The Effective Witness

Good Morning Liberty

Pray

Today we are going to start going through the book of Mark. Mark is the earliest of the gospel books and is the shortest book of the 4 also. It was written by John Mark, who went on Paul’s first missionary journey. Half way through the trip Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas. On a later journey, Barnabas wanted Mark to accompany them again and Paul didn’t want him to come. It led to an argument that ended in Paul and Barnabas parting ways. Later on Mark had matured in the faith and proved himself to even Paul. So much so that Paul requested Mark come to him while he was in the Roman prison, that he was useful to him.

Part of Mark’s maturity was to the discipleship that Peter had with him. Peter and Mark became close and Peter even called him his son in 1 Peter 5:13.

Mark was not a disciple and had not been around Jesus. Most of what he wrote was what he was told by Peter. He had become Peter’s interpreter. So Peter told him all that he had seen and heard and Mark wrote it down.

The gospel of Mark was written to a Roman audience, to the Gentiles. Mark omitted Jewish elements that his Roman readers would not of understood. He left out the genealogies of Jesus. He has the fewest references to the OT, and includes less material would have been particularly interesting to the Jewish reader.

It was Mark’s mother’s home in Jerusalem that the disciples met at. It is where Peter went when he was released from prison.

Mark presents Jesus as the suffering servant. He focuses on His deeds and less on His teachings. He has an emphasis on service and sacrifice.

Mark demonstrates the humanity of Christ more clearly than any of the others. He shows Christ’s human emotions, His human limitations and other small details that show the humanity of the Son of God.

The summary verse is Mark 10:45

Mark 10:45 (NASB 2020)

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

This verse sums up the only reason Jesus came to earth. This is the theme of the book of Mark.

In 1878 when William Booth’s Salvation Army had just been so named, men from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of himself as a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. He was a Methodist minister, Samuel Logan Brengle. And now he turned from a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Salvation Army. Brengle later became the Army’s first American-born commissioner. But at first Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss for too long.” And in order to instill humility into Bringle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of the other trainees. And Bringle said to himself: “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then as in a vision he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fisherman. “ Lord,” he whispered, “ you washed their feet; I will black their boots”

If our Lord and savior came to serve, then by all means who are we to think we are any better. We are to be servants also!

We are going to be in Chapter 1:1-8. We are going to see how John the Baptist was an effective witness.

Lets read our verses

Mark 1:1–8 (NASB 2020)

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

2 just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“Behold, I am sending My messenger

Before you,

Who will prepare your way;

3 the voice of one calling Out in the wilderness,

‘prepare the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight!’ ”

4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark begins with a reference from the OT. John’s life was foretold 100’s of years before he was born. He had one job and that was to get the people ready for Jesus. Back in the time of the Kings, they would send a messenger out a head of the king to let the villages and towns know that the king was coming, to prepare for his arrival. It would be bad for the people of the town if they were not properly prepared for the arrival of the king. It was customary to clean up the town and be ready to cheer for the king when he came.

It was also the job of the messenger to prepare the path for the king. If there were trees down in the road, or if there were rocks blocking the road, it was his job to clear the road and make it passable for the king. If there were holes in the road he was to fill them and make it smooth. He as also to level out the high spots. The kings journey was to be as easy as possible.

This is what John the Baptist was to do. He was preparing the way for Jesus. He was preaching a message that the Jews had never heard before. The Jews were never baptised before. They had their ceremonial cleansings, but they were not baptisms. The Gentiles had a cleansing that they had to do before they could become a Jew, but again it was not a baptism. Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a totally new message that had never been preached before. He was calling for the people to confess their sins and repent of them. He was not preaching that baptism produced forgiveness, it was just a result of it. Baptism is a sign of the repentance of sin that a person has had. It is a symbol of them turning from their sins and toward God.

The Jews had never heard this message before. They were used to their ceremonial laws and customs. Repentance and baptism was new. Not only was this message new, it had been more than 400 years since a prophet had prophesied. That is a long time to go without hearing from God. Then God sent John the Baptist and his message was generating an intense amount of interest. They were coming to John by the thousands. It says that all the people of Judea and Jerusalem were coming to John. Some estimate that somewhere around 300,000 people were baptised by John. That’s a lot of dunking!

