Gospel Announced
Notes
Transcript
ME
We are in step one of the reopening ontario plan! Yay!!! FInally, as people are getting vaccinated with second doses and the case counts and ICU counts go down, even hitting close to 200,000 vaccinations on this past Thursday, with God’s grace, hopefully we will soon be out a pandemic. The government announcement is a herald of good news, intended for all Ontarians to hear. (Restaurants can have outdoor patios open with 4 to a table. Religious instititutes can gather up to 15% of their capacity for services, weddings and funerals. Camps are open).
WE
This is good news for Ontario. What if there is good news that can be proclaimed to the entire world? Christians claim that the gospel is just that. If so, what should we expect? Are there prohibitons? And what are the signs it has arrived?
GOD
We are beginning a new series called Jesus of Galilee, based on the Gospel of Mark. We will be covering roughly the first 8 chapters of this gospel. It is a dense, compact, and quick-flowing gospel. Things happen so quickly that a paragraph by paragraph study will not fully do it justice. We want to instead highlight the themes you may notice when you read this book.
A bit about Mark and you might be wondering why I always talk about the context of the book. The reason is that, when we read the Scriptures, we are often tempted to pluck out the words and apply them immediately to our own context. In doing so, we may misinterpret why certain things are said, how certain people are perceived, and what certain principles mean. But when we use the context as a framework, hopefully we can enter into the original reader’s life and see it from its intended lens. With that said, here’s what Mark is about.
Mark was written by John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas and based on information he received from the Apostle Peter from 60-70 A.D. The purpose of the book is to encourage persecuted Christians living in Rome, possibly Italy, or a larger region that
Jesus has authority and shares in their suffering as the Son of God.
Jesus has authority and shares in their suffering as the Son of God.
It is divided into two major parts. Chapters 1-8 generally cover his ministry in Galilee, while chapters 9-16 go beyond Galilee and ultimately to Jerusalem where he would suffer, and be crucified. Another way of looking at the book is that the first section focuses on Jesus’ Authority, while the latter section focuses on his suffering. This helps us anchor ourselves in the mind of the original reader because as a persecuted lot, possibly during the time of Emperor Nero, they need to know that ultimate authority doesn’t rest on the occupying government and oppressor but on Jesus the Son of God. It gives them hope. As well, they also can find assurance that their suffering is not in vain or unexpected, as their Saviour and Lord also suffered ahead of them. What’s more, God raised Jesus from the dead, which means even death isn’t the final word, which is good news to those who see their brothers and sisters get martyred around them, and knowing they may be next. To punctuate this hope even further, the Gospel of Mark also ends the crucifixion scene with a Roman Centurion proclaiming “surely he’s the son of God.” What can be more hopeful than to know your oppressor ultimately will submit to Jesus’ authority and acknowledge Jesus is God’s one and only son? So I want to encourage you for the next 7 weeks to look at this gospel with this lens.
Here’s the main point for today’s message:
The Gospel compells us to follow Jesus.
The Gospel compells us to follow Jesus.
So without further ado, let’s dive right in and turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1 verse 1, or click on your device to it. Chapter 1, verse 1, the prologue:
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
I. Following Jesus means knowing who he is and do what he does.
I. Following Jesus means knowing who he is and do what he does.
For those who are keen you may have remembered that I preached on this exact passage before. And the point I want to make here is still the same as when I made it back in 2017. And it is this. I am going to tell you the gospel, or good news of Jesus the Messiah, who is the son of God. And here’s what his story is all about from 1:2 to chapter 16:8.
Notice I deliberately avoided using the word Christ, although the word means the same as Messiah. This is because people often make the mistake of thinking this is his last name, instead of his purpose and identity. It’s even better to say Jesus the Christ. That pause allows us to remember that this is who he is. Who is the Christ, or Messiah? He is none other than the fulfillment of an expectation of a King from the line of David. He will come to establish God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven through holy, just and righteous governance of his people. All of the Old Testament, from Genesis to the book of Kings, to the prophets and wisdom literature like the Psalms foretells of him in chapter 2:7:
Psalm 2:6–7 (ESV)
6 “As for me (that is God), I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
All of Israel waits in anticipation of the day of the LORD, when this King will come and bring all nations into submission.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a proclamation of the son of God: who he is, his life, his death, his resurrection and appearance. I want in particular to highlight his life because we often associate the gospel with salvation. Gospel = salvation. While salvation is an important, crucial part of the gospel, the gospel ultimately is not salvation ONLY. It is all that Jesus embodied and demonstrated in his life. His healing and miracles. His love for the downtrodden and the poor, the widows and orphans. They are not separate from his ultimate act on the cross, but brings the full meaning to it. The key is what he says in verse 14-15:
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
We won’t have time to get into why John is arrested, that is John the Baptist. That reason is actually explained in Mark, chapter 6. Our third point will focus on him. But I want us to focus especially on Mark 1:15. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. That, together with verse 1, encompasses who Jesus is and what he came to do.
Jesus unequivocally is saying you’ve been waiting for a Messiah, and I am him.
You’ve been waiting for rescue and salvation, I am here to bring this about.
You’re here waiting to see if anyone cares about your situation, I am here now to respond. Believe I am the Messiah, the son of God, and all that I will say and do. Repent, that is change your mind, attitude, and heart to not only believe who I am, but to also share this news with others.
There’s of course an assumption here that the original audience already knows Jesus has died for our sins and has been raised to life.
That alone is our goal as a follower then.
Believe who he says he is. Son of God, the promised Messiah.
Tell others what he says about who he is, and what his kingdom represents.
