02.18.2024 - Lent 1 - The Journey

Scripture: Mark 1:9-15

Mark 1:9–15 NIV

9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

2/18/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Special Music

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 3: Special Music

Opening Prayer:

Heavenly Father and Lord of Life, thank You for inviting us to follow You through life. Thank You for sending Jesus to pave the way for us to walk. As we gather and worship You today, send us Your Holy Spirit again to lead and guide us until we can see Jesus clearly showing us the way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Journey

Each of the four gospels has a unique beginning. Matthew starts with a genealogy of Jesus. Luke begins with an explanation of his work as a historian. John begins his gospel with a poetic depiction of Jesus at the creation of the world. However, Mark gets straight to the point and even gives us a scripture reference to help us understand why he wrote his gospel.

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” The New International Version (Mk 1:1–3). (2011). Zondervan.

Mark began his gospel account, telling us it is about Jesus and that Mark intends to make the path straight for Him as Jesus navigates the wild roads of our lives this season of Lent. Typically, we think about ourselves during Lent and the things we can do to get closer to God. I think that may not necessarily be the only place to start, though. There is a sense that we get from the gospels that this act of following Jesus might be more about His journey than our own. Or, maybe more precisely, it may be about His journey becoming our own as we follow Him from wherever He finds us.

I appreciate that this journey starts with a celebration. The baptism. The birth of a new day. John the Baptist pointed all the lost sheep of Israel away from himself and toward the one who would give a baptism that would last -- one not done only with water but with the Holy Spirit... and fire.

This journey begins in the water, marking the beginning of a life focused on and fully invested in one thing: living life with God. That means a relationship filled with trust and love, it means obedience, and it means there will be challenges ahead. It all starts with Jesus’s single decision to separate Himself from the rest of the world and the former parts of His life. In that moment, He knows God loves Him, even if everyone else doesn’t recognize it yet.

And that is all it is -- a moment. As soon as Jesus is out of the water, God sends Him out to begin His journey to the cross and to bring others along with Him. As Jesus makes His journey, we follow Him and make each step by repenting and believing.

Fasting and Temptation

Fasting

The other gospels all include this moment when Jesus was baptized and given the Holy Spirit. Matthew and Luke spend a little more time elaborating on what happened next. Here again, Mark, trying to state what needs to be stated to bring us along without overburdening us, tells us that Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

He went back to nature, as some might say. Fasting from the normal fare of civilized folks and living off spiritual food instead of food for the stomach. His cousin, John the Baptist, was also known for living off the land, eating locusts and honey to survive. That may give us ideas about doomsday preppers and tin-foil hats, but I think the people of Judea probably had something else in mind.

David and Moses spent years in the wilderness, living off the land, probably fasting and praying for guidance and protection. Abraham and Noah also spent long periods away from other people, depending on God for their provision. And the whole “back to nature” idea goes back to Adam and Eve, who were also tempted there by the devil. They failed and tried to use their authority and power as God’s chosen stewards of creation for their benefit. Jesus, however, did not. Jesus embraced this time in the wilderness, faced temptation fearlessly, and fully trusted God to care for Him.

Temptation

Why would God send Jesus to be tempted right at the beginning?

Perhaps it is because God wanted to teach us to focus our faith and purify our passions. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in his letter that we should not pray with doubt. He compared it to being tossed to and fro like waves in the wind. They make noise and a lot of commotion, but they don’t last. Likewise, our passion, which burns deeper in us, is not automatically holy because we feel it deeply. Those passions lead us astray as often as they lead us to God. If Satan can get his hook into our hearts and make us passionate about something that is not God and God’s will for our lives, he’s got us hooked good.

Led by faith and hope in the things we cannot see, we are perpetually vulnerable to the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side. We’ve heard about paradise with God and the joy of heaven, but we have not seen it, not experienced it ourselves. And when the road to heaven gets challenging, tedious, frustrating, and painful, it seems only natural to want to step outside of bounds and find comfort and satisfaction. After all, everyone else is doing it.

Do you know what makes temptation even worse? When you go off on a journey with Jesus without that initial moment of receiving God’s love. Yes, it is just a moment... and it disappears as fast as the top of your head dries, but without a recognition from God that you are loved and made with good purpose, we lose our personal investment against temptation.

