Mark- Part 2: Be Bold for The Way

The Forty Martyrs of Sabaste

In 320 AD a group of 40 Romans soldiers from the 52nd legion were condemned and sentenced to die under Eastern Emperor Licinius. As such, in the middle of winter on a frozen pond in Sabaste (or Sivas Turkey today) they were stripped naked and left to freeze to death; or, offer sacrifices to the Pagen god’s of Licinius.

To make their torture easier and quicker, the soldiers who were charged with carrying out the emperors orders set up a warm bathhouse on the shore of the pond. While dying the 40 soldiers locked their arms together and spent the night singing psalms to encourage one another.

There was one unnamed soldier who could not bear this fate, and after hours of agonizing pain- he caved. He let go of his brothers and ran to the bathhouse after making his sacrifice. Immediately upon entering he died due to the sudden shift in temperature. A supernatural light began shining upon the face of the remaining 39 soldiers, and one of the persecuting soldiers attested to seeing crowns upon the heads of the remaining. He felt a conviction so intense that he urgently stripped his clothes off, gave his life to Christ, and joined his new brothers locked in arms singing psalms and the 40th number was miraculously restored.

Perpetua and Felicity

in 203 AD Perpetua, a well-educated noblewoman and young mother, and Felicity, Perpetua's pregnant slave, were arrested for refusing to renounce their faith under Emperor Septimius Severus. They were both sentenced to die via Roman games. The problem as Felicity records as she was in prison, is that Roman law forbade pregnant women to receive the death penalty. In fear that she would not have the blessing of a martyr she prayed for an early labor and received what she asked for. The baby was adopted by a Christian woman just a couple of days before the games began.

In the arena the woman survived being mauled and attacked by wild beasts. Eventually the crowd grew angry and ordered the women be executed by the sword. The fear in the executioners mind stunted the execution until Perpetua boldly guided his hand to her own throat to take her life.

Introduction

When we hear stories like these (and yes both of these stories are true and historically documented) they fill us with a sense of hunger. Hunger to be more like the Christians of old, and this is something that I've seen more and more in my generation and younger. There is an artist named Josiah Queen that my generation listens too and one of his most popular songs is called ‘love you to death’ and its about how lucky the martyrs of old were to be able to have their faith tested in such a brutal way- and how he wishes that he could show that kind of loyalty to the cross. The problem I see with this is that it takes precedent over a simpler calling that we often over look.

In the 2015 musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda ‘Alexander Hamilton’ there is a scene that takes place during the song ‘Right Hand Man’ that I think every Christian needs to hear today. For context, Alexander Hamilton has spent the entire story up until this point trying to fight in the revolutionary war, and as a result this extremely smart and well educated young man has turned down consistent chances to help bring about change in ways that most people at this time didn't have the capacity to do. This is something that George Washington calls him out on in the following conversation

George ‘It’s alright you want to fight, you’ve got a hunger i was just like you when I was younger head full of fantasy of dying like a martyr?

Alexander ‘Yes’

George ‘Dying is easy, young man, living is harder.’

Sometimes the prospects of glory can make us forsake our own callings. I want to say that again- The prospects of spiritual glory can often make us forsake our God given callings. I see this all the time- especially in my generation; you would not believe how many young men I run into who are on their way to be the next Billy Graham, the next AW Tozer, or CS Lewis. These positions are noble to seek- don’t get me wrong, the world could use more men like these- but the world could also use more fathers who work hard and raise their children in the LORD- who minister to their wives- the world NEEDS more people who preach to strangers and give help to the homeless. Yet because of a generation wherein men are swarming to fill positions that aren't in need of filling right now- pulpit positions at local churches are remaining empty by the thousands across America. Why am I telling you this? Because, the next part of Mark we are going to look at demands us understand what’s important- not everyone is called to a position of fame and glory. Sometimes we are just called to be fishers of men- and often times that requires the most boldness.

The Power of the Gospel

The Power of the Gospel is all that we are going to be talking about this week- then for the next few weeks we are going to be talking about the Power Behind the Gospel- but before we get into the Power of Christ over demons, disease, paralytics, tax collectors, the Old Covenant, the Sabbath, and deformities; I want to take a step back and bring something up that I don’t see talked about very often. But first lets read the passage- Mark 1:14-20.

