My senior year in high school I had a parking permit that allowed me
to drive to school. Our high
school had limited parking and a permit was required, and they were difficult
to secure. Suddenly, because I
could drive to school, I was very popular in my neighborhood. Every morning, as my car filled with
riders, I took up a collection for gas.
None of us had much money, so I ended up with a handful of quarters,
nickels, dimes, and pennies. We
would stop at the Clark gas station on the main drag through my hometown and
get gas every morning. Some
mornings it was $2.00 and sometimes less.
That was in the days when there was an attendant who would pump gas for
you, so I would roll down my window, hand him a bunch of change, and he would
roll his eyes and put the gas in my car.
One day he asked me, why don’t you
just fill up your tank instead of stopping every day to get a little bit of
gas? Wouldn’t that be a lot
easier? I told him I would
love to fill up the tank, but I didn’t have the money (I was also tempted to
say that if he didn’t like putting the gas in my car I would gladly take my
handful of change across the street to the Sunoco station, but taking my $1.37
worth of business elsewhere wasn’t much of a threat). Because we put in a little bit each day I was always running
on empty. There was a stretch of
time when I ran out of gas on several occasions as I drove home from school,
and I would walk to a nearby house and call my dad – if he was home from work –
and ask him to come and pick me up.
Finally, after picking me up one too many times, he told me I was going
to have to start charging my riders more or I would have to walk home the next
time I ran out of gas. Fortunately,
I can now fill my car with gas, and that is a blessing I never take lightly, but
there are still many days when I am
running on empty. There are days
when I’m tired and worn down with a crowded schedule and I feel I’m sputtering
and about to run out of spiritual gas.
Am I the only one who feels that way, or does anyone else? I am certain I am not the only one.
This morning, we are studying a passage from the gospel of Mark,
where we read these words –
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 sundown, 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.
So let’s take a closer
look at some of the lessons from this passage as we talk about Fuel for the Journey –
1. Refueling is a spiritual act.
If you are like most people,
you’re probably tired a good deal of the time. Living in a 24/7, always-connected, always-on world means we
seldom have time – or take the time – to relax. An increasing amount of research is beginning to make one
thing very clear, and that is the failure to allow our bodies and minds to rest
is taking a terrible toll on our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. But we don’t need research to tell us
this, do we? We already know we
need more rest and a break from the stress of modern life. But who has time to rest? The emails, phone calls, texts, and job
and family responsibilities keep coming at us, causing us to push harder and
harder, with the end result that we are increasingly exhausted and stressed.
Among the many
fascinating elements of the ministry of Jesus is his practice of slipping away
from the crowds and from his disciples for times of quiet reflection and
prayer. Interestingly, it seems
that Jesus was more likely to slip away when the demands upon him increased and
the needs surrounding him were at their greatest. This story, in fact, takes place immediately after Jesus was
inundated with people seeking to be healed and was at a time when the demands
upon him were the greatest. It was
the time, his disciples would believe, when he needed to be most available to meet
the needs of people. And yet there
he was, slipping away quietly in the early morning hours to take the time to
pray and to refresh and recharge himself.
Mark tells us that very early in the morning, while it was
still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place,
where he prayed (Mark 1:35). I
am not a morning person, although in recent years I’ve tried to reorient by
body clock to be more of a morning person. I go to bed earlier and get up earlier, but I have to
confess that it’s a struggle.
Those of you who attend the early service have most likely noticed that
early morning is not my natural habitat.
For me, the most natural time for worship comes only once a year for our
church – at 11:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve – for most of my life, that has been my
time of day! Tanya and I are
completely opposite when it comes to our body clocks. She gets up a little before 5:00 a.m., when I’m still dead
to the world, but I’m awake long after her in the evening. She is very much a morning person, and
she takes time early in the morning to read, relax, and prepare herself
mentally for the day. I would do
well to emulate that example, but I don’t sit and relax very well,
unfortunately.
