Sunday's Message - Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Here's the message I offered during the celebration services in the First United Presbyterian Church, Brilliant, Ohio and the Presbyterian Church of Hopedale, Ohio on Sunday, January 31, 2020.

Mark 1:21-28 

Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the Jewish meeting place and started teaching. Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses. Suddenly a man with an evil spirit in him entered the meeting place and yelled, “Jesus from Nazareth, what do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One.”

Jesus told the evil spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The spirit shook him. Then it gave a loud shout and left.

Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” News about Jesus quickly spread all over Galilee.

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Now, when I was working full-time with a congregation, I always picked the hymns we sang during the service on Sunday morning. You see, I wanted them to complement the sermon, and the easiest way to do that was to select them myself. And even though nobody likes every hymn (I mean, there are folks who would be happy singing “In the Garden” and “Old Rugged Cross” every Sunday), it generally worked out fairly well, but only after I’d gotten a sense of what the congregation knew and maybe more importantly, what it liked to sing. Of course, that’s almost impossible to do when you’re just filling a pulpit. And so, when I’m preaching here, I let Dorothy pick the hymns. And I’ll tell you, it’s worked out pretty well. I mean, she has a much better idea about what you enjoy than me. And if we sing a hymn that you really don’t like, it’s not my fault. Blame her. And so, now y’all know how I handle the hymns, and aren’t you glad you came?

But you know, having said all that, this week was a little different, because I put in a special request that we close the service by singing “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Of course, when I picked it, I didn’t think that I’d have to deal with a lot of blame. My gosh, I think this song was considered an old favorite when my grandmother was a girl; therefore, I was pretty sure that folks who’d been around the church for a while would not only know it, but they probably also liked it. At least that’s what I assumed. 

But I’ll tell you, I didn’t pick it because I thought it might boost my popularity. During this last week, as I’ve been thinking about the passage we just read and how it might relate to us, I kept coming back to this hymn and in particular, the very first phrase: “I am weak but thou art strong.” And you know, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to sort of sum up not only what’s happening in this passage from Mark, but also why it might be important for us. You see, I think it’s pretty obvious that this story is all about strength: you know, the authority of Jesus’s message and the power he had over demons. And in my opinion, this strength stands in pretty sharp contrast with a sense of weakness that I think we all experience from time to time. And I’ll tell you, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about for the next ten minutes or so. I mean, first, we’re going to look at those times when we might feel weak, why it happens and how it generally affects us. And then, second, we’ll consider how we might be helped by just remembering that Jesus is strong, you know, how he showed his strength in our passage and why it’s important for us to remember. Now that’s the plan. 

Of course, I really don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that there are times when we all feel a little bit weak, you know, the first point we’re going to cover. As a matter of fact, for some folks, weakness, man, that’s become almost a way of life. And even though we’re going to focus on us as individuals, I think you can probably apply the same sort of thing to groups, you know, like families and communities, even countries. And the reasons we might feel weak, well, I believe they’re different from person to person. But I’ll tell you, even though different, they seem to fall into two pretty clear categories. For example, I think a sense of weakness can come from something that’s happening on the inside. Let me give you an example. I recognize that my family and I have been both blessed and lucky, because none of us have had to go through COVID. But personally, I know plenty of folks who have. And although some of the specific symptoms have been different, it sure seems like all the folks who’ve gotten sick have all felt achy and tired and, well, weak. And that appears to be the case regardless of how strong they were before getting COVID. Man, I know a guy who runs marathons, and yet, he was absolutely wiped out by the virus. Now that’s what I mean by something on the inside making us feel powerless. But I don’t think it’s limited to just the physical. The same thing can happen to us financially and emotionally and spiritually. You see, on one hand, something on the inside can cause us to feel weak. On the other hand, though, I believe it can also be grounded in something happening on the outside. Of course, I recognize that a pandemic might be the ultimate outsider. But a shift in company management or the entry of a new significant other or the sudden and unexpected change in a boss or a teacher, a spouse or friend; any of those could result in a person feeling a profound loss of power. And so, there are different explanations for why a person might feel weaker than usual.

And as to the results, well, I believe weakness can cause people to feel both confused and discouraged. For example, I’ve know plenty folks who just don’t understand why something is happening, and specifically, why it’s happening to them. Now things were just great before they got sick or lost their job, before they got a bill from WVU or their daughter moved to Texas, before they felt shaky on the inside and threatened on the outside. Life was fine, but now, well, it’s not so great. And these changes, man, they just don’t make sense. Now that’s what I mean by confusion. And right along with that, I believe this onset of weakness can also be really discouraging, especially when you’re looking at the future and trying to figure out what to do. I mean, when things were under control, you know, when life was manageable, you had direction. And even if you didn’t have it all planned out, you had a sense of where you were going and even a rough idea about how you were going to get there. But that was then and this is now and things have changed. And because of that, we end up feeling the same kind of thing expressed in a song from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Jesus is praying in the garden at Gethsemane and sings this:

I’m not as sure, as when we started

Then, I was inspired.

