great Neopolitan sundae, we instead, become a melted puddle of enmity.

So let us never give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. Let us be united in prayer for when we do pull together; when we are at peace among ourselves; when we are admonishing the idlers, encouraging the faint-hearted, helping the weak, and being patient with everyone (as our text today says). When we see that none of us repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another. When we rejoice always, when we pray without ceasing, when we give thanks in all circumstances, THEN we experience the joy that comes from doing the will of God in Jesus Christ; we experience the joy for you, for us, and in Christ.

So brothers and sisters today, I invite us all to come together, not as a flavourless puddle of enmity but instead as a strong ice-cream sundae rich in the traditions and heritage of the Christian faith and let us remember that we are all one body and as a body, we are indeed the bride of Christ himself – and he’s coming back for us – and soon! And when he does, lets present him with that wonderful Neapolitan flavoured ice-cream sundae of Christian unity.

Let us pray:
Lord thank you this Sunday that we are able to come before you united in prayer for Christian unity. Lord, we pray that this Sunday we will really truly appreciate the distinctive flavours that you have given each of us and each of our denominations that we will indeed be a treat and an everlasting dessert in which you are well pleased. In Jesus name, Amen.

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1The ceremony was performed at the White Fox Pentecostal Church by the Baptist Reverend Darcy Cust.
2The is an interesting footnote to this as well. This footnote I take as the Lord's blessing. When I asked my leadership about whether I could participate in the ceremony they gave me a full blessing but they suggested that I not 'touch the water' – in the end I did wind up reaching out to help our newly baptised, soaking wet congregation member from the tank and you know what – not a single drop of water got on me. Not a drip. Praise the Lord. This is very important to me the Lord kept me blameless in lending this helping hand to our brother. This moment was indeed for the Lord.