For He Had Healed Many

Posted by Pastor Pat on April 10, 2009

Read Mark 3:7-12

The paragraph before us (Mark 3:7-12) forms a transition from one idea (Mark 2:1-3:6) to that of selecting His twelve disciples (3:13ff).  It is both a summary and an introduction.  In summarizing the ministry of Jesus, no statement is made concerning His teaching ministry.  Such an idea is assumed and established earlier in chapters 1 and 2 (1:21, 22; 2:13; 4:1, 2; 6:2, 6, 34; etc.).

Jesus taught.  He always was teaching.  Jesus used every means at His disposal to preach God and call people’s attention to God.  Yet, how do we “mesh” the two ideas of preaching the gospel and helping our fellow man?

The gospel of Jesus Christ addresses the whole of the individual.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply proclamational.  It is also incarnational.  The gospel feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and provides a cup of cold water to the thirsty (Matt. 24).  The gospel produces humanitarian activity.  Christianity causes us to care.  Ministries of mercy are intrinsic to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For many years I was only focused on the proclamation of the gospel, caring little about the physical needs of those around me.  I was not taught to care.  The church’s “business” was to preach Christ.  I still believe this, but I have fleshed out what this preaching looks like considerably in recent years.  I now have come to understand the other aspect of the good news.  What does this look like based on the statement of our Lord in Luke 4:18?

• We preach good news to the poor while seeking to alleviate their poverty.
• We proclaim release to the captives while working to see justice in the face of flagrant inequality.
• We seek to restore sight to the spiritually blind while assisting those who are blind in this world.
• We seek to set free the oppressed while coming alongside of those with consuming addictions.

In the absence of either one (proclamation and incarnation) we have an imbalanced and unhealthy expression of the good news.  Such thinking should be creative and expansive.  There is no possible way to address the needs in every cultural context.

How might we begin to embody the other side of the good news?  For us to be a clearer picture of the gospel we have begun to emphasizing the idea of mercy ministries as an expression of the Waukesha Bible Church family.  We do not believe such expression can be severed from a proclamational ministry, nor do we believe its fullest expression can happen apart from a community of faith.  As a means of fulfilling the gospel in our immediate community, we are working through already established works.  We are not partnering with these agencies.  We are simply using means that already exist for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our immediate community.  Many of you are already involved in ministries of mercy.  We are helping those in need and assisting our neighbors and volunteering at local agencies.  The thoughts behind us having a COMMUNITY OUTREACH MINISTRY are to establish and solidify this idea as a believing community.  This is important, and if you do not have the venue for this expression to take place in your life, then we are providing a platform for it to exist.

One of my desires is for the Waukesha Bible Church family to have a real presence in the Waukesha Community.  I would like to think that after 55+ years of being a part of our community that if our fellowship disbanded the impact would be felt by the unbelieving community.  It is not my desire that they become dependent on us, but I would like to believe that our presence is real.

May God enlarge our hearts so that our hands become a real part of what Jesus is doing in and through His church.

By Pastor Patrick J. Griffiths.  For more information see the Waukesha Bible Church series on Mark.