Mark Pt 14:It's Worshipper or Watcher?

1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

A surevy done in 2009 by Disaboom a website for disabled people, 52% of people in the U.S. . 63 % of younger Americans chose death over disability. 56% of Americans 65 and older would rather die than live with a disability. Those with more education and higher incomes were more likely to choose death. Disability touches more than 54 million Americans.

Now that really is a shocking thing to hear, but it goes some way to give an indication of how far we still have to go when it comes to acceptance of disabled people. Now things are much better than they were, there is no doubt about that, when comes to disabled access and to the rights of disabled people, but we are far from where we should be.

To have a disability today, still puts you at a disadvantage in todays society, sad though it may be to say. You see we are living in a society that judges what is on the outside, the world is concerned with what you look like and what you can offer.

But praise be to God that he is not like that, in fact God works oppositely to the way the world works, he looks at the inside, because its what’s inside that really counts.

Now as we go through our portion of Scripture this morning on our journey through Mark, We once again see the Master at work as the Lord Jesus having move from were we left of last with Him declaring his Lordship over the Sabbath, he now moves to demonstrate his Lordship over the Sabbath

Let’s Pickup, firstly with

1.The Man with a Disabled Hand

Mark 3:1 KJV 1900

1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

Here we are back in the synagog, more than like the following Sabbath, and there is found a Man with a withered hand

A. The Condition of the Man

The word used for withered in the GK> is the word xeraino, its a term that refers to atrophy. It was used of dead plants that have dried up and wasted away.

I have seen this many times in my house, as Clare as the extraordinary ability to kill plants and flowers that come into our house, there is still a warrant out on her for the murder of some orchids last year!

This mans hand was disabled, it was withered away, he could not use it for any function.

Doctor Luke in his Gospel tells us an extra little detail about this man

Luke 6:6 KJV 1900

6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.

Luke tells us it was his right hand, which for most of us normal folk is our main hand, Sorry Bob!

In Jewish society lefties were looked down upon, the right hand was the hand of power, Jesus is seated at the Right hand of the Father.

So not only was this man disabled, but he was disabled in his right hand to make his society standing even lower

Early Church tradition places this man as a stonemason, who had an accident at work, and as a result lost the use of his hand and with it his means of income, so he was reduced to begging, no injury lawyers for you in those days!!

So this disabled man has no means to earn other than begging.

B. The Character of the Man

But what about his Character, what I want you to notice about this man, is that despite his personal circumstances, despite the rough hand that life has dealt him, excuse the bad pun.

Despite all this

Were do we find him?

We find him at the synagog on the sabbath day, coming to worship..

You see for some, any little thing that comes is enough to keep them from coming to Church on a Sunday to worship!!

Any little hick-up, and they are staying at home, but this man, this man with the withered hand didn't let his condition hinder him, it didn't define him, it didn't control him

He was where he should of been.

Now we move from the the man with the disabled hand, to....

2.The Men with the Dead Hearts

Mark 3:2 KJV 1900

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

Here we are again with our old friends the Pharisees

A. The Condition of the Men

Well, the pharisees looked okay on the outside, but on the inside their hearts were dead,

externally all looked okay, they kept their rules, or so it looked, they were public in their acts of self-righteousness

The look at mean bunch, im so Holy, look at my good works and be impressed

That which seemed alive on the outside was dead on the inside, and the Lord saw through it.

Now there are many today with a pharisaical spirit, but the truth is though you may fool people you will never fool God.

The thing I find with self righteouss people is that they seem to be oblivious to their own condition, they are two busy look at others to look at themselves

And that leads us to

B. The Character of the Men

Notice they were watching him, the the verb is in the imperfect sense, speaking of continuous action. They were watching carefully and closely to find fault, to pull him up..

They were watchers not worshippers..

many in Church like this, watching to critique, to find fault, to pull down, instead of coming to worship… Are you a worshipper or a watcher this morning

these folks were watchers and they watched for Christ to make a mistake, so they could have him..

Notice something else about their Character

Mark 3:3 KJV 1900

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

Jesus is about to begin an object lesson for this men with the dead hearts, so he call the man with the disabled hand to stand up, the Greek again gives us some more detail, as the greek literally reads “Stand up in the midst” stand up were everyone can see you is the command of Jesus.

