Make, Take Time for the Holy One. Take, Make “Every Effort” to do what Leads to Your Peace and Your Mutual Edification. Mark 1:35-39

In the streaming series The Chosen, one episode depicts Jesus returning to a camp where he and his disciples are staying for the night.

It is late, and Jesus has spent the day healing crowds of people.

He stumbles into camp, exhausted from the day’s ministry.

The disciples can only watch him, surprised at how tired he is.

His teaching and healing work must have been exhausting.

Though he was fully God, Jesus was also fully human, so he got tired and needed sleep (see Mark 4:38; John 4:6).

Our narrative reading for today explains that after a long day of teaching and healing, Jesus rose early in the morning to pray.

Jesus needed time to connect with his Father in prayer, resting in his Father’s presence and focusing and resting for a while to then refocus on his purpose.

He had come to do much more than heal people in Capernaum, even though that was clearly important while he was there.

When the disciples went out and found him, he said, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Does Jesus ever stop?

Does Jesus have limitless energy to just “keep going and going and going?”

No! Even Jesus needed His rest and time to refresh his physical body and soul.

Jesus too spent considerable time in prayer with his Father, and in the process and short, but extremely intense ministry he remained focused on his purpose.

If this was important to Jesus, it is certainly important for his followers too.

Be sure to spend personal time with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each day!

Mark 1:35-39Amplified Bible

³⁵Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left [the house], and went out to a secluded place, and was praying there. ³⁶Simon [Peter] and his companions searched [everywhere, looking anxiously] for Him, ³⁷and they found Him and said, “Everybody is looking for You!” ³⁸He replied, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so I may preach there also; that is why I came [from the Father].” ³⁹So He went throughout Galilee, preaching [the gospel] in their synagogues and casting out demons.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

“Let us therefore make every effort [possible] to [‘perpetually’ keep right on doing every single day] what leads [us all] to peace and to mutual edification”

But lets us be reasonable with ourselves – what does that phrase mean to Us?

Are we expected to be like the “Energizer Bunny” that can outlast all others.

Are You and I Energizer Bunny Christians?

Or always like the “other bunny” who runs out of battery power far too soon?

We don’t make it easy for new Christians to become engaged with their faith journey because we throw some pretty confusing concepts and ideas at them.

Two of my favorites that are really not intuitive for most people are the idea of the Holy Spirit or simply The Spirit and the concept of “growing in your faith.”

Our evangelical reflex is to strive to simplify the equation by simply telling new Christians to “follow Jesus” which is not necessarily any more helpful.

The real trick is to show them how to engage with the Spirit for the strength to follow Jesus that will facilitate our faith growth.

Easy, right?

No, most lifelong Christians struggle to understand how to live a Christian life, so how can we expect a person new to Christianity understand it any better.

A metaphor to help us understand these concepts and ideas a little better is to “borrow” from Madison Avenue one of its most iconic spokespersons

– the Energizer Bunny.

The Energizer Bunny is powered by Energizer batteries that reputedly are longer lasting than the average battery.

So, the Energizer Bunny continues moving in the direction that it is pointed until its batteries run out of power – if it ever runs out of power.

Has anyone ever seen on those television commercials the Energizer Bunny running out of battery power even ONCE? Does anyone ever change batteries?

It keeps going and going and going… remember.

A new Christian, or any of us mature and maturing Christians for that matter, is trying their hardest, with all available energy, to be the Energizer Bunny.

On Sundays, we ‘preach it,’ set them in motion to follow Jesus by instructing them in worshiping, reading the Bible, serving others, loving our neighbors.

Our batteries are powered by the Spirit which can actually keep our “bunny” moving forever forward and around and drum beating, but our batteries run out because of our human incapacity to sustain anything for a long period of time.

So, we are “making every effort” at “growing in faith” by ‘perpetually’ doing these activities that help us to follow Jesus, propelled by the power of the Spirit.

Again, this ‘perpetual motion Christianity’ is easy, right, because if we are all doing all these things then ‘Holy Spirit empowered’ we should be good forever.

Well, the problem with that supposition is that we are still merely human.

Our capacity to convert the Spirit’s power into action in our lives can cause us to become excessively weary due to our own overexertion, excessive enthusiasm.

Or we will run headlong and head strong directly into adversity which causes us to disconnect from the Spirit because we can fix the problem on our own power.

Sometimes, we just get distracted by those shiny, new indestructible thingies being stored up for us in our heavenly storehouses that appear into our path.

No matter how many times you talk about “consistency in your spiritual life,” realize we are human and inherently, inconsistent creatures.

If we as God’s “chosen” preachers and teachers or Laity are truly worth our salt, we will be encouraging people to be the best ‘faithful’ followers of Jesus they can be, giving them tools to help them be better today than they were yesterday.

Now back to the problem of ‘Energizer Bunny Christianity’ which is what do we do when we will finally let our batteries run out of power – how do we recharge?

I think there are three critical tools that God created so that we can energize our batteries on the fly and help us to be the servants we were created to become.

