January 31, 2015

There’s No One Like Jesus!

4th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/1/15
Mark 1:21-28


There’s No One Like Jesus!
I. When it comes to help with defeating your enemies
II. When it comes to truth for your life


The choices before us each day are staggering when you think about it. If I offer to pick up something from Kroger for my wife, she knows she better have her cell phone handy. Inevitably I call and ask her, “Do you want regular, low fat or low salt? American, Western, or Asian? Name brand or store brand? 14 oz or 28 oz?

And the internet has only compounded the problem. Go to a website and enter a particular item in the “search” field. Even if you try to limit the size or manufacturer, it’s still not uncommon for 4 or 5 pages of items to load up right in front of you.

As your jet lands at the airport and pulls up to the gate, one of the crew members is likely to thank you for flying with them that day because they know that you have choices.

And when all is said and done, when you’ve scoured the stores and the internet, when you think you have digested all the available information and you make your choice, how much does it really matter? Is the Kohl’s brand just as good as Levi’s at half the price? Is Cambell’s really that much better than Kroger’s? If you had flown US Air instead of Delta, would your experience have been any different? Is one just as good as another?

For countless people that certainly is their way of thinking when it comes to spiritual matters. It’s called religious pluralism. Just take your pick. They’re all the same. They all get you to the same place. You can even admit that you’re not religious but you are spiritual and that’s just as good.

But that’s not the case. Not by a long shot. There’s only one religion whose founder is true God who became true man, lived, died, rose again and ascended into heaven. There’s no one like Jesus.

That was plainly evident to the people sitting in the synagogue in Capernaum on the day Mark describes for us this morning. These people had likely been religious all their lives, but they had never seen or heard anything like Jesus until that day.

But it’s too easy for us to be unimpressed with Jesus. It’s too easy for us to have a “take it or leave it” attitude about Jesus. Let this portion of God’s word impress you with the truth that there’s no one like Jesus and by God’s grace, he’s your Savior from sin. There’s no one like Jesus!

Part I.

I know this may sound weird to you, but I usually scan through the daily obituary. I rarely see the name of someone I know, so why do I do it? I like to read what people state about their loved one. Often an obituary states, “He never met a person he didn’t like” or “Everyone who knew Charlie loved him” or “He had no enemies.”

I understand why those statements are made. Their family members want others to know how loved this person was. So they resort to a bit of exaggeration. “He had no enemies.”

That might be true to an extent socially, but it’s not true spiritually. The truth is that we live each day surrounded by our enemies. In fact, our enemy is even within us—it’s our sinful nature. Out there is a world that attacks our faith relentlessly. And perhaps worst of all, there’s the old, evil foe himself.

The Apostle Peter wrote, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pe. 5:8). I know I’m not telling you anything new when I assert that the devil is your enemy. You know that. The daily problem is that he doesn’t sound like your enemy; he sounds like your friend, a reliable advisor, someone who knows what will make you happy. But beware! He’s only making it sound that way so he can devour you.

That deadly character was certainly evident on the day that Jesus spent in the synagogue of Capernaum. The day began as unremarkable as ever. Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. But listen what happened, “Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’” Both what the demon did and what he said are remarkable. The demon had taken possession of this man’s body and his personality. Mark doesn’t tell us the particular outward manifestations of this man’s demon possession. But it doesn’t really matter. Spiritually speaking, there’s nothing worse this side of hell than to be demon possessed.

Mark also relates what he said and it amazes us. His words indicate that he knows he is headed for destruction at some point by the action of Jesus. He knows full well who Jesus is and declares it to the people gathered there. Jesus commanded the demon to be quiet because he doesn’t want or need the testimony of demons. And then he exorcised the demon but not without a fight. “The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.” He fought back but he was no match for Jesus.

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, your daily struggle—make that your daily battle—is with the same hellish powers. By God’s grace, the Lord Jesus has redeemed you—he bought you back from Satan. That was his work in coming to this earth. You belong to him by faith in him.

But Satan wants you back and he’ll stop at nothing to get you. If he can’t lure you with worldly possessions and traps, he’ll fill you with guilt and despair. If he can’t fill you with this world’s pleasures, he’ll slam you with spiritual pain. And the solution—the only solution—is Jesus.

There’s no one like Jesus, no one like Jesus when it comes to help with defeating your enemies.

It’s a daily battle, and if you don’t realize it, it either means you’re barely breathing anymore or, more likely, you’ve bitten off what Satan’s offering—hook, line and sinker—and he’s reeling you in. It’s either spiritual apathy on one hand or gut-wrenching despair on the other. Realize what’s at stake here—your eternal future! And Satan wants nothing but unending pain for you. But on your side stands the Lord Jesus, the eternal victor, and there’s no one like Jesus. He stands in the synagogue of Capernaum and with a few short words from the mouth of the almighty One the demon is gone. So are yours. In whatever way Satan’s gruesome grip is grasping your soul, remember, there’s no one like Jesus. He’s the One to whom you belong. Your baptism declares that you are his own. He helps like no one else when it comes to defeating your enemies, whether they be guilt, shame, despair, temptation or death itself. You win the battle with Satan because Jesus won it for you. There’s no one like Jesus!

Part II.

I don’t believe much of what I see and hear anymore. How about you? It seems as if every report I read or hear is slanted. It makes me wonder what really happened and why. I don’t even take as gospel truth the pictures I see, especially if they’re sent via a computer. Is that photo untouched or is the result of someone’s technological and artistic abilities? What’s the truth?

I wonder if that same question pestered the minds of the Jews who were accustomed to observing the Sabbath in that synagogue of Capernaum. The standard spiritual fare offered them week after week often consisted in little more than opinions from some Jewish scribe or rabbi. Believe it or not but the Jewish religious leaders loved to debate the meaningless points of their faith, such as what constitutes work on the Sabbath and what doesn’t? Are the spices in your kitchen cupboard subject to the tithe? How much drivel like that would you stand for?

But not on this day Mark records for us! No, on this day they were in for a spiritual treat and it delighted them immensely. “The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” A few verses later Mark tells us, “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.’”

So, what do you think Jesus said that day that so impressed them? I have to believe that he shared with these people the message he always proclaimed. First, he shared with them God’s holy law. He reminded them of how impossible it was to keep God’s law perfectly. In a loving way he exposed their personal and individual sins so that they despaired of depending on themselves and rejected their self-righteousness.

And then he waited not a second to share with them the gospel—that the Lord is a gracious and compassionate God who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. He is the God who had promised to send the Messiah who would keep the law for them and offer himself as the sacrifice for their sins. Did he declare to them that he was that promised Messiah or did he let his words and his miracle speak for themselves? We’re not sure, but we do know that every word he spoke was the truth, the truth they desperately needed for their lives.

There’s no one like Jesus, no one like him when it comes to truth for your life.

Do you struggle accepting God’s truths for your life? We all do. That’s what makes us sinners. We decide to oppose the truths of the holy God. Or we deeply desire God to reveal some truth to us which isn’t in his word. We want God to tell us what to do but he isn’t speaking. That’s because the truths he wants us to know are right here in his word. It’s eternally enough for us simply to recognize and admit our sinful ways before him and to trust and believe in his forgiveness through Jesus Christ. That’s the only truth we need for our lives and that truth is found only in Jesus whom you already know and trust. There’s no one like Jesus! Amen.