Today’s Message

Date:               January 8, 2006

Speaker:          Pastor Steven Thomas

Title:                What’s It All About?

Text:                Mark 1:1-8

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

Introduction:  Kent Hughes begins his book on the Gospel of Mark with the famous story of Dr. E. V. Rieu, on of the world’s renowned scholars of classical literature.  After Dr. Rieu completed a translation of Homer’s works into modern English for the Penguin Classics series, the publisher approached him again and asked him to translate the four Gospels.  Now, Rieu was sixty years old at the time and had been an avowed agnostic all his life.  When his son heard that his father was undertaking a translation of the Gospels, he said, “It will be interesting to see what Father will make of the f Gospels.  It will be even more interesting to see what the four Gospels make of Father.”  He did not have to wonder very long.  Within a year’s time Dr. Rieu, a lifelong agnostic, professed faith in Christ.  His story has been told again and again as a testimony to the transforming power of God’s word.

Today we begin a new study.  Together we will unfold the story of the life of Christ as told by the pen of Mark.  The message of Mark’s gospel will be the centerpiece of our worship services for several months to come.  As we embark on this journey, we would do well to ask, what will this gospel make of us?  What impact will it have in our lives?  Let us approach it with the full expectation of its transforming power.

Preliminary considerations:

1.         Who wrote this book?

Where did he get his information?

2.         To whom did he write this book?

There may be some hints of sub themes

3.         Why did he write this book?

Main theme: 

This morning I would like to spend our time introducing Mark’s gospel the way that he did.  Let’s look at verse one which functions as the title of the book.  A great deal of information is packed into the few words of this title.  From it we learn that:

I.          Mark proclaims a vital message.

Notice central word in this title:  gospel.  That word speaks to the character of this book and its intended use.  A gospel was a message delivered.  You see, from Mark’s perspective, this book is not a biography or a history, but a message.  A biography is intended to be read.  A history is intended to be studied.  A message is intended to be proclaimed.  Do you understand the difference?  What we do hear is not mere academic exercise.  What we have here is living, vital, essential.  Listen attentively!  Hear the news!  Spread the word!

A.        The message is good news.

This term “gospel” means good news.  The word was well known in the ancient world—not just in biblical contexts.  It was used in a variety of situation s, though often associated with the news of victory that came from the battlefield.  We find it used in the Old Testament in that way several times. 

Ill.  Mine explosion in Tallman WV

They sat there in that church desperately awaiting news regarding their loved ones; desperately longing for a gospel—that is the meaning of the word.  Finally a gospel came, “Good news, good news, they are alive.”  But in the end, the good news evaporated into bitter disappointment because the word was wrong—a message based on faulty communication.  Quickly, their elation gave way to anguish.  

The world desperately needs good news.  I heard a news commentator say just this week that the world is currently in more danger than he can remember in his lifetime.  Surely the sinfulness of humanity has made a mess of things.  We could use some good news.

Our community desperately needs some good news.  Have you really seen what goes on around us every day?  We are drowning in immorality and it not only is tolerated, but upheld as right.  Our children don’t stand a chance apart from God’s grace.  We have made a mess of our society.  We could use some good news. 

We are desperate for some good news in our individual lives.  Sometimes it seems as though we will be crushed by the consequences of our sinful choices, crushed by broken relationships and empty promises of vain pleasures and mounting burdens of debt and disease.  Oh how we could use some good news. 

Mark says, here is the good news that you really need and unlike the news that came in Tallman, WV, this news will never disappoint.  It will never let you down.

B.        The message is the good news.

In the ancient world this term occurred frequently, but always was used in the plural form, meaning one message of good news among many.  Interestingly, we have it recorded in a document commanding the celebration of the birthday of Octavius (Caesar Augustus).  Since the Roman emperor was worshiped as a god, his birthday was celebrated as good news for the world.  But this, too, was one message of so-called good news among many.  Caesars came and Caesars went.  But when the biblical writers picked up this word to describe their message, they breathed new significance into it and always used it in the singular form.  The significance?  This is the good news.  There is no other.  This is the message you need, this is the only message you need.

II.        Mark reveals a divine plan.

Mark’s title implies that his book is a record of the outworking of God’s eternal, sovereign plan.  Or to put it another way,

A.        It records what God has done for us.

Notice how our title begins:  “the beginning.”  It is the very same word that John uses to launch his story of the life of Christ:

            In the beginning was the Word  . . .