Like the man Rabbi Jesus intentionally planned for regular “time away from the crowds” Fellowship and intentionally praying and worshiping regularly with a community of other Jesus followers which gives us an energy boost as well as a better understanding of what all this new 2022 Christian ‘stuff’ means for us.

Now, hear me clearly, I am endorsing you to go to church somewhere else with other people; not just listening to Christian satellite music or Spotify or a preset list of “meditative” music or some sermon podcast in the car on your daily work commute. And don’t get me started on the “I can worship God anywhere” folks, which is a whole different – and YES! a very aggravating topic for another day.

I am a very strong advocate and even stronger proponent of ‘living’ in Acts 2:

Acts 2:43-47Amplified Bible

⁴³A sense of awe was felt by ^[a]everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] ^[b]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. ⁴⁵And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. ⁴⁶Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Striving to be Acts 2 Community – Making Every Effort – to be GOD’S Church;

Actively seek other Jesus followers to go on this journey with you. God created Eve from Adam so Adam would not be alone, and God intends the same for us.

Start or join a small “accountability” fellowship group or a Sunday School class, serve on a prayer team or ‘go forth’ mission team, whatever works best for you.

Go on a Christian Retreat make the effort to engage with people one-on-one,

to find new and insightful answers to old lingering energy draining questions, Koinonia support for making tough decisions, or a mentor to provide guidance.

Intentionally take Sabbath time regularly to rest and relax your brain and body.

God created the concept of Sabbath, which is another one of those complex church ideas, but simply stated its our time to let the Spirit re-energize our batteries so that we are prepared to go [refreshed and refocused] where Jesus asks us to go and [refreshed and refocused] do the things God calls us to do.

Let’s make it a [refreshing] priority to help people find the best place to engage ‘their Sabbath Day‘ keeping it holy, with the Holy Spiri, keep batteries charged.

I truly believe if Christians of any maturity level can help their own people find worship, find other people, and find their Sabbath rest, then they will find Jesus!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, I so very much need to spend time with you, just as Jesus did. Lord, lead me, guide me, and give me the strength I need for the work you have planned. Amen.

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Maximum Availability: Make Every Effort to Pursue, Promote Peace and Mutual Edification. Romans 14:19-21

Romans 14:19-21Amplified Bible

¹⁹So then, let us pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth]. ²⁰Do not, for the sake of food, tear down the work of God. All things indeed are [ceremonially] clean, but they are wrong for the person who eats and offends [another’s conscience in the process]. ²¹It is good [to do the right thing and] not eat meat or drink wine or do anything that offends your brother, and which weakens him spiritually.

Romans 14:19-21The Message

^19-21So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Do not eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

From one of those many “feel good” stories I receive on my Facebook feed.

“Yesterday my young son and went to the local Animal Shelter. I adopted the oldest, sickest, and sorest shelter dog. I’ll never forget his eyes. When I went into the cage he didn’t even bother to look, he knew I wouldn’t even see him.

Curling around the corner He’d accepted his fate. The volunteer said to me many times… Are you sure this one? Are you sure? He was abandoned six months ago. Many have looked at him. YES! This is our dog. He opened the cage and the other dogs fell on me. I ran towards that old and sullen dog as he cowered in the corner shaking and shivering, suddenly he looked at me as if he saw an angel… I hugged him and told him now; he will be happy again. Now, he sleeps in my son’s lap… probably the first peaceful sleep he ever had.”

On a nearby wall of the animal shelter hung an old sign:

“Give it a life. Give it a hug. They need all of us all of the time.”

“From a dad and his son who just saved a lost soul.“

Make every Effort to Pursue Peace and Mutual Edification—Romans 14:19

“Make every effort!”

“Make every effort???”

“Make every effort to do the minimum with the maximum amount of effort.”

“Make every effort to do the maximum with the minimum amount of effort.”

Those statements present our 2o22 representation of alleged “Christianity,” quite the significant personal and corporate (meaning our church) challenge.

“Make every effort …!”

But notice where that exertion is to be focused: peace and mutual edification.

Both sides of this exhortation are two-way responsibilities.

I must pursue and share peace if I am going to have it myself.

I must edify, be open to being edified, if mutual edification is going to happen.

In other words, we live with other people in God’s family.

He wants us to be responsible for making relationships work in our spiritual family.

He reminds us it will require strenuous effort.

But isn’t that true in every family relationship?

Love means sacrifice, effort, and concern for others. When we all share our love willingly, however, we are much more likely to see blessings coming back to us!

Instead of taking this “maximum effort with maximum effect” seriously, what have we instead accomplished with the minimum effort with maximum effect?

DIVISION – “US versus THEM” IRRECONCILABLE MINUTIAE – CHASMS –

Mind the Chasm ….

Make the effort to “mind the chasm” ….

Make every effort to “mind the chasm!”

Make the effort to Mind the Chasm with the maximum amount of effort ….

With maximum effort, “Mind the chasm” between God and HIS Neighborhood.

With minimum effort, “Mind the chasm” between God and HIS Neighborhood.

With maximum effort, “Mind the chasm” between God’s Neighborhood and our “irreconcilable” nit-picky Minutiae ministering inside of God’s Neighborhood.

