Marcus Mecum - Give God Your Home
Mark 14, and as you're turning there, the Bible says in Luke 17:21, "If you ever hear someone say that the kingdom of God is over here or is over there, don't listen to them. The kingdom of God is within us". So, I wanna be clear up front that the kingdom is within us as his people. So, wherever we go, because the kingdom is within us, we Mark the places that we go. So, God is not necessarily about bricks and mortar, but God does use places. It's important that we consider that, that because we're his people and we go to places, the places we go, God marks and God uses. He doesn't necessarily need church buildings, God can use anything he wants. He can use a boat, he can use a desert, he can use a mountainside, he can use a river, a sea. He can use whatever he wants to use to minster to people. And he can also use rooms. Churches like this.
For example, when we built this building, they put the names of people, people put the names of those they were believing God for in the foundation of this building. And the reason that we were doing that is because we wanted this place to be marked. We wanted God to use this room, use this place to reach people. I talked to Matt and Ashley cheek this week and they were talking about the Shoburgs, who are part of this church now, but when we built this building, they were not. And the cheeks put their name in the foundation of this building, and they were both in the same room and talking to one another. And what I'm trying to get you to see is that there's a reason I think that God marks places.
I think one of the reasons would be, is that places many times outlive people. I can think of those who helped build this building that are no longer with us, that gone to be with Jesus, but their families are still here. Their children are still here, maybe even their grandchildren are still here. And this place, even though they're gone, continues to tell a story to generations. This is why you can go to different places that have been used throughout history, and you go to these places, these monumental spots where maybe revivals occurred, or biblical event occurred, and you go back to those places, and though the people are no longer here, those places had been marked.
And somehow, some way, you have even a sense of the heart of the people that lived in that day and those places continue to speak to us. I'm saying this for a reason because the Bible has a lot to say about the places that God want to use. And specifically, I wanna talk to you about your home. Not just the idea of your home, but even the physical location of your home. You know your address, I want you to consider that, and consider your home is a place that God want you to give to him. What might happen if you would give God your home? Well, 1 Chronicles 4:31 says, faithful man are entrusted with rooms in God's house.
2 Chronicles 31:11, Hezekiah commanded them to prepare rooms in the house of God. Psalms 104 says that there are heavenly rooms. Proverbs 24:4 says "By knowledge, rooms are filled with every precious and beautiful treasure". Ezekiel talks about holy rooms. Amos 9:6 says "God builds the upper rooms". Matthew 6:6, the Bible says "When you pray, go into your inner room". John 14:24 "In my Father's house," Jesus said, "There are many rooms". Acts 2, the Bible talks about the upper room that the 120 gathered in. They were gathered there, and the holy spirit was poured out in that upper room. And what I want you to understand is the places that we can go visit in the scripture in our mind, the same way God worked back then, the same way God moved in those days, God can move right now, and he can move right here in our church and in our homes.
And so, in Mark 14, the Bible says, "On the first day of the festival of unleavened bread," this would be one of the three major feast for the Jewish people. There are seven feasts, but three major feast that you are required to attend at least one of these. You're required to make a Pilgrimage from wherever you lived in the world to Jerusalem every year for at least one of these three feast. And so, at this point in time in Jerusalem, the population of the city had swelled by hundreds of thousands of people.
And the Bible says that "Jesus' disciples asked him, 'where do you want us to go and make preparations to eats the Passover'? And so, he sent his two disciples, telling them, 'go into the city, and there's going to be a man carrying a jar of water and he'll meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house that he enters, 'the teacher asks: where is my guest room, where may I eat the Passover meal with my disciples'? He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready," I love that. That whoever the owner of this home is, which we'll look at, they had made their home ready for a moment that was about to occur. And the Bible say, "So, they prepared for the Passover".
Jesus sent his two disciples into the city of Jerusalem with clear instructions. "I want you to find me a home". I believe that I've been given the same assignment this morning. God has given me an assignment to come and ask you if you have room in your home. To ask you, would you give God a room in your home? In this particular text, the house belonged to a widow by the name of Mary. It was custom for widows in that day to open up their homes. She would own a prominent large home in Jerusalem. We read in this text that she had servants and maids. This would be a very rare home in the city of Jerusalem that would be large enough to fit 13 grown men, to feed them, that would be completely and totally furnished.
Another thing that would be extremely rare, was because of the time of year. Because it was a major feast, the amount of people that would be looking for accommodations, the fact that last minute this house was waiting for them was also an extremely rare thing that we're reading about here. And so, this woman by the name of Mary opens up her home to Jesus and his 12 apostles. Not only is she a widow, but she also was a single mom. She was raising a son by the name of John-Mark. Whenever you read about Mary specifically, because Mary was such a common name in the Bible, we know Jesus's mom, her name was Mary. We know that Mary Madeline and the other Mary were followers of Jesus.
