Out of His Mind — Jim Cymbala

The text we have today is just a couple verses in the book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark. Mark is one of the four Gospels that were written by people who were not one of the original 12. John and Matthew were original 12 disciples, but Mark and Luke never walked with Jesus during the three and a half years of his ministry before he was crucified for our sins and rose again from the dead.

Jesus Viewed as “Out of His Mind”

And Mark is the Gospel of action, very short, succinct sentences with lots of verbs and adverbs talking about stressing what Jesus did, went about doing good. And now we have this interesting passage.

Just a couple of these references in the whole New Testament, look. Then Jesus, this is early on, Mark three, then Jesus entered a house and again a crowd gathered so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.

And when his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him for they said, he is out of his mind. And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, he's possessed by Beelzebub, the devil.

By the prince of demons, he's driving out demons. That's so interesting, isn't it? That our Lord, when he was on earth, was thought by enemies and by friends to either be out of his mind or full of the devil.

That makes you pause, doesn't it? Makes you stop and think. How could God's son come to earth and people think that he's insane, he's beside himself? That word there in the Greek language which the New Testament was written in gives us the picture that we know of when someone says someone, they're not right.

We have a lot of modern ways of saying it, right? The elevator doesn't go to the top floor. He's one egg short of a dozen. He ain't right. The older translations have it, he's beside himself. You know what that means.

When we say someone's out of his mind, we can mean literally like he just needs to be protected from him or herself in a mental facility. Or we can mean, I don't like to be around that person because that person's out of their mind.

And when our Lord was on the earth, people said he was out of his mind. Let's think about that. None of us would like that said about us. She's nuts. There's another word that we use, person's nuts. That's what they said about Jesus, he's nuts.

He's out of his mind. And this was said, to repeat, not just by enemies, they went further and said he has a demon. But it was said by his family. Mary and his brothers and sisters that were born after his virgin birth, they wanted to get him out of where he was because they were convinced.

Imagine his own family, he's gone. He's out of his mind. That's interesting because later on in the Bible, we find out the same things were said about some of the Christians who followed Jesus. Afterward, like the Apostle Paul, he was told by someone he stood trial in front of, your great learning has made you mad.

That's another word we use, mad. Although we use mad as angry now. But it used to be used more for insanity. He's out of his mind. To be very blunt with you, a lot of times what we call insane or beside himself or he ain't right is because of our own uneasiness that someone is doing something that we should be doing.

So a lot of times someone says, ah, they're crazy. Secretly, what they're doing and what they believe and what they're saying is hitting us a little too close to home. So we dismiss it as a defense mechanism and say, well, you know, he's just nuts.

It's like we exaggerate to protect ourselves. Someone doesn't take care of their body, doesn't watch their diet, living a totally unhealthy life, just whatever. Then they meet someone who exercises a little bit and watches their weight.

And the way to defend yourself is to say, well, he's carried away with all that health stuff. But if the truth were known, it's a way to redirect the focus because we're a little bit embarrassed about maybe our lack in that area.

Enthusiasm for God and the Charge of Fanaticism

But then again, anyone who's enthusiastic about the things of God is usually thought crazy. This is a very odd thing if you think about it, and then we'll get to Jesus. Anyone who takes the Bible literally and stands on those promises, anyone who believes that what God says about prayer or about the value of a soul or about the shortness of life, anyone who really takes that serious and applies it to their life and is enthusiastic, they're looked at a little bit sideway.

And of course, that's the way it was with Jesus. Jesus was totally enthusiastic. He was filled with the enthusiasm about anything he did. You know where the Bible says, whatever you do, do it with all your heart for the glory of God?

Jesus was the epitome of that. Jesus prayed, he prayed with all of his heart. When he taught people, he taught with all of his heart. When he loved, he loved with all of his heart. He was enthusiastic about all that his life was about as he represented his father here on earth.

And when you're enthusiastic about religion, you're going to get some negative comments by the population. And that's still true today. So Jeremiah in the Old Testament, because he wept over people, he was called crazy.

