What I came here to do - 2/7/2021
Call to worship:
L: If you cry the cry of the brokenhearted, your God shall hear and bind you up.
P: If we plead the plea of the outcast, our God shall hear and bring us in.
A: Let us rejoice, and bind up all wounds; let us rejoice, and bring all peoples in! For the world is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, and we are God’s people together!
Opening Hymn: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty #139
1. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
Join the great throng, Psaltery, organ and song,
Sounding in glad adoration!
2. Praise to the Lord! Over all things he gloriously reigneth.
Borne as on eagle wings, safely his Saints he sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen. How all thou needest hath been
Granted in what he ordaineth?
3. Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.
Surely his goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.
Ponder anew, What the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee.
4. Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath breath, join with Abraham’s seed to adore him!
Let the “amen”, Sum all our praises again,
Now as we worship before him.
Opening Prayer:
O God, who heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds, hear us, for we lie sick with a fever. We toss on our bed, tormented by the dreams of the night and tortured by the fantasies of the day. Do not pass us by, Lord, but enter this house; come to us, take us by the hand and lift us up, that we may minister to you and the family of God.
Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 9: 16-23
16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Children's Sermon (link)
1. Make me a captive, Lord,
and then I shall be free.
Force me to render up my sword,
and I shall conqueror be.
I sink in life's alarms
when by myself I stand;
imprison me within thine arms,
and strong shall be my hand.
2. My heart is weak and poor
until it master find;
it has no spring of action sure,
it varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move
till thou hast wrought its chain;
enslave it with thy matchless love,
and deathless it shall reign.
3. My power is faint and low
till I have learned to serve;
it lacks the needed fire to glow,
it lacks the breeze to nerve.
It cannot drive the world
until itself be driven;
its flag can only be unfurled
when thou shalt breathe from heaven.
4. My will is not my own
till thou hast made it thine;
if it would reach a monarch's throne,
it must its crown resign.
It only stands unbent
amid the clashing strife,
when on thy bosom it has leant,
and found in thee its life.
Prayer of Dedication:
O God, how you humble us! How you redefine our definitions, rendering our words obsolete by the activity of your Word! How you turn our world upside-down, showing the wisdom of our ways to be the folly of the ages! How you reveal our truths to be riddles, converting our answers into questions!
You are indeed the God of the psalmist, and you are our God; constantly watching, caring and loving us. Allow us to mirror your love into the world around us and keep us ever at your side. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 29-39
29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38 He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Sermon Title: What I came here to do (link)
It seems these days that everyone has an agenda and whatever is on their agenda is the most important thing to do first. Honestly, I cannot imagine living in a world where there were no collaborative workings. But if everyone is set on only doing what is important to them, then there is no together.
People need people. Laurie was about three when one night she requested my aid in getting undressed. I was downstairs and she was upstairs, and ... well. "You know how to undress yourself," I reminded. "Yes," she explained, 'but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves." William C. Schultz, Bits & Pieces, December 1990.
Yes it is true; people need people, even if they don’t want to admit it. But even more importantly, people need God and the saving grace of His Son Jesus Christ.
In the passage that we read today from Mark, we hear about some conflicting agendas. Jesus had just commanded a demonic spirit to come out of a man who had come into the synagogue where he had been preaching. And although he had tried to hush the demon, it had said who he was, loud and clear. So whether Jesus was ready to be famous or not, he was, and the word spread very quickly through the region.
As they entered Simon’s (who is later to be renamed Peter by Jesus) home, Jesus and all four of his disciples were probably counting on a decent meal and some down time. But when they got there, they realized that Simon’s mother-in-law was very ill with a fever. So they immediately brought Jesus over to her to heal her; which he did. And once she was up from the bed and well again, she began to serve them.
Now before we go any farther, let it be known that Jesus did not heal this woman so that they could all get some lunch. We must beware of any tendency to reduce the importance of the mother-in-law’s actions because she is a woman. Actually, she acts toward Jesus and the others as the angels earlier acted toward Jesus in the wilderness. The “service” she provided was for her Lord and King, not just a bunch of guys who had a rough morning.
Once this healing took place, however, it took on a life of its own when the disciples and others brought every sick or possessed person they could find to Jesus so that he could heal them as well. It doesn’t give an actual number of people who were healed, but the word “many” is used so we know that it may have gone well into the night.
Still, early in the morning, before the others awoke, Jesus got up and went to a deserted place to pray. He prayed to God, probably for strength and endurance; maybe even patience. But he needed some alone time to collect his thoughts and to be one with God the Father.
The disciples then woke to see him missing and they hunted him or pursued him if you will. And when they found him, they told him that everyone was searching for him. No one wanted to be in a world without him because he could such great and magnificent things.
Instead of going back to Simon’s house, though, he told the men that they needed to move on to the next town so that he may proclaim the message of our loving God whose grace appears in many forms. He said this because the proclamation of this message is why he is here; in this time, in this place, for this reason. This is what I came here to do.
The healings that he performed were wonderful to the people and they were amazed to be sure, but the Word of God is what would heal all people of the most deadly of diseases, their sin.
So when it comes to agendas, what is on your agenda today, tomorrow, and even next week? I’m sure that there may be many things, but always, at the top of the list, it must be to proclaim God and His love and the saving grace that we can and will experience through His Son Jesus Christ. It is what we came here to do.
Amen.
Closing Hymn: Precious Lord, Take My Hand #474
1. Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I’m weak, I’m lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
2. When my way grows drear precious Lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
3. When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