And so, the Bible when it talks about his Mary, it calls her "Mary, John-Mark's mom". And her "Yes" to God. Her, "Yes, you can have my home". Her, "Yes, you can have a room in my family". Set the stage for her to be at the center of the early church. The upper room in her house was where Jesus would gather with his disciples for the last supper. This is where the new covenant would be established. It's where he would break the bread and say, "This is my body which is broken for you". It's where he would drink of the fruit of the vine and say, "This is my blood which has been shed for you". That same upper room is the place the 120 would gather on the day of Pentecost where the holy spirit would be poured out.
It's also the same place that Acts 12, where constant prayer would be made by the church. This occurred in the house of John-Mark's mom, Mary's home. You can read it right there in Acts 12, it says it just like that, "Mary, John-Mark's mother". This is her house that they were praying for the apostle Simon-Peter. He's shackled to two guards. James, the brother of John who was one of Simon-Peter's closest friends was just executed the day before, killed by the sword. Simon-Peter is awaiting his execution, just hours away from this moment where the church is praying and the angel comes in the middle of the night, and the Bible says, "Strikes Simon-Peter on his side while he's sleeping," which I love that idea.
That an angel, if he was to wake you up, he's not gonna just nudge you, you know, he's not gonna just whisper in you ear, he's gonna strike you. And he strikes Simon-Peter, he says, "Get up. Put your sandals on, put your clothes on". And he takes him out of the prison. Takes him out of the city gate. Peter thinks he's dreaming. He is in the middle of the city when he finds out, "Oh my God, this wasn't a dream, this is real". And he goes to, of all places, the house of John-Mark's mom, knocks on the door. A young girl by the name of Rhoda answers the door, gets so freaked out that she runs back into the prayer meeting and says, "Simon-Peter, he's not in prison, he's here". They tell her, "I think you've seen an angel." is what they think.
And Simon-Peter's still outside knocking on the door. They finally let him in, in his moment of fear. Of course, of all places, he knew this was a home he could run to. I say this because many of us would say, "I would love for God to use my family. I would love for God to visit my home in a supernatural way. I would love, when I read about things like this, I would love for God to maybe pour out his spirit or Mark my home. Or Mark my family and use us in a supernatural way". But I want you to consider the hour that we're reading about.
I want you to consider what this would cost Mary, John-Mark's mom. She, of course, is dealing with the loss of her husband, she's raising her son, and possibly her nephew completely on her own. She would initially open up her home to Jesus and the apostles for a Passover meal. While they were staying with her, Jesus and his apostles would go to the mount of olives, they would make their way down to the garden of Gethsemane, where you would know that Jesus would soon be arrested. This was a very public arrest. Jesus is standing trial, the disciples are so afraid for their lives. The Bible says all of them deserted Jesus. They ran for their lives and they're in hiding.
So, this woman who has no husband, she is solely responsible for protecting her family, the natural instinct and even common sense would be remove the danger, separate from the risk, distance yourself from those kind of threats. We would even look at her and it would make not only sense to us, but in a compassionate way, we would understand that the mama bear instincts in her would have been to protect her family. But yet, she overrides those instincts, and she turns her home into a haven of danger. This makes her a target of Herod and his army. This would make her a place that the highly trained soldiers, the religious leaders, the high priest, and the chief priest, the Sanhedrin, and all of them were going through the city streets with torches, Marching, knocking on doors, looking for any men or any of the men that Jesus hung out with.
And so, here's a woman that is accommodating those who are wanted for religious and political treason. To make matters worse, we would know that not far from her home, in a very public way, Jesus would be crucified on Calvary's hill. And the message was clear, that this is what happens to anyone that associates with this man or his message in any way. The stakes could not have been higher. The consequences of associating with them were extremely grim for anyone. The city's atmosphere was charged with complete fear. And this widow, this single mom turns her home into one of the most dangerous places in Jerusalem, and to this day, people from all over the world go and visit her home, not because she was a prophet, not because she was some spiritual person, no pastor, no preacher, no worship leader, just a single mom, a widow who said, "Okay, God, I'll give you my home".
And because she did that she is a hero in the kingdom. And I say this because now more than ever, we need heroes in the kingdom of God. We need people who say, "God, you can use my home". In a day where the craziest things are occurring. They came out with a movie recently, "The sound of freedom," that has gotten so much attention, and I encourage you to go see that movie. And the basic idea of the movie is to bring awareness to children that are being trafficked, specifically, sex trafficked. And the idea of the film is to bring awareness so that we can be alert to the different ways these things happen and are happening so we can protect our children.
