Mark 3:20-35

Mark 3:20-35

20-22; The scribes pharisees conclude that Jesus is possessed by demons and satan. He isn't working 'with' the scribes so they decide that he must be working 'against' them. The scribes knew that he was a great guy, but they decided they did not want to follow him.

Reference Verses:
Matthew 12:22-24; Jesus healed a demon possessed man whom was also deaf and blind and the pharisees concluded that Jesus was powered by satan.
Mark 3:6; The pharisees plotted on how to kill Jesus in this verse. The could not just come out and kill him because it would cause a riot so they needed to plot a way.

23-27; No tyrant like satan is going to fight against himself like Jesus fought against him. No one would fight against themselves because that is not the way to win. It is very illogical. It is a conspiracy theory that makes no sense. In all of Jesus' teachings and actions he was FIGHTING satan. Instead of Jesus being powered by satan Jesus demonstrates that he is demonstrating his power AGAINST satan. Jesus was freeing people from satans control and excorsizing people from satans control. Jesus is fighting to free and to help people. If you understand the bibles outlook on society and the world it will be easier to understand this.

Reference Verses:
John 12: 30-33; Jesus says that we are fighting against the prince of this world, Satan. Jesus says once he is rose on the cross we will be freed from satans captivity.
Mark 10: 25 Through Jesus death he came to ransom himself to free us from being satans hostages.
Romans 10: 9-10; Jesus says he will only free us if we ask. Jesus, out of love and respect for us, will free us from the grasp of satan, but only if we ask.
Hebrews 13; God is consistent with his love.

28-30; These verses show warning. By refusing to act on the love and grace of God it shows that you are selfish and unwilling. Look at verse 29 because it has held much controversy when it talks about never being forgiven for blasphemy. This verse actually talks about NEVER receiving Christ and never receiving the Holy Spirit, not blaspheming against Christ AFTER you have already been saved. Does not talk about the 'law' IE. adultery, murder, thieves, etc. <-- Those people are forgiven. Peter blasphemes Jesus right in front of his face yet he was forgiven and saved because he had accepted Christ. By rejecting the spirit we are saying that we do not want to be saved/forgiven. This attitude is wrong and self righteous. When we have this attitude we think that we are good enough to pay for our own sins. This is the concept of hell in the bible because you say you want to pay for your own sins and God accepts that and that is what hell is.

31-35; Jesus' family comes in and tells him that he needs to be careful and 'chill out' with what he is doing (his ministry, etc). This shows people trying to limit God/Jesus and setting expectations on God/Jesus. His family is trying to excersise restrictions over Jesus although they know all of the great things he has ever done.

Reference Verses:
John 14:23; Looking for those who will listen to the Word and Will of God.

Beelzebull(beelzebub) means the master of the house.


Questions:
Why would you know God's greatness and divinity yet refuse to follow him?
-May be afraid of God.
-Selfishness.
-Not following through.
-It could be a claim that you are greater than God. We think we can figure things out 'better' than God.
-Could be crazy.
-It is very dangerous to think this way because we are ultimately damning ourselves.

How have we seen that Jesus has freed us and been apparent through this in our lives?

Are you prepared to accept what the bible says?

How do we feel that we try to limit God; in the life of a believer?
-We try to keep things to ourselves and be in control of our own lives.
-When God asks you to do things that you are afraid of and we say no.
-Picking and choosing what aspects of his will YOU want to follow.
-Getting frustrated with God when your prayers that YOu want are not answered.
-We end up personally talking to others and saying what WE think they should change, instead of listening to what GOD thinks they should change, although that is not up to us.
-Not stepping out of our comfort zones for God's will.
-Prayer life; when we pray for small things because we are afraid that God can't answer or attend to bigger things.
-We only decide to do the things we WANT in the will of God.

When we do the things that God wants, we have a right to be scared. When the things that God wants work out it definitely makes us rely on God more and trust in him more.

To know that we have freedom in Christ is amazing. Someone will come in to empower us (Jesus) beyond our capability as humans.

The Jesus of the bibles time is the same Jesus of our time.