Now, I'm sad and tired.

Now that’s the kind of discouragement I’m talking about, something that, right along with confusion, I think we experience when we’re forced to recognize that, first, we really are weak.

But I’ll tell you, it’s at that time, it’s when we feel like we’re running on empty and the road ahead is up-hill, it’s right there when I believe it’s crucially important to focus on the second part of the hymns first line: “I am weak, but thou art strong.” In other words, when it feels as though the wheels have come off the bus and in the great rat race we call life, all-of-a-sudden the rats seem to be winning, right then and there, we need to remember that Jesus really is strong. And I’ll tell you, to find support for that, man, we don’t need to look any further than the passage we just read. Remember, in this story, Jesus showed his authority and power in two ways. And you know, whether it’s translated authority or power or strength, in the original Greek, it’s the exact word. You see, for one, Jesus taught with authority. Just listen to what the Evangelist Mark wrote:

Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the Jewish meeting place and started teaching. Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses. [Mark 1:21-22, CEV]

You see, Jesus showed strength by what he taught. And do you remember what that was? Again listen to Mark:

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God. He said, “The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good news!” [Mark 1:14-15, CEV]

You see, before calling Peter and Andrew, James and John, this was Jesus’s proclamation, and as the people in Capernaum said, Jesus taught with authority. And that was one sign of his strength.

And two, again according to Mark, not only did he teach with authority, Jesus also demonstrated genuine power. And in that way, he showed both the people in the story and we, the readers, that he was strong. And that was certainly demonstrated by what we did. Remember, Mark wrote:

Suddenly a man with an evil spirit in him entered the meeting place and yelled, “Jesus from Nazareth, what do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are! You are God’s Holy One.”

Jesus told the evil spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The spirit shook him. Then it gave a loud shout and left.

Everyone was completely surprised and kept saying to each other, “What is this? It must be some new kind of powerful teaching! Even the evil spirits obey him.” [Mark 1:23-27, CEV]

Now that’s what happened, and I think this shows just how strong Jesus was, and to me, that’s amazing. But I’ll tell you, what may be even more incredible was that he didn’t keep this power to himself. A little later in the Gospel this happened:

Jesus decided to ask some of his disciples to go up on a mountain with him, and they went. Then he chose twelve of them to be his apostles, so that they could be with him. He also wanted to send them out to preach and to force out demons. [Mark 3:13-15, CEV]

And a little later:

Then he called together his twelve apostles and sent them out two by two with power over evil spirits. [Mark 6:7, CEV]

You see, the authority and the power and the strength Jesus had, he shared.

And I’ll tell you, that’s something we need to remember when weakness has reared its ugly head. You see, when we’re totally confused, we need to remember that authoritative message Jesus shared, because when we do, I think things clear up quite a bit. For example, when we really don’t understand what’s going on and the world around us doesn’t seem to make any sense, we can remember that “...he said, ‘The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here.’” [Mark 1:15, CEV] In other words, in spite of what we might see as chaos, God has not abandoned his creation. Things are changing. And the time is coming when the rule of God will be here on earth just as it is in heaven. And even though we might still be confused about all the whys and the hows we’re facing, we can be confident that as sure as a tiny mustard seed grows into a huge shrub and a little bit of yeast can change an entire lump of dough, God is right now at work: remaking and restoring and renewing what he made. And our bouts of confusion aren’t going to change a single thing. I believe just knowing there’s a plan can offer a little clarity. And clarity is just what you need when you’re confused. 

And I’ll tell you, when we feel discouraged because the future seems to be a threatening place, man, we can remember the power that Jesus demonstrated when he kicked out the demon. I mean, let’s get real, not only did that unclean spirit know exactly who Jesus was, it was no match for “God’s Holy one.” Now personally, I think knowing that we have the spiritual equivalent of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson watching our back, man, that can be comforting. But when you add to that the fact that Jesus has given his disciples that same power, man, I now understand what Paul was getting at when he said to the Philippians, “I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little. Christ gives me the strength to face anything.” [Philippians 4:12-13, CEV] And I’ll tell you, just like it applied to the clarity that can come from the message, our discouragement is not stronger than the comfort we can receive from the power. You see, even though we may be weak, Jesus is strong. And that’s something we need to remember.

Now, in just a minute, we’re going to sing the final song. But before we do that, I want y’all to think about how on point that first line is. I mean, there are certainly times when the stuff that’s happening on the inside and the outside causes us to feel weak. And because of that weakness, we end up feeling both confused and discouraged. Now that happens. But when it does, there’s something we can do. You see, we can remember that, because Jesus taught with authority and demonstrated genuine power, we have a source of clarity and comfort that just might come in handy when we’re feeling powerless. You see, even though we may be weak, Jesus is strong, something that we might experience when “just a closer walk with thee” becomes a life-style and not just a song.