But whether we are
morning or night people here is how we often live – it is when we are at our
busiest that we tend to be least
likely to do what we really need to do, and that is take the time to refresh
ourselvs physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That is worth repeating – it is when we are at our busiest that we tend to be least likely to do
what we really need to do, and that is take the time to refresh ourselvs
physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When life gets busy and stressful, sometimes the
first things to go are the things we need the most, such as time alone, time in
prayer, time pursuing a spiritual discipline that will put fuel back into our
tanks, energy in our steps, and passion in our hearts. Too often, when life
gets busy and stressful, we continue to push ahead and charge forward, when we
really need to retreat; to retreat into a quiet place where we can refresh
ourselves through a time of quiet prayer, reflection and meditation. Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our
heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee, wrote St. Augustine, one of the
greatest minds in the history of the church, who understood that our hearts
need time of rest and quiet, or else we will fail to withstand the stresses and
pressures of life.
2. Refueling is a necessity.
When I was in seminary, I often thought about the fact that my
schedule at that time was, perhaps, a way to prepare ministerial candidates for
a ministry that is 24/7. I went to
class morning and early afternoon, and then I went to work at my first job
until it was time for dinner. I
ate a very quick dinner – which hardly qualified as dinner – and then went to
my evening job, which was from 6:00 to 10:00 at night. When I returned home to my apartment it
was time to begin my studying for the next day. It prepared me for a schedule that involved a lot of hours
but it also, unfortunately, ingrained in me the idea that I needed to be
accomplishing or doing something almost every hour of the day. I have a hard time sitting and a hard
time relaxing, and when I do, I generally feel guilty, as though I am wasting
valuable time. And I sense that
many of us live this way. Many of us will run out at the drop of a hat to express care
for someone else yet never take the time to care for ourselves. As Jesus told us to love our neighbors
as we love ourselves, we could add that we should care for ourselves as we care
for our neighbors.
After a time away – taking time for prayer and solitude –
Jesus was most prepared to continue his work of ministry. When his disciples found him and told
him, everyone is looking for you,
Jesus was ready to go to work. But
before continuing the work of ministry, Jesus knew the power of taking time for
quiet prayer. After a time away we
can sense within him a staunch resoluteness to go about his work.
If Jesus found it necessary to take a break and
refuel, who are we to argue?
3. Refueling is a
recognition of the important work of ministry.
Here is an obvious fact – you don’t have to go searching for people
in need, because they are all around us.
In fact, if you respond in any way to the needs of people, they will
find you! Mark says the whole town of Capernaum gathered at
the door of Peter and Andrew’s home.
That would be quite intimidating, wouldn’t it? It wasn’t a huge town, but with a population of about 1,500
people imagine what it would be like if they all showed up at your house,
knocking on the door, looking in the windows, stepping on your flowers, and
leaving their trash all over the lawn.
What we see is that the response to the ministry of Jesus – especially
his healing ministry – quickly gets to the point that it became overwhelming to
the disciples. On more than one
occasion, the disciples were so overwhelmed that they asked Jesus to send the
crowds away.
If you are providing a life-changing, life-saving service to people,
they will not only beat a path to your door, they will knock down your door,
knock over everything in your living room and every other room of the house as
they search until they find you, and then they will drain every ounce of your
energy as they draw life out of your life and into theirs. That’s not being critical or cynical –
that’s just how we operate as humanity.
When we are overwhelmed with our needs and our sufferings, we don’t
generally think about the impact our needs and our sufferings have upon others. So if someone who is in need or is
suffering is not thinking about you, you better think about you and make sure
there is some fuel in your tank because the work of ministering to others is so
important we don’t need to have people burning out.
People are so hungry for ministry. It was obvious, as so many people came to Jesus, that people
were hungry for ministry. Earlier
this summer, when I was preaching through the book of Jonah, I mentioned that
church people sometimes criticize those who turn to God or come to church for the wrong reasons. I think it’s worth mentioning again the
question I asked – is there a wrong reason for people to turn to Jesus or to
come to church? There is an
oft-leveled criticism that some people come to church or turn to God simply
because of what they can get. So
what if people come to Jesus or to church for what they can get? Maybe the crowds were there simply for
the healing, but so what? They
came to Jesus. There are some
reasons for coming to Jesus or to church that might be better than others, but
if a person is coming that’s a good thing, even if their motivations are not
motivations of which we approve.
