Jesus Accused (Capernaum)
Matthew 12:22-30
Mark 3:20; 22-27
Luke 11:14-23
Blasphemy Condemned
Matthew 12:31-37
Mark 3:21; 28-30
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Mark 3:20‐21
‐‐ “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that He and His
disciples were not even able to eat.
When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for
they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’"
Do you live your life so brazenly
for Jesus that some will see you as crazy?
The decision to live all out for Jesus or to merely have Him as a
fixture in your life is the demarcation line of God doing great things in your
life or you being involved in religion.
When you live all out for Jesus, you live in a way that removes the
human boundaries and lays your life out for God’s use.
Galatians 2:20
‐‐ “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved
me and gave Himself for me.”
When you are merely
“involved in religion,” God is formed around your life according to your
pleasures, desires, and aspirations. The
interesting thing about Jesus living all out for God was that people around Him
fell into three groups: Those who could
not get enough of Him; those who thought He was crazy, blasphemous, and demonic-possessed; and those who stood at a distance with admiration, intrigue,
and interest.
Every person must make a decision
for Christ: “I’m living all out for
Christ regardless of the cost and appearance”; “I reject Christ because I’m
more important than God”; or “I’ll live all out for Christ as long as I can
play around the edges so as not to upset what others think of me, inconvenience
myself, go against cultural norms, or create any risk.”
The funny thing about living
all out for Christ is that it is radically attractive to those who are lost,
hurting, struggling, and rebelling. It
is attractive because it is authentic.
Being authentic is not a façade but a statement of faith that is
supported by your commitment to live and act according to what you say. The world is turned off by those who say one
thing but do another, but fascinated with those who live by what they say and
believe. Yes, a few wanted to take Jesus
to the psychiatric ward, but Jesus could not eat because of the crowds pressing
in on Him. His authentic faith ‐ not
religion ‐ attracted others to Himself.
2 Corinthians
5:12‐15 ‐‐ “If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in
our right mind, it is for you. For
Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and
therefore all died. And He died for all,
that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died
for them and was raised again.”
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Further Reading
Blaspheming the Holy Spirit
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