He saw what was coming because people turned away from God and wouldn't live for God. With their mouth, they honored him, but their hearts were far from him. That's found in Jeremiah. And because he wept, because he saw that even though the people were mean to him, he saw what was going to happen to them.

He cried over them. He was called the weeping prophet. And because he lived like that, people said, the guy's nuts. He walks around crying and praying and whatnot. Because anytime you are serious about Bible study and you really, you have to read it every day, and you know, the longer you walk with the Lord and the more mature you become, the more you need of the Bible every day because this is your food.

I was thinking about that the other day because of my little granddaughter who's going through that trouble. The doctor prescribed some acid reflux medicine, just for, and she was five weeks old. And I thought, what in the world?

Acid reflux? She's not eating a pork chop. She's having, she's eating formula. How in the world do you get acid reflux from formula? But I thought, formula meets her needs now, but when she gets older, she can't live on formula.

When you're just new in the Lord, you can get by with a little Bible. But the older you get, the stronger you get, the more mature you get, you don't need less Bible. You need more Bible. Don't give me a bottle and think I'm gonna be satisfied for a meal.

No, no, no. I need a pork chop or something. But anyone who then longs for the word of God more than the newspaper or to watch TV, no, there's something wrong with that person. They're too enthusiastic.

They're fanatic. Person's a fanatic. Hey, listen, Jim, listen, the guy's nuts. He's up in the morning reading the Bible. When he goes to a dentist's office and has to wait, he pulls out a New Testament.

Guy's not right. I don't mind, listen, I don't mind a little religion. You go to church on Sunday, that's okay. But the guy's nuts. He's always with the word. And he goes on Tuesday night to a prayer meeting, lifts his voice, sometimes he cries.

He calls on God. He's regular there. He'd rather go to a prayer meeting than watch television or sports or play a video game. Can you believe that? Guy's nuts. He could be clubbing. He could be partying.

He could be doing whatever. And the guy's in a, she's in a prayer meeting. They haul their whole family to a prayer meeting and they sing and they call on God. I'm telling you, the guy's not right. I'm telling you, the guy's not right.

He's not right. And they're praying and they witness to people and they're praying for people to be healed and they're asking God to save people in their family. I mean, think of all the things you could be doing in life.

And here they are taking up with that. They're not right. Isn't that what people say still to this day? If you're enthusiastic about something, if you're all in, you're nuts. Now, they can be all in about making money.

Oh yeah, they'll deny their family, won't spend time with the children, just to make more money. They'll work 18 hour days, 16 hour days, 14 hour days to make money and they don't even know who'll spend it because they get dropped dead on any given day.

No, but that's not, they're not crazy. They're smart. We call it, they're focused. They know where they're going. But you do that for the Lord, you're nuts. You're 20 years old and you own 42 pairs of sneakers, you're not nuts.

No, that's in, sneakers are in. You got Nikes, Adidas, oh, the New Jordans, yeah. They got lines outside here on Gallatin Place. 400 people one morning, I was there before the place opened, 400 people to get a new sneaker.

And then some of them told me they had been waiting on the line for six hours. They're not nuts, they're focused. But if we lift our hands and we praise the Lord, look, that guy's crazy, man. Guy's crazy, just, he's totally crazy.

Did you know the average person who's consumed by video games is a male, 32 years old, who lives with his parents and play, no, that's the truth. 32 years old, lives with his parents and just plays video games all day long.

Doesn't improve his mind, not gonna help him intellectually, emotionally, financially, or in any other way. In fact, he could become a zombie, but he's not nuts, no, he's enjoying life. Am I making this up or is it true?

It's absolutely true. People can spew hatred and march and be full of white rage, black rage, and all of that, and be full of anger and be screaming and all of that. They're standing up for their convictions, but let somebody go and serve at a soup kitchen and tell people about Jesus or give up their career.

Enthusiasm about the things of God always does that. Old and New Testament, if you're all out and you really take this serious, people are gonna mock you. Well, why shouldn't they? Because Jesus said, no servant is greater than his master.

If they made fun of him, they would make fun of us. And that raises the question, I wonder if anyone would ever accuse you of being out of your mind. Because for most of us, we take a halfway position.

