Countryside Vineyard Church
Mark - The Verdict: He Has Done All Things Well Pt. 41
  • I Believe It ( in the life of Jesus)
  • Hearts Of The Fathers
  • How Great Is Our God
  • Set a Fire
  • How great thou art

      • Mark 7:24-25ESV

      • Mark 7:26-28ESV

      • Mark 7:29-30ESV

  • Introduction

    Good morning and welcome to the Countryside Vineyard…
    May name is Joe Fager and I’m one of the Pastor’s here. This morning we’ll be in the Gospel of Mark 7:31-37 so please turn in you Bibles to that passage.
    I’m not going to do a lot of introductory stuff this morning. Because we are going to do a lot of recapping and looking foreward in our passage today.
    Mark 7:31–37 ESV
    Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
    Before I begin to teach let’s pray.
    I’m going to do thing a little different and sort of uncomfortable for me, but I think it will work for this sermon.
    On the screen is a map of the northern part of the land of Israel.
    We are going to take a journey with Jesus today...
    Now if you remember a few weeks ago we saw Jesus being confronted by the pharisees about the disciples being dirty.
    That event took place at Gennesaret.
    Immediately after that event we see Jesus in Tyre were he meets a Syrophoenician woman and we talked all about that last week.
    So when I first read this passage, I said wait what that doesn’t make any sense. Why would Jesus go north to go south?
    Well I’m not the only one who has noticed this.
    In fact, the more critical scholars use passages like this to write off Markan authorship and say look whoever wrote this obviously was from outside the land of Israel and at a much later time becasue he doesn’t even know basic geography.
    But that’s not what’s happening here at all Mark is fully competent in his geography and Jesus wasn’t lost either. Instead, Mark and Jesus by what he does is making a huge theological point.

    I. The Journey is Intentional

    Earlier in chapter 7, certain Pharisees challenged Jesus because his disciples were eating with unwashed hands. Their concern was that uncleanness could come from outside a person and contaminate them.
    Jesus responds by teaching that uncleanness does not enter us from the outside; it proceeds from the human heart. Then Mark shows Jesus walking that teaching out geographically. Jesus enters Gentile territory. He enters a Gentile home. He delivers a Gentile daughter. He travels through still more Gentile territory. And instead of their uncleanness contaminating Jesus, his holiness begins making them whole.
    Jesus is not abandoning Israel or replacing Israel with the Gentiles. He is fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham that through Abraham’s offspring all the nations would be blessed.
    Last week, the Syrophoenician woman asked only for a crumb. Jesus had said that the children must be fed “first.” She heard hope in that word. “First” did not mean “only.”
    She received her crumb, and her daughter was delivered. Next week, that crumb will become a feast. Jesus will take bread, bless it, and feed thousands in this Gentile region.
    The crumb received by one Gentile woman becomes bread enough for a Gentile multitude.
    But between the crumb and the feast, Mark places this story about a man who cannot hear and can barely speak. At first, it seems like an interruption. It isn’t. It is the key to understanding what Mark is doing.
    After the feeding, Jesus’ disciples become worried because they have forgotten to bring bread. Jesus says to them, “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?”
    Then Mark tells us about Jesus opening a blind man’s eyes.
    Do you see the pattern? Jesus opens a deaf man’s ears. He feeds a Gentile multitude. He asks the disciples why their ears and eyes remain closed. Then he opens a blind man’s eyes. Finally, Peter begins to see: “You are the Christ.”
    Mark is showing us that proximity to Jesus does not automatically produce perception. The disciples had heard his words, witnessed his miracles, and even distributed his bread—but they still struggled to understand him.
    We can possess the Scriptures, know the stories, attend the services, and still fail to hear what God is saying. We need the Son of God to open our ears and our eyes.
    Now that we have the greater context let’s look at the man and Jesus interacting.