Even if you consider it an extreme version of that, it would make complete sense to appreciate the message of protecting the vulnerable. However, that is not the narrative of our day. And can you get any more bizarre than people attacking those who are trying to shine a light on the pedophiles and the people that are trying to target our children? And what's even more strange is that we would feel uncomfortable in our country and even in our churches to speak about the protection of a child. And it's because like this woman, there is, not just legislation and bills being passed, but there is a spirit of intimidation that is trying to attack God's people to cause us to shrink back in fear when it comes to one of our God given rights, and that's to open our mouth and communicate the things that are near and dear to us.
And we need heroes. We need heroes in our school system. We need heroes on our school boards. We need heroes in the medical community, that they are departing from basic biology in the day we live in, and we need heroes in our medical community. It's bizarre. And I'm not trying to create moral outrage, I'm trying to make a point here. We live in a day where there is constant threat, constant intimidation. It's on our social media, it's in our primary media, it's all over the place. They're focusing on indoctrinating our children, and now, this is uncomfortable. Well, I didn't make it uncomfortable, it's the state of the world that we live in.
And so, you have this idea that you can hide out and shrink back, and somehow that makes it better. But here, we have a woman who makes a decision, "I will not dismiss the importance of my home, of my family. I will not dismiss the importance of our church in times like this". I would say that this woman would have easily said, "Jesus, this is not the best time for this. This is not the politically correct time to be doing these things. You know how much people are looking for you. You know that they're trying to assassinate you. You know the rumors that are going throughout the city, Jesus. My home is not the best place. I'm a widow. I'm a single mom.
Would you just please go a few houses down? There's a grown man who used to be in the military, maybe that's a better place. Or if you'll go around the corner, there's a guy that used to be a navy seal, I think he's probably the place you should go". But now, you have a single mom who is still teaching our world today, things do not get better until you say, "Okay, God, in spite of the threats and the risk, you get my home. You get my family. And I make room for you no matter what the dangers might be".
What would be possible if you had no fear? What would be possible if fear was not holding you back? In this text, it's about an upper room, a room that was charged with faith and power. That same home and that same upper room could have been an atmosphere filled with fear and intimidation. The Bible calls fear a spirit, it's a spirit of fear. This is not America, the home of the brave anymore, this is America, the home of the afraid. And when we leave atmospheres, we have to ask ourself, what kind of atmosphere did we create? Did we create an atmosphere of fear or an atmosphere of faith? Do people leave the atmosphere of our lives intimidated, paralyzed by the risk? Do they leave thinking, "You know what, I can't, it's too dangerous. It can't, the cost is too great". Is the thing that's holding you back holding other people back? Is the fear that's in you being placed in others?
And at some point, you have to look at John Mark's mom, she could have been arrested, she could have lost her home, she, very easily, could have lost custody of her son, she could have easily been imprisoned and executed. All of this is much more realistic than our greatest fears today in our time. But she did not buckle under the pressure of her day, and as a result, she didn't miss Pentecost. Not only did she not miss Pentecost, but she realized that the greater threat and the greater danger than what could happen to her body or happen to her home or happen to her assets was the danger that her son and her nephew would inherit a spirit of fear and she would miss a historic moment in history.
But instead, she transferred a spirit of faith, she transferred the spirit of possibility, and her courage not only blessed the early church, but her spirit and her faith and her courage blessed her family, blessed her sons and have blessed future generations. This woman turned her home into a weapon. Her home is visited to this day to be a reminder of what kind of influence one person's home can be that is given completely and wholly to God. Her son John Mark, I love this part of it. This is probably my favorite part of the whole message. Because she's a widow, because she's a single mom, because she would have been raising her son and I'm guessing, worried that there's not a father in the home, worried that there's not a male role model in the home, God makes that up, and the apostle Simon Peter refers to John Mark as a son.
And I wanna say to those who are here that have that worry, maybe your husband's not serving God, or maybe you're a single mom, I believe that God can provide spiritual men and fathers to make up the gap for what they did not get in the natural. John Mark is known as the early church's greatest evangelist. He was the first author in the new testament, he wrote the gospel of Mark. He was entrusted by Simon Peter to be his voice and the author of Simon Peter's eyewitness accounts of Jesus. He focuses specifically on that Jesus is the son of God.
He zeroes in his focus on how Jesus was a humble servant, how he suffered, how his passion to love and serve people was so great that he would go and fulfill his destiny of dying on a cross for our sins. Mark's presentation of Jesus is how greatness is secure, and there's no sign of a message of being safe and secure. There's one message about how greatness occurs, and it's through being willing to face whatever dangers are in front of us, and willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary for the gospel's sake and for God's sake. And two disciples find their way and they say, "Jesus wants to know, can he have a room in your home"?