Hey, listen, I like to go to church. I believe in the good Lord. And if the baby's sick, I'll bring that baby to be prayed for. But otherwise, listen, I got a lot going on, pastor. A lot going on in my life.

I wonder how many of us would be called crazy or insane by people because we're so enthusiastic about serving the Lord. American thing is, no, do not let anyone mock you or make fun of you. Take the line of least resistance.

Just a little church, maybe a little Bible, but don't get overboard and don't talk about it with people. That's not polite conversation. And that's why they said about our Lord, he's out of his mind. Why did they say he was out of his mind?

Jesus Chooses the Twelve After a Night of Prayer

Listen, the context of this saying by his family that they had to go get him, hey, you got to go get the guy. You got to extract him because he's gone to the other side. Why? Well, two things were happening there at that time.

It was the point in Jesus's ministry where he chose his 12 disciples. He chose 12 men that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach and that they would have authority over the evil one.

And the Bible tells us that he spent the whole night before he did that in prayer up on a mountain. Now, that is the sign of somebody who ain't right. No, come on. He went up on a mountain, never closed his eyes for the whole night and just prayed to his father because he had a big decision to make the next day.

The future of Christianity was at stake. Who was going to represent Christ? Who was going to be in charge of foreign missions? Who's going to do everything? It had to be those 12. And even though he was the son of God, he was God yet man, man yet God.

So the Bible tells us that he couldn't make that choice without spending a whole night in prayer with the father so he would choose the exact ones that the father wanted. Now, that's the sign of somebody who's really crazy.

Of course, we might say that because we make all kinds of decisions without a night of prayer, five minutes of prayer. We change jobs, people move, people decide what they're going to major on in college, they get married, they get involved emotionally with somebody without even two minutes of prayer.

Well, of course, this guy's crazy. Oh, but maybe we're out of our minds. Oh, wait a minute, now the thought is coming to me. Maybe it's not Jesus who's out of his mind. Maybe it's you and me that are out of our minds.

Wait, now that is a totally new thought. Maybe it wasn't Jesus out of his mind. It was the people who were calling him out of his mind. They were out of their minds. Because if prayer is real, if God says he'll answer, if he has a plan for our life and he knows things that we don't know, you would think all of us would be talking to him, wouldn't you?

Ah, you see, that's what it was. To cover up their insufficiency and their misplaced lives, they accused him of being crazy because he prayed. In other words, Jesus was called insane and out of his mind because he brought God into everything.

This is where it really meets the road, isn't it? If you bring God into every part of your life, even picking your disciples, even how long you'll stay in a certain place like he did, even what to say and what to do as he did, if you bring God into every area of your life, the people in this world will call you crazy.

Bringing God Into Every Area of Life

If you only go to church on Sunday, they might not like that and they'll resent that and mock you, but it's okay. But you start bringing God into everything? You start praying about everything? Parents who dedicated your babies, you start praying over them every morning?

You start bringing them to the throne of grace? You start reading them the Bible at their earliest possible age? You start giving them Jesus morning and afternoon and nighttime? People are going to call you crazy.

They don't mind if you go to church, but don't take this thing literally. I mean, don't bring God into everything. See, that's the problem. You're crazy if you bring God into everything, but I don't know about you.

I'll tell you for myself, I need God in everything. How many are with me? Lift your hand up high. I need God in everything. I have a track record of enough boneheaded mistakes and wrong decisions that I can tell you if anybody in this building needs God's direction and help every second of every day, it's this man.

Maybe you don't, I do. That's why they called our Lord insane because he brought his Father into everything. Wouldn't that be blessed if we did that? Wouldn't we be blessed? I wouldn't care who called me crazy.

How many are at a point after what God has done for you, you don't care what people call you now? And that's the battle. And listen, look at me. It's going to get stronger now. This culture, this country, this government, this political machine, this media, this whatever, they're going to tighten the screws on Christianity.

And we have to become like people say. Listen, we love you, don't want to be unkind to you, not going to get angry with you, but we'd rather obey God than man. We're going to follow the Lord. So I wonder how many people would be in the prayer meeting this Tuesday if we were taking the Bible as literally as Jesus did.