    II. The Impediment is Prophetic.

    Mark 7:32 “And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.”
    Here is an example of Mark using language to communicate a deeper meaning.
    Mark tells us that the man was deaf and had a speech impediment. The Greek word he uses for that impediment is extraordinarily rare. In fact, it occurs only one other time in the Greek Old Testament—and that is Isaiah 35.
    Isaiah 35:4–6 ESV
    Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
    Isaiah promised a day when God himself would come to save his people. When he came, the ears of the deaf would be opened, the eyes of the blind would see, and the tongue of the speech-impaired would shout for joy.
    Now Mark deliberately uses Isaiah’s unusual word to describe this man. He wants us to understand: the God Isaiah promised has come near in Jesus. This is not merely a display of supernatural power. It is a sign that God’s promised kingdom is arriving.
    And where does this sign occur? In the Decapolis—Gentile country. Isaiah’s promise is beginning to overflow Israel’s borders. Israel’s Messiah is bringing Israel’s God and Israel’s promises to the nations.
    The crumbs falling from Israel’s table are becoming larger and more frequent.

    III. The Encounter is Personal

    Mark 7:33 “And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.”
    Well personal is a bit of an understatement. In fact, I’m not going to try and speculate as to why Jesus did any of these acts. We just don’t know. Mark doesn’t tell us. I have read and read, and read to try and find some plausible explanation of this event.
    So we’re going to stick with what we have. Jesus touched the man. We’ve seen this before, Jesus touched the leper a no no in the Jewish world (actually every world).
    but first he took the man aside. There are several thing we can learn from that one act.
    Jesus saw this man not as a healing to perform but as a man. He showed dignity and honor by not making him a spectacle.
    He pulled him aside and did the healing privately.
    As you learn to pray for people, and see people made whole where they had been broken before, you need to be aware of your human tendency to make these things into a spectacle.
    That sort of thing can damage people, maybe Jesus knew this man needed privacy, we don’t know why he pulled some people aside in private, and others he healed openly in front of everyone.
    But this illustrates a very important point. Jesus never healed the same way twice.
    We can’t watch and figure out how to do it. We can’t watch anyone and figure out to heal. It’s not magic, it’s the power of God through ordinary vessels.
    We must be reliant on the Holy Spirit.
    We have a model in the Vineyard for prayer ministry. It’s called the 5 step prayer model.
    Interview: find out what the person wants Jesus to do.
    Ask, “What would you like Jesus to do for you?”
    Listen to the person. Do not assume you know what they need. Do not begin by giving them your diagnosis, theology or testimony. Jesus gave this man personal attention. We should do the same.
    The Diagnosis: Find out what the Holy Spirit wants to do. Listen to the Spirit and ask what are you doing here?
    Here is where we are: Jesus discerns that the man needs some privacy, that sticking his fingers into his ears and spitting on his tongue are what the Holy Spirit is saying to do here.
    Please don’t do this if you are praying for a deaf person with a speech impediment. The point is not to copy Jesus, it’s to listen to him, and obey him in your present context.
    Quietly ask the Holy Spirit, “What is going on here? How do you want me to pray?”
    The problem may be physical, emotional, relational or spiritual. We hold our impressions humbly. We do not announce guesses as though God has unquestionably spoken, and we never blame the person for being sick.
    Jesus has decided that this man needs to be touched for whatever reason. You and I we should always ask first. Do you mind if I touch your shoulder while we pray or something like that. Don’t assume. Ask.
    Mark 7:34 “And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.””
    Verse 34 goes on to tell us that Jesus looked to heaven and sighed, and uttered a command
    This illustrates the next two steps in the 5 step prayer model Prayer selection and Prayer engagement.
    Prayer Selection:
    Decide how you are going to pray. Sometimes we petition: “Father, would you bring healing?”
    Sometimes we bless what God is doing.
    Sometimes, following Jesus’ example, we give a brief command: “Pain, leave. Ear, be opened. Body, be healed—in Jesus’ name.”
    The authority is not ours independently. We are ministering under the authority of Jesus.
    That last line is the key. We are ministering under the power and authority of Jesus.
    Mark demonstrates that principle when he tells us that Jesus looked up to heaven.
    Jesus is doing exactly what we need to do.
    He says elsewhere that he only does what he sees the Father doing.
    He’s getting information from heaven through the work of the holy Spirit, the exact same way we have to.
    Prayer Engagement:
    Jesus sighed and said to him Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.””
    This is typical Jesus and as John Wimber used to say you never see Jesus doing these lengthy prayers in King James English.
    Jesus says: Be opened! Lazararus, come forth! See!, Get up and walk!, the demon is gone.
    Notice how he speaks directly to the condition… It’s not a petition to God for healing. It’s a command to the body to come into alignment with what God is already doing.
    That’s Jesus though, we see Peter before he raises Tabitha from the dead kneels and prays first, so don’t get hung up on this. It’s ok to both command the disease to reverse and sometimes for us to really just some time silently praying to God first.
    Pray briefly and keep your eyes open. Watch the person. Then ask, “What is happening?” or “Is anything changing?”
    If the pain has decreased, thank God and pray again. If nothing has changed, we may pray differently or simply stop.
    We do not manufacture a testimony or pressure someone to report improvement.
    That brings us to the final step in the 5 step prayer model.
    Post-Prayer direction:
    For Jesus it was just one phrase don’t tell anyone.
    Mark 7:35–36 “And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.”
    Firs tthing we notice is that Post-prayer we wnat to find out what happened.
    Did anything change? Do you notice anything different?
    In this case his ears were opened - he could suddenly hear and his tongue was loosed - he could speak plainly.
    then Jesus gives the instruction - don’t tell anyone...
    Again Jesus doesn’t want his popularity to get out of control.
    Jesus is in complete control of his own death. He has to be crucified at the right time on the right day, in the right year, in order to fulfill all he was doing. If he gets too popular maybe they decide he’s too popular to crucify. We don’t know, but what we do know is that he tells them not tell anyone. Of course they do anyway, but that’s been happening all along.
    I can almost 100% say that that will never be something you say after praying for someone. Your post-prayer instructions should almost never be don’t tell anyone.
    So what about you? What does post-prayer direction look like for you?
    Encourage the person. If healing occurred, thank Jesus and encourage appropriate medical confirmation.
    If healing was partial or did not occur, do not blame their faith.
    Remind them that Jesus loves them, continue walking with them and invite them to receive prayer again.
    We pray because Jesus is the healer. We leave the results with him.