Jesus knew what was going on in the hearts of the watchers, he knew what they were at, but he doesn't back down, he doesn't shy away he confronts them head on

false teaching and false attitudes need to be confronted head on we shouldn’t back away from these things we need to stand upon the word!!!

So Jesus initiates this showdown, he was in complete control,he tells the disabled man to stand in the middle, Then Jesus asks the Pharisees a question

Mark 3:4 KJV 1900

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

Here Jesus, flips the script, he reveals their hypocrisy, by showing them that following their self imposed rules, they were actually causing harm, and clearly the old testament law encouraged people to do good not harm.

So the truth was that the Pharisees were the ones that where breaking the sabbath law, it was obvious.

But look at their response “They held their peace”

No response, they were stuck in a dilema!

if they agreed with Christ then they would be unable to accuse Christ

if they disagreed they would be squarely at odds with the new testament

Jesus once again had befuddled them, they had been beaten once again by the master

I am reminded of the roadrunner cartoon with will e coyote trying to catch that roadrunner, he came up with all sorts of ingenious traps, but could never manage to pull it off, the roadrunner was always one step ahead

Well Jesus always had the best of the Pharisees and this encounter, just revealed the outwardly they may have looked okay, but inwardly they were far from okay

Finally we see Jesus display his Lordship over the Sabbath with

3.The Miracle of the Divine Healing

Mark 3:5 KJV 1900

5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

Jesus was angry at the hardness of the hearts of these men, he had shown them so much, they had God’s word in print and indeed in person before them and they still missed it.

Again like many today, maybe even here this very morning that have rejected Jesus, despite having seen so much, despite having the Bible in their lap, despite hearing the Gospel many times, they still reject..

These men rejected, they were just worshippers, well the one who was there to worship, who was in the synagog, instead of out begging for his food, he was were he should of been, he was were God had commanded he should be, and because he was in the place of worship, he was about to receive the blessing

A. The Condition of the Miracle

Jesus said to him stretch forth your hand

Here the man has to put his faith into action, he has to believe the word of God and take it for himself, he has to reach out in faith and claim the promises of God

If you here this morning and you withered within, if you havent claimed the promises of God for yourself, if you havent experienced the new birth then you can today, the offer is , open, the command is clear stretch forth your heart and claim healing for your soul!!

The condition was clear, believe, if the man had not responded and stretched forth his hand, he wouldn't have experienced the miracle, God doesn't force himself upon people, he wont kick down the door to you heart, you need to open it, you need to reach out for God

B. The Character of the Miracle

And his hand was restored as the other!!!

Notice full restoration, no half measures with God, its all or nothing, if you reach out to God today he doesn't partially save you, he saves you once for all for eternity!!

Praise the Lord, we can hold to that truth, hold to that promise, that he saves for eternity !!

Jesus heals this man fully, its no cheap parlour trick used by the charlatans today, come to the healing meeting and the lord will make you leg grow by a cm, none of that nonsense

This is the real deal, the supernatural divine touch of God upon this mans life, and he is fully restored!

How do those in attendance respond? with worship? with awe and wonder? no far from it notice

C. The Conspiracy because of the Miracle

Mark 3:6 KJV 1900

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

The Pharisees trumped at every turn by Jesus, have had enough, they cant beat him public debate, they will now privately plot against him, they are determined to destroy him, and off they go to jump into bed with the Herodians

The Herodians was not a religious group but a political group that supported the dynasty of Herod the `great the puppet of Rome, the Herodians were viewed as traitors by their fellow Jews, they couldn't have been more different from the Pharisees, and indeed they were normally enemies.

But they had a common enemy in Jesus, and they now plotted his death, things will now start to take a turn for the worse as we are firmly on the way to Calvary.

Conclusion-

So what are we to take from this all this morning.

Well its simply this.

It’s what’s inside that counts, you when dealing with God the one that sees all ,

its much better to have a disabled hand than a dead heart.

It’s much better to be a worshipper than a watcher

I wonder were are you in this account today, if I was to have to place you were would you be, would you look okay outwardly but be so wrong inwardly?

If that is you, I want to challenge you and indeed urge you look inside yourself and face the truth, and if you see a withered heart then why not reach out to Jesus today and experience that divine healing, that touch from the King that will change everything.