Oh, you couldn't fit them. Oh, you wouldn't fit the people. Now, if we are handing out $100 a week, $100 bills to everyone who came, there would be a line outside the building. Why are you going in there?

Hey, listen, the dude is handing out $100 bills. That just, you know, you're very logical. That's logical. You wait on a line to get in, you get $100. Why are you going in? No, I don't care about the 100, I just, I need to talk to God.

I need to get in his presence because I'm facing a lot of discouragements and problems. I need answers, I need direction. You're deranged, you're deranged. Isn't that the way life works? Isn't that the way people think out there?

The Transforming Power of God’s Presence and Love

So you and I have to decide, are we going to be all in, all out, believe this, practice it, or are we going to take some half position so nobody thinks we're nuts? Lastly, and to close, the Bible says that after he chose his 12 disciples, Jesus couldn't pick them without spending a night in prayer.

Mm, what a rebuke to so many of us. You know, when I first started in the ministry, before I came to Brooklyn, I was pastoring a church in Newark, New Jersey, tiny church. And there were some godly mothers in the church who would have all night Friday prayer meetings once a month or whatever.

So I started going to them. So we would meet at like nine o 'clock at night and pray till four or five in the morning. I can see myself now, so young, so inexperienced, so intimidated by like, what do I do?

I can see myself walking so I would stay awake, walking through that little tiny sanctuary and all around at two, three in the morning talking to God. It's a life changer. It's a life changer. There's something about being in God's presence and pouring your heart out that 10 sermons can't replace.

I'm trying to find a Friday here in the calendar this summer here where we can do maybe 9 p .m. or 10 p .m. to one or two in the morning, or you stay for 15 minutes, you stay for four hours, you stay for whatever you want.

But in his presence, there is fullness of joy. How many are with me on that? Let's say amen to that. Jesus, the son of God, couldn't pick 12 disciples unless he spent the night in prayer. No, he wasn't out of his mind.

The people saying that were out of their mind. Listen, he was so busy ministering to people, there were so many needs, he not only brought God into everything, which made him very suspicious to the other folks, but he was so filled with love, he wouldn't stop ministering to people.

So much so that he had no time to eat. No personal time. You know, what's up with that? You have no time for yourself. Did you know you missed lunch? Yeah, well, I could eat later, but come here, let me pray for your baby.

No, he's out of his mind. You gotta have an organized life. You gotta eat three squares a day. That's practical. Jesus, be practical. I know, but don't you see the fields are ripe unto harvest, but the labors are few.

Jesus, Jesus, smell the roses while you're going down life's pathway. Oh, I hear that all the time. When I see someone get on fire for God, immediately, someone from their family or their social circle just says, you slow down, you gotta enjoy life.

You know, I've heard that all my life. You gotta slow down. Jim, you've been doing this for a while. You gotta slow down. Just relax. You only go around once. No, you only go around once, and then there's eternity.

But Jesus was so filled with love that he couldn't stop loving people. You know, that's what happens to you when you get filled with love like Jesus. You get nuts. You do, you get crazy. Oh, yes, you do.

Sometimes at Christmas time, when I have my children, my grandchildren, and they're all there, and we're together, you know what, I still grab my daughters and put them on my knee sometimes. That's right, and I hold them, and my grandkids, and Levi, and everybody.

And I go out and spend all this money for presents. I wanna see them happy. I don't care, I don't want anything from them. When you're in love with somebody, you don't want anything from them. You just wanna give to them, right or wrong.

So Jesus was so filled with love that he stopped thinking about himself. What, what, that's a crazy life. You gotta think about yourself. Listen, Mama told me this. If you don't think about yourself, nobody else will.

You know, maybe you're from Eastern European or the Caribbean, or you're African American, or whatever you are, Caucasian, Asian, whatever. We learn these things in our culture. This is the way you live.

And if you're gonna be bound by that, you'll probably never be called insane. But when God's love gets a hold of you, you end up risking your life with Syrian refugees. You're like the Apostle Paul getting thrown in prison.

Yo, Paul, Paul, why do you end up getting beat and put in prison? Don't be talking about Jesus in those synagogues. They don't like it. Didn't you get that the first time they whooped you? No, I gotta do it.