We shouldn’t be too quick to judge people’s motivations, because those
motivations grow out of very deep and important needs.
And, after all, don’t we all do that? You’re coming for what you can get for your children or for
yourself, and what’s wrong with that?
Faith is not just an intellectual exercise or agreeing to a list of
theological precepts; faith touches us on a very practical level as well. Faith is, practically speaking, what
gets us through the difficult days, the difficult weeks, the difficult months,
and the difficult years; faith is what sees us through the darkest and most
difficult times of life. We all
come to church, to faith, to God because of what we can get, and let’s not be
hesitant to admit this, because it is in God that we find our needs in life can
be fulfilled. Years ago, in a church where
I served as the Student Minister, I scheduled a Christian rock group to come to
the church to play on a Saturday evening for our youth group. That’s not unusual now, but at that
time it was still fairly controversial, this idea of “Christian rock music.” We didn’t have many people there, and
to be honest, I was kind of relieved, because the band came in and just took
over. They moved things off the
platform like they owned the place.
That made me nervous so I walked out of the sanctuary and ran into one
of the guys from the band in the hallway pulling the front off of a breaker
box. He was hooking electrical wires
into the box and running them into the sanctuary and I was certain he was going
to get electrocuted or blow up everything.
And then the music started!
It was really loud – which is not a bad thing, in my opinion – and
during the last song the kids were standing on the pews and dancing
around. And this was during my
Baptist years, so dancing and church did not go together! Near the end of their program I was
standing in the back of the sanctuary when suddenly the door opened and three
people stepped into the sanctuary.
They were there to prepare communion for the next morning and looked
rather stunned at what they saw happening in the sanctuary. They were lovely people but I can say
with confidence that this was not the type of music they either enjoyed or
appreciated. They just stood there
in the back watching, with very stern looks on their faces, and when the final
song ended they immediately made their way towards me, looking very determined
and unhappy. I just knew it was
the end for me at that church.
Before I could open my mouth to even begin stammering some kind of
explanation as to how I could allow such behavior in the sanctuary one of them
spoke up and said I can’t say I find this
to be music, but if it gets kids to church on a Saturday night I’m all for it.
Maybe those kids were just there for the music. Maybe they were just there for the free
pizza. But they were there. Maybe the people of Capernaum were just
there because they had hopes of being healed. Maybe they were there for selfish reasons. But they were there, practically
knocking down the door of Peter and Andrew’s house to get to Jesus.
I don’t know that it matters what gets people to church and what gets
people to Jesus; what matters is they get there. It’s important work, and it’s work that is important enough
that we have to be up for the task over the long haul. Don’t get into a position where you
burn out and give up. Are you
tired and weary? Are you running
on fumes, feeling as though you are barely hanging on to life and to
faith? If so, stop. Stop pushing harder and stop, step
away, pray, and allow God to give you Fuel
for the Journey.
Note – I did not preach the above message in our 11:00
service, as we had some special guests, one of whom was the pastor of the Zomi
Christian Church in Louisville.
The pastor was a guest with us that day as we welcomed the Khat Khai
family, a refugee family our congregation helped to settle in Louisville. I asked Pastor Pau to say a few words
to our congregation, and after listening to his very powerful message I knew I
had to offer a message different from what I had prepared. Unfortunately, as that message was
extemporaneous and was not recorded, I am not able to remember all of what I
said. I will offer, however, a few
of the basic thought I shared, as best I can.
First, I told our congregation that we have no idea what life is like for so many of our brothers and
sisters around the world. Pastor Pau
had been imprisoned three times because of his preaching. The local authorities threatened him
and told him he must stop preaching.
When he did not, he was put in prison. Even prison did not deter him! No one is threatening me with prison. In fact, I am often regarded with
respect simply because I am a minister and not only am I not imprisoned – I am
paid to do this! Pastor Pau was
not paid and he was imprisoned.
Second, the disciples
told Jesus everyone is looking for you. I think this statement is one that can
be used about some churches today.
People are looking for churches, and wondering why they are not
responding to the needs of people.
No community should ever have to go in search of a church, wondering why
the church is absent from the needs of the community. We are involved in many ministries in our community, and we
must continue to show, to be involved, and to make a difference.
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