You would think that after all those people coming and responding to the message that John would have gotten a big head. After over 400 years of silence, God finally speaks through John and I’m sure that the people were treating him like he was someone special. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go that long without hearing from the Lord. And then when He does speak, it would be amazing. John had every opportunity to misuse all the attention that he was receiving. But no, he was humble. He preached that someone was coming that he was not worthy to untie His sandals. Jesus told us in Matthew 11:11

Matthew 11:11 (NASB 2020)

11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The person that Jesus said no one was greater than that was born of woman, said that he is not worthy to untie His sandal. That act doesn’t mean the same today as it did back then. Back then this was one of the lowliest things that a person could do, untie someones sandal. It was something that the lowliest of servants did in the house. And John said that he was not worthy to untie Jesus’ sandal. If someone that Jesus talked so highly about thought so lowly of himself, that should give us some idea of how we are to think of ourselves. I am not worthy to be in the same room let alone untie His sandal. We must never think too highly of ourselves. We are all sinners. We all need to repent and turn to Jesus. The act of salvation through Jesus Christ is a one time event. Repentance is a life long act. Our sins are forgiven forever, our attitude of repentance is forever also. We should never lose our hatred for our sin. If our sin does not cause us to repent and turn back to the cross, then we are in a bad place. We must never get to the point where we are ok in our sin. We must be humble like John the Baptist was.

Next we can see that even the way he dressed spoke out against the world. He didn’t were the nicest clothes. He wore camel’s hair clothes. These clothes were neither fashionable or comfortable. His clothing would have reminded his audience of Elijah. He wasn’t wearing the latest fashion clothing. Even his belt was just a piece of leather around his waist. There was no flash or anything special about what he was wearing, in fact most people of the time would not have worn it. It was uncomfortable. John was not trying to fit in with the worldliness of the rest of the people. He didn’t care if the people thought he was weird or looked funny. His only focus was preparing the way for Jesus. His diet even spoke out about the ways of the world. He didn’t eat at fancy restaurants, he probably was never invited to eat at people’s homes. He ate grasshoppers and honey. He ate these things in keeping with his life long vow to be a Nazirite. He made a commitment to God and he was honoring it. Are we honoring our commitment to God?

If we are to have an effective witness like John did, we must do the things that he did.

We must proclaim the gospel. We must tell people about Jesus. We must call people to repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and savior. We must not keep Jesus as a secret. We are commanded to go and make disciples. We can only do this if we go and tell them about our King.

Our lives must match what we preach. If we are to have credibility in our words, they must match the way we act. If we are different Monday-Saturday, than we are on Sunday, no one is going to listen to anything we say. John lived out what he was proclaiming. We must do the same. We can’t live like the world and talk like Jesus. Or even live like Jesus and talk like the world. We must live and talk like Jesus did. That is the only way we will have credibility with the lost. If we preach love, we must live love. The same way the Holy Spirit permeates us on the inside, the love that is the Holy Spirit must come out of us. It must ooze out or our pores. If the world can say anything about us as Christians, make them say we love!

We must be humble. We are no better than anyone else. We are still sinners, we are just forgiven. Jesus said that there was no one better that was born of a woman than John. Yet he was not fit to untie the Lord’s sandal. Jesus came to serve. A servant must be humble is he is to be a good servant. Pride does not allow you to serve anyone but yourself. That is why we are commanded to pick up our cross daily and follow our Servant King. It is hard to be prideful with a cross on your shoulder. Humility is a mark of a true believer. Let the world know us by our love and humility. Let them know us a servants.

Finally we can see that his message was that someone was coming that would baptize with something other than water, with the Holy Spirit. He was telling them that the baptism of water was only external. The next baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is internal. The one who comes next will change them from the inside out. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, he permeates every part of us. Jesus meets us in our sin, at our worst, and provides a radical answer for our sin. When he drenches your life with His, you are changed. You will no longer want the things that you wanted before. He will change the desires of you heart. He will change your will to match His will. It is not an instantaneous change, it is a lifelong process that begins the day you accept Him as Lord and Savior.

I found writing that I really like, it is by Robert Raines. He wrote this talking about the disciples, after 3 years with Jesus, they still didn’t get it.

I am like John and James.

Lord, I size up other people

in terms of what they can do for me;

how they can further my program,

feed my ego,

satisfy my needs,

give me strategic advantage.

I exploit people,

ostensibly for your sake,

but really for my own.

Lord, I turn to you

to get the inside track

and obtain special favors,

your direction for my schemes,

your power for my projects,

your sanction for my ambitions,

your blank check for whatever I want.

I am like James and John.

Let’s pray.