    Closing

    Mark 7:37 “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.””
    The witnesses were astonished beyond measure
    The crowd may understand more than they realize.
    Their words sound like Genesis: God looked at his creation and declared it good.
    Wherever Jesus goes, damaged creation begins to be restored. Deaf ears open. Bound tongues are released. Hungry people receive bread.
    Jesus does all things well.
    But we also need to remember where this story began. Jesus has taken the long way through Gentile country to reach this man. He has crossed the boundaries other people erected. He has entered territory that religious people considered unclean.
    And when Jesus gets there, their uncleanness does not contaminate him. His holiness begins making them whole.
    That is the good news of the kingdom: you are not too unclean for Jesus. You are not too broken for Jesus. You are not too far away for Jesus. There is no place in your life he is afraid to enter.
    But Mark is also asking us a deeper question: Do we have ears to hear what God is doing?
    The Pharisees possessed the Scriptures, but they could not recognize the one to whom the Scriptures pointed.
    The disciples traveled with Jesus, heard his teaching, and witnessed his miracles—and they still struggled to understand.
    It is possible to be close to the activity of Jesus and still miss Jesus.
    So maybe some of us need to hear his command spiritually this morning:
    “Ephphatha—be opened.”
    “Open my ears, Jesus. I have heard these stories so many times that they no longer surprise me.”
    “Open my eyes. Show me where you are working.”
    “Open my heart. Enter the places I have closed because of fear, pain, disappointment, or shame.”
    But this passage is not only a metaphor. Jesus really healed this man’s body. The ears that could not hear were opened. The tongue that could not speak plainly was released. The kingdom of God came against physical brokenness—and physical brokenness gave way.
    We believe Jesus still heals today.
    We do not control him. We do not manufacture anything. We do not blame people when healing does not happen. But because Jesus is compassionate, because his kingdom is present, and because he has invited us to pray, we will ask.
    We will listen to the person. We will listen to the Holy Spirit. We will pray simply. And we will leave the results with Jesus.
    So I want us to make room for him now.
    Some of you need healing in your body. Some need freedom from emotional or spiritual pain. Some may simply realize, “I have not been hearing God. Something in me has become closed.”
    Whatever brought you here, Jesus sees more than a condition. He sees you. He is not interested in making you a spectacle. He meets people personally, compassionately, and with dignity.
    So, Holy Spirit, come.
    Show us what you are doing.
    Jesus, open what has been closed. Restore what has been damaged. Help us hear your voice and recognize your kingdom.
    And may our testimony be the testimony of this crowd:
    “He has done all things well.”
    In Jesus name
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