The use of this term is undoubtedly intended to remind us of the way the Bible itself begins:

            In the beginning God created . . .

Now Mark does not focus our attention on the beginning of all things.  His book is about another beginning, but the connection is this:  he chooses a word that has the taste of God’s activity in the world.  Just as God spoke the world and its history into existence—the beginning of all things, so at another time he moved into that history with a new beginning of even greater significance and this book is the record that activity. 

What we have here is the awesome account of the linchpin of God’s activity in history.  God did not create the universe, set it in motion, and then leave us on our own, groping in darkness and despair.  He is intimately involved in our history and the very center of it all is found in the pages of Mark’s book.

Do you want to understand God’s plan?  God’s activity in the universe?  You need to understand Mark’s gospel.

B.        It lays the foundation for what God plans to do through us.

The fact that Mark uses the word “beginning” as the title for the book indicates that the content of this book is not the complete story of God’s activity in history.  It is—forgive me!—only the beginning.  This book follows the life and career of Jesus Christ.  Mark will describe his life and death and, like a master story teller, he will bring the book to the grand crescendo with the resurrection of our Lord.  But that is just the beginning.  The early church began to proclaim the message of the resurrected Christ.  This message forever changed the world.  It is a message that still changes lives today.  We are part of the continuing story.

III.       Mark exalts a unique person:

This story is good news about a person.  It is not primarily about a philosophy, program, or even a religion.  It is about a person. 

Every pericope is about Jesus, except for 2:  John the Baptist who is the one who introduces Jesus!

In dramatic fashion, he tells the story of the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a story that moves—it is filled with action.  Here in the title, Mark packs the grand themes of the book into the few words that describe the principle subject.  He calls our lord:

A.        Jesus.

Jesus was a divinely appointed name.

Cf.  Matthew 1

He was given the name Jesus because it means “God saves.”  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus came to meet the fundamental need of humanity—to save us from our sin.  This is a message that fundamentally speaks of Jesus’ suffering to serve our needs.

It is almost universally recognized that the dominant theme of the book is Jesus’ role as the suffering servant.  The pivotal verse in the book is:

Mark 10:45

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.”

B.        Christ.

Jesus was his name.  Christ was his title.  It means “anointed one.”  He was God’s appointed one—God’s chosen leader.  Christ is God’s chosen prophet—the pinnacle of God’s revelation to humanity.  Christ is God’ chosen priest—the only one who can bridge the gap to bring fallen humanity to back to God.  Christ is God’s chosen king—the only one in whom resides all authority and power. 

Think of it!  Jesus Christ is presented in this book as the Suffering Servant.  Have you ever had the experience of being in the presence of someone you highly respect, someone you would be honored to serve—but then had the awkward experience of having them wait on you?  Maybe it was an employer or a dignitary.  I have a deep appreciation and respect for missionaries.  I am humbled to be in their presence.  I will never forget an awkward and humbling experience I had when I made a trip to India and spent two weeks with our missionary Daniel Kumar.  Near the end of my trip I needed to wash some clothes.  After the laundry was done I stepped out of my room to find Daniel standing over an ironing board ironing my clothes.  I pled with him passionately, “No, please.  I can do that myself.”  But he insisted.  I was deeply humbled by that simple act of condescending kindness on his part. 

How deeply humbled  should we be to read that Jesus Christ came for the specific purpose of serving us, of meeting our deepest need—the need for forgiveness of sin that enables us to be come to God? 

How must more should it humble us when we realize that he was no ordinary man elevated to a lofty position.  He was:

C.        The Son of God.

His is a great paradox.  The theme of the book is Christ, the Suffering Servant.  But a sub theme is the fact that he is the Son of God. 

In addition to this statement in the title, the fact that Jesus is Son of God is confirmed by the Father on 2 occasions.  Jesus himself declared in 3 passages.  Even the very demons acknowledged it in two passages.  At the crescendo of the book, Mark the story teller drives home the point by recording the words that that fell from the centurion’s lips at the foot of the cross:

Mark 15:39

39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

This is no ordinary man.  He is God’s own Son.

Mark’s book proclaims a vital message—the good news.

Mark’s book reveals a divine plan—what God has done and continues to do.

Mark’s book exalts a unique person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The question is this:  what will this book make of us? 

Today’s take-home truth:  The message of Mark holds good news for you if you will receive what God has done for you through His Son, Jesus Christ.