I gotta do it. They need to hear. I wanna see them get saved. Ah, see, to a lot of you, I'm speaking Greek, aren't I? Because you've grown up, and what you're used to is a nice little decompartmentalized life, and you have everything in your little box, and you're gonna keep it that way, and you think that's Christianity.

But that's not the Christianity Jesus gave us. He was so in love with people, and he so poured out that people said, his own family said, get him out. He's lost his mind. Man has no time to eat, always giving out, sharing, going crazy.

I meet preachers all the time that, if I knew them better, I would rebuke them, because they retire early. You know, once you get a church large enough, and you get enough people to pay tithes and pay the bills, you can retire at 40, 45 years old, and you just love the juice that you get from holding this microphone.

You know, to a lot of pastors, this is like a drug. As long as they can talk to 40 people, 80 people, 200 people, that's it, they don't care. Bills are paid. They can get up and perform and that, and stun the people with their brilliance.

But really, they're retired. They're not desperate anymore. To be a real minister, to be a real Christian, you got to be half crazy. You got to, to what the world says. God will never call you crazy. God will call it love.

You'll be driven. You'll be driven. You'll have to do it, because love compels you. Jesus was called insane because he brought God into everything, even to praying all through the night, because he was going to pick 12 disciples.

Just pick them, Lord, just pick them. What do you have to be praying all night for? Just pick 12. Give an intelligence test, personality test. That's how we do things here. No, he prayed all night. And then, he was so busy ministering to people, loving people, that he had no time for himself.

Now, there's a sure sign of someone who's near the edge. But lastly, if I may close with this, thought about this last night. Although no one called him that, they yelled other things when he was on the cross.

Christ’s Willing Suffering and Sacrifice on the Cross

I'll tell you a proof that he was out of his mind. Yeah, because although he had the ability to call 10 ,000 angels, he let them arrest him. Would you let yourself get arrested if you could avoid it? He let himself get arrested.

He let himself get beat. The Bible says in Herod's palace, when he stood before Herod, who he never said a word to, Pered just mocked him. They then, grown men, the soldiers there for Herod, were taking full swings at him.

Grown men hitting Jesus, full swings. They beat him, they mocked him, and he never said a word. The man is out of his mind. He could've called 10 ,000 angels. In a second, he could've been delivered. He could've said, you know where I come from?

You know how I was born? Do you know what I could do right now if I wanted to? He never said a word. They spit at him. Would you let somebody spit at you if you could avoid it? No, like a lamb, he was led to the slaughter.

He never opened his mouth. Now, that's not right. If someone's logical and they have a defense position, you talk, you say something. If you're not gonna say anything and let them do that to you, you're out of your mind.

No, he took it all for us. He saw us. He saw Jim Cimbala. He saw all the rotten things I would do in my life, and he said, the only way I can save him is to go to the cross for him. He was so sold out to the will of God that even when it meant the cross, he said, yes, not my will, but thine be done.

Now, there's a sign of a maniac. You're so sold out to God's will that you're gonna go through all that suffering? Come on, be real. No, you do God's will, but you'd be happy like the televangelists say.

Just, if you serve God, you never have a problem. You always drive a bigger car. Jesus never heard that teaching, and praise God, he didn't. Otherwise, what would happen to us? But he was sold out to the will of God, even if it meant mocked.

Up in my office, I wish I could bring it down and had the time to have it passed around as a true crown of thorns from the Middle East. I keep it on the floor behind one of the chairs. You should handle it one day.

Rip your hands apart just handling it. They jammed that down on his face, on his forehead. You know how tender the skin here and the nerves are right on your temple? Drove nails through his hands, through his feet.

Mocked him, yelled at him. If you're so great, come down and we'll believe in you, and he never said a word. He just hung in there for you and me. I tell you, the guy's out of his mind. Maybe those people are right.

Who would do that? Or maybe he saw that there can't be any life without death first. And to save us, he paid the price. Oh yes, a lot of people, as I close, when they buried him, said, you know what? That Jesus of Nazareth, interesting teacher, by the way, said some very interesting things, that do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

I want to study that. That's a very interesting concept. But basically, he went over the deep end. Guy's praying all night. Guy has no time to eat because he's loving people. Bringing God into everything.