An old rock song from 30 years ago called “Blue on Black” aptly describes how our journey loses its meaning when we don’t begin with purpose from God. Darkness absorbs less dark colors and makes them indistinguishable, the way drops of water disappear into a river, never to be seen again. Just so, sin in a sinner becomes invisible. When you start with the expectation of falling away from your faith, you create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

On the other hand, if you have experienced a moment, no matter how brief, of being filled with God’s righteousness, purpose, and strength from His Spirit, you will have something to fight for. I have heard that smoking is one of the hardest addictions to give up for good, and I have known many people try and fail multiple times. One friend of mine never found the strength to quit until he heard his infant son coughing from his smoke one day. He threw his cigarettes away and never looked back because he found a reason to fight the temptation. God has a reason for you, too, and you won’t find victory against the temptations in your life without it.

Repent and Believe

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Repent

We will face temptations and challenges to our faith, probably right out of the gate, as we follow Jesus from the water to the cross. But the good news about the good news is that our part is a simple process. Jesus leads. We follow. We watch where He goes, and we go there with Him.

When Jesus returned from the wilderness, He announced to those who began to follow Him that their part of the journey involved two actions. The first act was repentance.

Repentance, at its core, means to turn away from something. When we turn away from something, we stop moving toward it. We stop looking at and listening to it, and it loses power and influence over our lives. You may be someone who has no trouble telling others no, or you may be a person who is easily distracted and feels like that protects you from getting stuck on any single subject. However, every time we repent, it takes a concerted effort to break away from whatever is holding us back from God. Sometimes, they are single specific things that keep us from following Jesus. Other times, they are Legion - an army of squirrels that will take turns jumping, playing, dancing, and biting us until they are all we see and Jesus is out of sight.

Jesus did not have sin or evil to repent from in the wilderness. But He repented from things distracting Him from focusing entirely on God. He said no to food, the comforts of home, and the pressures of life. He did not leave until God was done with Him and sent Him on His way.

Believe

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Repenting takes effort, and it frees us to believe. When our lives are full of sin, we are often controlled by that sin and are not free to believe anything. Instead, we run on impulsive feelings and intrusive thoughts or let others run our lives. That’s why the bible calls us slaves to sin. Jesus has the key to freeing us, but we must remove the unlocked chains and decide what to do next. That is where belief comes in.

It has been said for many years that one of the ways you can tell what someone truly believes is to see what they spend their time and money on. Repentance is saying no to things, which can be challenging, especially when you have to say no to yourself and your desires. Belief is deciding what to do with that time and money once it has been set free.

Sometimes, deciding what you believe can be just as hard as repenting from what you don’t want to do anymore. Once it has been saved, it is easy to take that new life and hide it away so it can never be hurt or enslaved again. But we are called to believe. We are not called to trust the world, our friends, or family, nor to believe in ourselves. We are called to believe in Jesus with all we have and all we are and follow Him on His journey from death to eternal life.

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Step by Step

We make those two steps repeatedly: Repent from sin and Believe Jesus. That’s how we follow Jesus from the cradle to the grave, from the water to the cross. That’s how we move from our journeys that end with facing death alone to carrying our cross and facing death with Jesus on His journey to eternal life.

It doesn’t take a genius to get there. It takes persistence. It takes faith. And it takes a willingness to let Jesus lead you along the way.

What do you need to repent and turn away from in your life? What are the things you know are wrong? Perhaps you’ve been struggling to figure out how Jesus would handle those temptations in your life and not finding any easy answers. There are things that Jesus did not deal with personally because He knew they had no place on the path to God. And maybe they are things you should not have to deal with either. Can you let them go and turn away from those things today?

Where do you need to believe and trust Jesus more as you move toward Him? Are there uncertainties that make you want to sit still and wait for Jesus to come get you? Or do you find yourself charging off in new directions without knowing if Jesus is leading you there?

Jesus wants you to learn to walk the path He leads us on. He understands we begin as infants, knowing nothing and full of clumsy mistakes. But with His guiding hand, He will lead us to make that journey with Him, teaching our feet to follow faithfully, our hands to serve gently, our mouths to tell His story, and our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to love God with all we have and all we are.

Will you turn away from everything but Jesus and follow Him today?

Closing Prayer

Lord,

Your ways are perfect, even when we do not fully understand them. Thank You for seeing the potential You have planted and nurtured within us. Help us to see our sin clearly and to have the courage to turn away from it. Help us to turn to You instead.

As we journey through Lent together, put us in the right places, with the right people, to guide us along the way. Keep us from the fringes where we get lost and instead focus our vision on You. Jesus, we know that we can do nothing on our own, but when we follow You, there is nothing that can stand between us. Lord, we want to believe. Help us in our unbelief to see Your love and to trust You where You lead us.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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