Do what he does, be concerned about what he is concerned about. Love who he loves. Hate what he hates.
As you go through the gospel, you will find Jesus loves the least of these, the sinner who knows he or she is a sinner and out of desperation throws him or herself onto the mercy of Jesus. Jesus detests the merciless Pharisees and Sadducces who have made Judaism into a strict religion of dos and don’ts, and a commercial enterprise to profit the rich respectively. Next week my friend Jim will tell you more about what it means to be called into discipleship. For now, the take away from this that Jesus has a unique identity and purpose that is of concern for first the Jews, but also for all who are not Jews. He’s the Messiah. He’s the son of God. Jesus means God saves. He came to seek and save the lost. Lost in our sin. Lost in our shame. Lost in our ways.
II. Following Jesus means following what his forerunner does.
II. Following Jesus means following what his forerunner does.
But we are ahead of ourselves a bit. What’s going on in between verse 1 and verse 15? We are been introduced to a forerunner. The opener before the main act. The herald before the king arrives. In fact Mark records one such prophecy from Isaiah that speaks about him:
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
This messenger and the voice are one and the same person, and he too has a message, a pre-gospel proclamation if you will. The message is simple, prepare the way and make his paths straight. These are taken directly from Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. In these passages, God spoke to the exiled Israelites of a day when they will return and be forgiven of their past sins of idolatry and injustice:
Isaiah 40:1–3 (ESV)
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
And then just like that, he appears.
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
This is how he prepares the way. Look for the sign of this holler and caller coming out of a wilderness. The people put one and two together and they know who he is. It’s also the fact his attire is eerily similar to another prophet, who in the Gospels John is attributed to, Elijah, in 2 Kings 1:8.
8 They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
All these signs and the fact Elijah didn’t die but was carried up to the heavens in a chariot before his protegé Elisha’s eyes.
We too are called to take on John the Baptist’s role. Although we don’t offer the same forgiveness of sins and baptism of repentance, we do offer the forgiveness of sins thatJesus has made available as part of the gospel. We will explore forgiveness in two weeks time, but just to define quickly. Forgiveness means a formal release from an obligation or debt, particularly the debt of sin. And repentance also reconsideration - a change of self (heart and mind) that abandons former dispositions and results in a new self, new behavior, and regret over former behavior and dispositions. These terms were then adapted into the Christian context. We can offer God’s forgiveness as his followers in His name, which has been made possible because Jesus paid the debt requried for sin through his death on the cross. He gave his life for sin. And repentance is the response for someone who hears the arrival of this king means they stop being a king or queen. They embrace their identity as forgiven and take on their identity as kingdom citizens. Our job is to say and live it. We can’t force someone to believe. But we clear the way so they can be in the present of Jesus who invites them to the good news.
III. Following Jesus means pointing all things towards Him in all we say and do.
III. Following Jesus means pointing all things towards Him in all we say and do.
7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The original word mighty can also mean authority. As we will see through this Mark series, Jesus can definitely be mighty such as when he calms the sea, or feeds five thousand. And he will demonstrate his authority over sin, over demonic presence, and over diseases. But what we should notice is that Jesus never uses his authority unnecessarily. His might and authority is his way of bringing clarity to what the kingdom of God will be like. Chaos turns to order, all who are hungry are fed, and all evils will be vanquished and made right.
And what we also notice is that although Jesus is king, he is not the king many are expecting. He does not use his authority to lord it over others. So for John to say that he’s not worthy to stoop down and untie Jesus’ sandals, it is out of reverence for Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and Son of God, rather then from a state of being opressed by his ruler. All throughout the gospel, Jesus was more willing to be a servant king, not an oppressive king. He’s amongst the people. That’s what separates him from the religious elites. That’s what is the good news about the good news. That after Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and now Rome the world expects a strong man who is stronger than them all militarily. Yet no one was expecting a servant king who identifies and understands his people. I would venture to say this is why he is worthy of our worship. The perfect balance of authority and servanthood of Jesus which reflects His father.
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus.
Even the Father (the voice from heaven that calls Jesus “my beloved son”) points to Jesus. This scene where all three persons of the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit converge on inaugurating Jesus’ ministry. The sons humble obedience to the father, who is well pleased with him. The supernatural events of a torn heavens and the Spirit resting on the Messiah, another image from Isaiah 42:1 among other passages.
He is the one where all of God’s purpose culminates in. He is the son of God.
The implications for us are simple. All that we say and we do, we point to God. This is another way of saying we glorify God, because Jesus is the one who is noticed. Elsewhere, in the gospel of John, John the Baptist even says he must decrease. That is what glorifying God means which Tim unpacked for us last week.
We can put it his way. When we do good, God gets the credit, and therefore the glory, because it reflects who he is and what he does. When we do evil as the persona of a Christian, God unfortunately also gets the credit, and therefore is not glorified, because we are not reflecting who he is and what he does. So whether we like it or not, when we call ourselves a Christian, a follower of Jesus, we point to him. This should give us sober thoughts and humility to seek God daily to give us the strength and wisdom to reflect Jesus’ character so we point more to who he truly is!
YOU
So we started the message by asking what is this good news or gospel that the followers of Jesus believe and practice? It is simply this: Jesus, Son of God, is the Messiah who compels us to follow him by teaching what he says, doing what he does, and pointing to him by doing what his forerunner does. We’ve only begin to scratch the surface to give you an overview of what the good news means in this world. Next week, we will begin to look at how he goes about forming a people for himself. Until then, I pray if you have not followed Jesus you will have gained more clarity what it means to do so. And if you are a follower of Jesus, how real is the gospel in your life?
Let’s pray.