With minimum effort, “Mind the chasm” between God’s Neighborhood and our “irreconcilable” nit-picky Minutiae ministering inside of God’s Neighborhood.

Make every effort to “hit the ground running” pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth].

Make the effort to Mind the chasm with the minimum amount of effort ….

Make the minimal effort to “hit the ground walking” to pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth].

Make the effort to Mind the chasm with no effort whatsoever …. in other words,

make no effort at all to expend any level of energy to barely “look up from our smart phones” to pursue [with {any}enthusiasm {from our church pews}] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth]. – Make the maximum effort to pursue the Status Quo.

In other words, make every single effort to be like the guy who ignored Lazarus:

Luke 16:25-26Amplified Bible

²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’

Luke 16:25-26The Message

^25-26“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’

Jesus taught his followers highly insightful things about the kingdom of God.

Care and compassion for everyone in God’s Neighborhood without exception.

With maximum effort expended: Breaking down those “uncrossable” barriers.

Risk everything to take a sledgehammer, vigorously pound into and through “worldly values, worldly traditions, rituals, worldly morals, worldly ethics.”

To rigorously pound down, pound through every single facet of what divides us.

Without any mind or thought for whose agenda was more right or more wrong, thoughts of whose beliefs were more correct than the others, care for the poor was high on his agenda, as we see in his parable about the rich man, Lazarus.

Lazarus, an extremely poor man, was covered with sores and was hungry. An untouchable. For who knows how long, he lay outside the gate of a wealthy man who lived in power and luxury. But he was ignored, and his needs went unmet.

When the poor man died, he was taken to rest with Abraham, where he finally was comforted. And when the rich man died, he was consigned to Hades, where he was in torment. He pleaded for relief and begged for a warning to be sent to his brothers. Abraham explained that there was an impassable gap between them, and that the man’s brothers already had all the instructions they needed.

The chasm is the result of the “rich man” ignoring all of God’s teachings about neighbor love and justice for all of our brothers and sisters. These teachings are plentiful in the Bible, reminding us God loves the all poor, the sinners, demands justice for all of them, and “upholds the cause of all the needy” (Psalm 140:12).

The reasons for God loving everyone in His neighborhood are often complex and far beyond our ability to question, but the reality is simple: there is great need to pursue [with enthusiasm] the things which make for peace and the building up of one another [things which lead to spiritual growth].

God’s Word still reminds us of his special care for every single neighbor we share with God in His Neighborhood. The reality is that God’s Word does not allow, make any room whatsoever, for exceptions to living out the example of Jesus established in his earthly ministry to follow as we love all our neighbors.

Make Every Effort to Pursue Maximum Peace and Maximum Mutual Edification—Romans 14:19.

Romans 14:19-21NKJV

¹⁹Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may ^[a]edify another. ²⁰Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with ^[b]offense. ²¹It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles ^[c]or is offended or is made weak.

As believers we have more in common than we acknowledge with our brothers and sisters in Christ than we have with the natural family we were born into.

When we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we were reborn into God’s family and now share with everyone a wonderful heavenly heritage based on His promises.

This all stems from faith in Jesus and is a bond that will transcend both time and distance. We will spend all eternity with these people, so it makes sense for us to aim and eagerly pursue harmony and mutual edification with each other.

So many times, we let nit-picky minutiae, minor divisions separate and cause dissension among us instead of realizing that we were ALL called into one body.

We should be pursuing peace among each other, encouraging and building up one another instead of tearing each other down by our actions and behaviors.

No matter what personal and or “Christian” or “Biblical” convictions we hold to we are to always give a greater measure of consideration to every one of our fellow brethren and conduct our “Christianity” in God’s neighborhood, behave in such a way that will build them up instead of causing confusion in their lives.

The Apostle Paul said in the previous verses of Romans chapter 14 ….

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men” (Romans 14:17-18).

There are infinitely more important things to consider than satisfying our own needs. We are all a part of the kingdom and what we do has eternal significance.

So many people struggle for acknowledgment and validation over these kinds of issues such as “eating, drinking” or “traditions” and “doctrines” of the church.

But Paul gave a great rule of thumb in 1 Corinthians,

“So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God- even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved” (I Corinthians 10:31-33).

God’s Word! The bottom line is that whatever you do make sure you are doing it for the glory of God, and absolutely none of your own and it will be accepted.

Our behavior should be above reproach in this world not because our acceptance with God our Father and Jesus Christ our Savior depends on it, but because our “truest” behavior will be seen by others and by this thereby glorify our Father in heaven or make every single effort to run like crazy in the opposite direction.

Paul sought to please others in order that many would be saved. The same principle applies to us today, we should not seek our own interest, but the interests of Christ and all of our actions should build and encourage His body.

What an amazing thing to belong to something so wonderful.

We do not belong to ourselves anymore and as such we should live like WHO we are and WHOSE we are.

Today I pray that we will behave with an eternal perspective in life and that our behavior and our actions reflect that mindset.

May you live your life making every effort, leading to the maximum pursuit of peace and mutual edification in the body of Christ and your actions lead others into this fellowship by turning them towards Jesus who can save them, Amen.