Everything he says, everything he does, like God, is always in the context. And then finally, to let people massacre him like that. Oh my goodness, it's a shame. Interesting teacher, interesting rabbi.

And by the way, those healings, some of those healings we saw, we verified them, they're for real. He really did raise Lazarus from the dead. But you know what? I really never could follow him and really be his disciple because the guy's out of his mind.

He just goes a little too far. Now mind you, people, I don't mind a little religion. Go to church on Sunday, dedicate my baby. When the baby's born, I got to dedicate the baby. The next week, I don't know if I'm going to come because it's a warm day, I could go to the beach.

But I want the baby dedicated. No, the baby dedicated. And by the way, when my sister dies, I want a funeral service in the church. But you can't go crazy with this. That gets very annoying when people just go nuts with this.

Start taking everything like it's true. You know, like everything. Bless those that curse you. Love those that do harm to you. What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world but lost his own soul?

You can't take that stuff literally. There must be another meaning in it. So let's just have a little religion. I don't want a little religion. I want all of Jesus. Are you with me? Anybody here with me?

Come on, everyone who wants everything Jesus has for them. Let us clap our hands. Let's clap our hands. I don't mean to sound censorious, but you know what the curse on American Christianity is? Churches that are not all in.

I don't blame the world for being the world. I don't blame anyone in the world who doesn't know Jesus for whatever they believe. Let them believe what they want. They're supposed to be doing what they're doing.

But what's sad is when you have lukewarm churches where the Christians don't care about anything. If it's true, let's go for it. Anybody with me? Say I. I. If it's not true, don't come back here next week.

Look at me. If it's not true, why are you wasting your time in here on Sunday, and what am I wasting my time for? But if it's true, if God be God, let's serve him with all of our hearts. If God isn't God, if this is not true, then let's throw it away and eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow, we die.

A Call to Wholehearted Devotion

You know what? I love Jesus more right now than maybe I have. How many love him a lot today? No, just lift your hand if you love him. Think what he went through for you. Lift your hand up high. I see you in the balcony.

Lift it up. We love you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. Jesus, we love you. Oh, how we love you. Just that little repetitive chorus that I heard sung somewhere. Just close your eyes with me. Jesus, would you forgive us for being halfway Christians?

By putting you in like 10 of our life, some of us? And we make all kinds of decisions. We're always looking for our comfort zone. And yet our master was called insane and full of the devil because he brought God into everything.

And because he was so full of love. Save us for wanting to be respectable, wanting to fit in, not being mocked, not being laughed at. Oh God, all of us have dealt with that. Help us to be sold out for you, Jesus.

For only one life to soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. All the things the world run after, they don't satisfy and they're gone in a millisecond. They do not satisfy. Money does not satisfy.

Possessions do not satisfy. Fame does not satisfy. Earthly pleasure doesn't satisfy. Jesus, you're the only one who satisfies. Please light a fire under us, Lord. I'm not going to ask the church to make a vow of let's be this, let's be that because in ourselves we can do nothing.

But we're asking you, Lord, get a hold of our hearts like you never have before. If you want God to get a hold of your heart like he never has before, just lift up one hand gently to him right now. God, get a hold of our hearts and change us.

Make us more like you. Let it be that people say, he's out of his mind. The guy is gone, she's gone, she's nuts. We would love that, it would be like ointment on our head. But just save us from being lukewarm, Lord.

Help us to serve you with all of our hearts, we pray. One more thing, Jesus, we thank you for taking the nails, the crown of thorns, the spear in your side, going to the cross. It was so heavy and you were so weak from the beatings that they gave you that you couldn't even carry it and they had to find a man from Africa to help carry your cross and you did it all for us.

Thank you for enduring the mocking, the laughing, the blasphemy, the charges of being insane. Thank you for all that you did for us. We are here because of you, Jesus. We are saved because of you. We have a new beginning because of you.

We love you today, te amo, senor. Cristo, te amo mucho, mucho, mucho, senor. We love you.