Mark 7:31-37 - Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

The prevailing modern theory on the origins of the four gospels is that Mark was first and that Matthew and Luke took Mark’s basic outline and shaped it into their own image. So according to this theory Mark wrote first, then Matthew and Luke/Acts, then John. 

The first three gospels, of course, are known as the synoptic gospels because they follow roughly the same outline and cover many of the same events. John’s gospel has a different outline and covers many different events, in some cases filling in gaps left by the previous writers. 

Think of the gospels as witnesses in a court room. Each writer tells the story from his own perspective, emphasizing what is important to him, writing for the purpose of convincing his prospective audience to believe in and become a follower of Jesus of Nazareth.

Mark is the shortest of the gospels and if it was first then that does make sense, because Matthew and Luke then become sort of expansions of his more concise telling of the story. But that's an oversimp-lification. The truth is that in some cases Mark gives more detail than Matthew or Luke when covering the same event. And sometimes Mark includes stories that are completely ignored by Matthew, Luke, and John. Such is the case with this one.

What we have in these seven verses is one of three pericopes unique to Mark’s gospel. Matthew gives a brief allusion to it, but without details. It is a miracle story told in parabolic form. In other words, the incident is recounted in a way specifically designed to convey deeper truth than what lies on the surface. So Mark tells the miracle truthfully, as it happened, but he also manages to craft it in terms that paint for us a larger picture and remind us of larger truths. In this miracle Jesus is revealing himself to us clearly--if we have eyes to see it.

Below you will find a link to the audio from the sermon I preached from this text. The sermon was just short of 27 minutes long. I hope you will take the time to listen and perhaps see Jesus in a greater way than ever before. God bless you.



Click here: Mark 7:31-37 - Jesus Heals a Deaf Man


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Galatians 6:1-8 - The Law of Christ

Having proved that we are justified through faith alone by Christ alone the question becomes “How then should we live?”

Or, to put it another way, since Paul has stated unequivocally that the believer is no longer under law, but under grace, how does Paul answer the charge of antinomianism? Hasn't he just given all believers a license to sin? And if the law is not our focus, what is the principle guideline of our Christian life?

And Paul has answered by pointing out that the law points us to Christ who is all-sufficient for believers. Through faith in him, walking by the Spirit, Christ-focused, we produce the fruit of the Spirit within us against which there is no law. All of that was in chapter five.

Remember we pointed out from Jesus’ correction of the Pharisees in Mark 7 how Jesus announced the end and fulfillment of the ceremonial law in him, and at the same time re-affirmed the moral aspects of the law. God’s moral precepts are unchanging because they are derived from God’s moral character which is itself unchanging. But the ceremonial aspects of the law were temporary serving a specific people, place, and time in redemptive history. So we are now living in that phase of redemptive history known as the Messianic age, or the age of the Spirit. He has been poured out on all flesh (meaning all kinds of people, not just Jews) and all those who (not just Jews) call upon him (worship him in spirit and truth) will be saved.

In the previous chapter Paul taught us to ‘walk by the Spirit’ and promised that in doing so we would not fulfill the desires of the flesh, but rather we would produce the fruit of the Spirit. But what happens when someone falls? What happens when someone is ensnared in the traps of the devil? What happens when someone goes astray, does not walk by the Spirit, does gratify the desires of the flesh? That's where Paul begins in chapter 6.

Below you will find a link to the audio from the Bible study we did on this passage. We covered the first 8 verses of chapter 6 and discovered the Law of Christ. Take a listen to find out more and I hope you are blessed.


Click here: Galatians 6:1-8 - The Law of Christ


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Mark 7:24-30 - The Syro-Phoenician Woman's Faith

The placement of this story is impeccable. It would be good right now for us to be reminded that Mark did not write the events of Jesus’ ministry in chronological order. Neither did the other gospel writers. Chronicling someone’s life in that way is more of a modern thing, a part of the way we do biographies. But the gospels aren't biographies and thinking of them in those terms doesn't help. Mark is painting a picture. He's telling a story intended to convince us that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God--and that we should be willing to leave all, if necessary, to follow him. So while his telling of the story leads more or less from beginning to end, it is told in a way to convey certain things that Mark deemed important. He gathers his stories, his pericopes, together in a purposeful way to convey truth in a more powerful way.

The story we have before us this morning is an example of this. He places it right after the episode of Jesus correcting the scribes because it is a perfect illustration of what we are supposed to have learned from that incident. There are no unclean foods. And, by the way, there are no unclean people either--not in Christ.

At some point after the argument of the last 23 verses Jesus leaves and takes his disciples into Phoenicia. And while it is not stated explicitly, Jesus is essentially done now with his Galilean ministry. For the rest of this chapter and the next he will be ministering among predominantly Gentile and pagan peoples. 

There is also a great contrast here between this story and the last. In the last story Jesus is essentially rejected by Jewish men who consider themselves the keepers and guardians of sacred Torah, from which they believe they earn God’s favor, and which they guard zealously by adding to it their own traditions. In this story we have a Gentile woman, someone who would have no status whatsoever with those men in the previous story, someone who finds in Jesus the favor of God.

When we remember that Mark is writing his gospel for a predominantly Gentile church, his placement of this story makes perfect sense. What hope could Gentile pagans possibly find in the God of Israel? As it turns out, great hope--for that very God, when he came down, had in a sense sought them out. This turning now to the Gentiles after being rejected by the Jewish religious leaders is a perfect picture also of what took place in the first century church. 

None of this, however, is the theme of this story. The theme of this story is the contrast between this woman's faith and the blindness of everyone else we have come across. The scribes and Pharisees are blinded by their own self-righteousness. The crowds see before them only someone who might provide a need or a spectacle. Even the disciples, who are given the benefit of extra revelation in the form of private instruction and explanations, still do not get it. But this woman, this Gentile woman, understands. She gets it. She believes. That is the contrast.

Below you will find a link to the audio recording of the sermon I preached from this text. It's just a little over 20 minutes long and I hope you will take the time to listen to it. On the spectrum of rejection (the scribes and Pharisees) to full faith (the Syro-Phoenician woman) where are you? Have you believed yet? Have you committed your all to him?


Click here: Mark 7:24-30 - The Syro-Phoenician Woman's Faith


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Galatians 5:24-26 - Crucified Flesh

In our bible studies in the book of Galatians we have been occupied with the fruit of the Spirit for several weeks now. We have been reminded that our focus in this life is Christ, that when we are attentive to the means of grace we are walking by the Spirit, that when we thus walk this fruit is produced in us. 

It is not self-effort, but Spirit-dependence through which God works in our lives. To walk by the Spirit is to walk by faith. We need the gospel and the message of Christ over and over and over, because it is that which produces faith in us and, consequently, fruit in us as well.

So our lives should be Christ-focused not law-focused. When they are such the Holy Spirit will bring us into conformity to God’s law, making us more like Christ. By the way, the Bible, understood properly, is all about Christ. To be much about Christ, then, is to be much about the word of God, the Bible. We need more and more and more of his word in us each day. It is the word of God which transforms us into the image of Christ, producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. 

Now in this study we took a look at verses 24-26 of chapter 5, with a focus on verse 24 and what it means to crucify the flesh.

What does Paul mean by this? How do we do this? Does this have anything to do with the death of Christ? We give answers to these questions and more in this Bible study. The audio is linked below. I hope you will take the time to listen and gain a greater understanding of this work God is doing in us and what role we play in that work. God bless.



Click here to listen: Galatians 5:24-26 - Crucified Flesh



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