2.1.6 1.1.2023 Mark. 1.1 The Beginning of the Gospel

Start:

Year and Series overview:

1.1.2023. I like beginning the New Year on the Lord’s Day. Since I begin my Preaching calendar with the Christmas season this is technically week and sermon 6. Yet, still, it is a beginning. The first day of a whole new year.

Let’s all say it together!

Happy New Year!

and

Happy 2023!

This year my theme is

Beginnings.

Among other things we will study The Beginning of Faith, the Beginning of the Church, and how God Completes the Work He Begins in us.

Today we start with Mark’s Gospel. I am convinced that our faith, doctrine, practice, and spiritual development must be anchored in a robust understanding of

Jesus.

Every year I preach from one of the four Gospels from Christmas to Easter. I track my preaching and plan it far in advance so that I can do my best to tell the story of Jesus in a fresh, compelling way. To know Jesus, to have a personal relationship with Him requires knowing what He said and did. His approach to people and problems. Knowing Jesus means understanding how everything in His life falls beneath the shadow of the Cross and the leads to

the empty tomb.

I will never apologize for preaching from the Gospels, but I also don’t want anyone to get bored with the Story of Jesus. I have spent more time over the last 30 years trying to understand the Gospels than any other part of the New Testament. Preaching the Gospels can be difficult but hard things are worth doing. We must know, and I will continue to tell, the old, old story of Jesus. At this point I still have much to learn and hope as we learn together and share this journey each of us will be more effective in Kingdom service. Now…On to Mark!

Entice:

Mark is abrupt.

He does not waste time. The meat of Mark’s Gospel is the record he made of the preaching of Peter. It is quite possible that the way Mark wrote was largely due to how Peter preached. Regardless of the “why”, and “how” the tale he tells is arresting. It grabs your attention and does not let you avoid coming face to face with Jesus.

Engage: Before the Gospel of Jesus Christ became books you and I can read; it was a message proclaimed by Peter and the twelve. It was the “gospel” preached and taught by many others whose stories we read in the New Testament, people such as

Stephen,

Philip,

Paul,

Apollos,

Aquila and Priscilla,

and Timothy.

The next natural step was to record that Gospel, that message for posterity. The Holy Spirit prompted the authors of our four NT Gospels to write the story of Jesus in a final, authoritative form for the Church, so that on January 1, 2023, guys like me can take our stand in places like this and continue the unbroken proclamation of the story of Jesus in our time and our place.

Expand: Most believers are familiar with the basics of the story of Jesus. It would be nearly impossible to become and remain a Christian without knowing at least the basics of the story of Jesus. To be a Christian is to have a stake in this story, to have “skin in the game.”

It is our continuing story.

Our four Gospels tell the same essential story. Each author has a distinct twist. One of Mark’s distinctive characteristics is the pace at which he tells the story. He barges from scene to scene with a determination to hold our attention. And he begins with a single, blunt, summary statement.

Mark 1:1 (ESV)

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Excite: You have to start somewhere, and the beginning is as good a place as any. Mark just lays out the bare facts and then spends the rest of the Gospel adding meat to this structure. In 2023 Mark’s Gospel may be the most relevant of them all. It is hard to hide the fact that of the four, Mark was the least popular gospel, infrequently quoted or commented upon until the last 120 years. Yet, his method fits right in with our culture of constant connection and immediate gratification. Mark is the gospel for the TikTok generation. He tells us the important part right up front. He moves fast. He gets our attention and then moves on as quickly as possible focusing on the Jesus-focused details regarding this Good News.

For our sakes today, I want to remind you that

Explore:

At every beginning we need good news.

Expand: Mark prefaces his story of Jesus by revealing up front the basic facts underlying the story of Jesus.

Body of Sermon:

1 Gospel

1.1 It is a story about a story, of a teller of stories.

Mark conveys the message of a messenger. Mark (or better, Peter) chose these stories of Jesus. Many of the stories chosen are of Jesus teaching by telling stories, and the final story Mark narrates is the story of Jesus’ passion.

So, it is tales, within stories, within, messages and

1.2 It is a story which relates to other stories.

Two stand out...

1.2.1 Empire.

How Satan uses human institutions of power to frustrate God’s plans and distract people from eternal things with the things of earth.

Mark also tells the story of

1.2.2 Kingdom.

Kingdom is the story of the Master sending His beloved to recover His lost creation.

This story, the best story was described by J.R.R. Tolkien as Eucatastrophe. “Good Disaster.”

This is the big picture story of the whole Bible and Jesus is the final piece to the puzzle of redemption.

Once we grasp the “fact” that Mark is telling a specific kind of story that is designed to put every other story into its proper place, then he can tell us facts about the subject of this story...

2 Jesus Christ.

For us “Jesus Christ” is a full description of our Lord. Mark reminds us that it is

2.1 A specific name

The name of Jesus is

2.1.1 Connected to a much bigger story.

Creation.

Adam & Eve,

The fall.

Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.

Moses.

Exodus.

Conquest…Joshua.

This story of God seeking to save us from the fall always presupposes a

2.1.2 A reminder and a promise.

The reminder is that God is at work to save us. The promise is that God Himself will make it so.

2.2 A specific title

The title Messiah (Hebrew/Aramaic) Christos (Greek) had many connotations of which three were primary.

Prophet

Priest

King

That is quite a lot of freight to load on one title, and that is likely why there was so much misunderstanding about the coming Christ. One of the underlying issues Mark will deal with in his Gospel is explaining how Jesus the Christ fulfilled God’s promise even though many human expectations were seemingly frustrated.

The last fact reminds us of the birth we just celebrated and the cross we anticipate...

3 Son of God.

This relational title reminds that Jesus, at His incarnation, took on flesh but this did not diminish Him.

Son of God is

3.1 A title of divinity.

Son of God is

3.2 A title of dignity.

And Son of God is

3.3 A title of duty.

Shut Down

Mark wrote a strong lede.

God’s Son.

Jesus the Christ.

Good news, great news, the best news ever.

He starts with a bang and then uses the rest of the Gospel to flesh out the Story. My own style as a preacher and writer is to ease into things. I like to bait, tease and give hints of what I intend to say and provide hooks

upon which to hang information. Not Mark’s style. He jumps right in. After this summary statement he plows on into Jesu’s baptism by John and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He begins at a run

and sort of looks back over his shoulder as if to say “hurry up! This is good stuff!”

As we move deeper into the story, we can keep these three basic facts in the back of our minds. Good news. Jesus Christ. Son of God. Even when he does not come right out and say it, every episode is an

explanation of one of these primary facts which motivated Peter to preach what he preached, and Mark to write what he wrote. Today we read these stories to help us know Jesus more intimately, to live Kingdom lives more intently, and to understand His message with greater insight.

So that we too, might proclaim the good news of Jesus.

As much as it is up to us, in 2023 let’s focus the good news. Let’s focus on how Jesus is our Christ/Messiah. Let’s focus on how the Son of God brings us into a relationship with God.