Peter comes in hard in centralizing the point of Jesus- he brings the good news. According to Jewish tradition the ‘good news’ refers to God’s Reign over Israel akin to David and Cyrus’s reign- we see this in Isaiah 52:7. In fact that verse tells us pretty much everything regarding what the Jew’s saw the good news as. Peace was finally at hand, national deliverance was coming, and jerusalem was going to be rebuilt. The problem that the Jew’s had was similar to the one I just brought to your attention- they had the right theology, but the wrong expectation.

See, Jesus did fulfill all of what the Jew’s thought the good news was. God did once again reign over Israel- He fulfilled the Abrahamic convenient and in Christ brought in all who weren’t Jews into the Israelite family. In fact so much so that Paul chastises Jerusalem for rejecting Christ because they were the people of the promise- but then they rejected the promise. Jesus freed Israel- or all of those who come to Him- frees them from their slavery to sin and their servitude to whatever earthly master they are bound to. Jerusalem was rebuilt- in a way; the temple was destroyed but not by a means of God neglecting His people- on the contrary; the temple was no longer needed, nor was the priesthood who housed it- for in Christ’s higher priesthood was could all live with God indwelling within us. Peace did come- so much so that it is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit along side love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

See the Jew’s fundamental error was that they had in their view of what the Messiah was- and what the Messiah was going to do; so much so that they missed the fundamental pieces of the Messiah prophecy. Ill show you- Lets read Isaiah 53. We can see that the Messiah was clearly being depicted in a way that was antithetical to the Jewish traditions- and likewise we can get so wrapped up in what we want God to call us too that we miss out entirely on what God has called us to. we must be careful and make sure we are covering the basics of our life before we branch out into new ministerial callings. First- start with the known; all people are called to Evangelize; do you do that? All parents are called to raise their children to the LORD; do you do that? All husbands are called to act as ministers to their wives; do you do that? All wives are called to pray for their husbands; do you do that?

How about this, all Christians are called to take care of the needy; do you do that? My goal here is not to discourage you from desiring greater gifts- but take a look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:30-13:4. Pursue greater callings by all means; but make sure you are not neglecting the fundamentals of the Gospel- namely humility and love. Make sure that while you are track to become the next Bill Graham you are still ministering to your wife and children- still helping the needy and the widowed. God will reveal His greater plan for your life- while you wait focus on the known- that is exactly what Simon, Andrew, James and John did when Jesus called them not to rule the kingdoms- not to have fame or glory or honor- but to be fishers of men. To minister and serve one another.

When Jesus orders these young men to follow Him- this is not a passive statement. Fishing was their livelihood, which means what Jesus was asking of them was more akin to ‘trust me with your life, and follow me.’

Who is this Jesus to ask us of this? He has had no claim to kingship among these men, no claim to a heavenly throne- He's a nobody from Galilee asking us to follow him, and for what? Who is this Jesus? no- who are these men. In the passage we read in Isaiah 53 we are told that there was no reason for anyone to come to Jesus- nothing was attractive about Him- yet these four men gave up their entirely livelihood and for what? To eventually by martyred in this guys name.

What if this is how we are called to respond to the gospel- notice that these men didn’t ask for anything in return, nor did they jump the gun and ask for Jesus to send them out before their time- nor did any of them stand in defense of Jesus when faced with accusations and sentenced to death; why? Because that wasn’t where they were called to be! They were called to be followers- servants of the God most high and they did so diligently where they were told to be- unto the death. What’s the point? Don't neglect the simpler callings- the gospel is built upon men who followed the simpler callings. They brought us this Bible- because for every Paul you had 15-100 Bartholomew's behind the scenes pastoring churches and witnessing the gospel to strangers on the streets- it is by their unnamed acts that we are here today- they received not glory, most didn’t go down in the history books but that’s okay- because sometimes living for Christ in the grand scheme of things often looks a lot simpler and a lot less romanticized then we think, yet those are the men that really change the world and bring people to Christ- and not a one of them ever did so off the back of glory.

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