Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 1:1-20

January 11, 2009

Research was recently conducted in Australia and it revealed some interesting things about people’s attitudes toward religion.

Now, keep in mind that Australia is a much more secular place than the U.S. and that they don’t have the “Christian” background that our nation has.

This survey asked people to give a sense of what they thought of a few key religious ideas and tried to measure how people felt about them.

They asked people how they felt about spirituality, God, Jesus, and the church.

Not surprisingly, a huge majority of people—well over 90%—viewed spirituality as a good thing.

But, surprisingly, when asked about how they felt about God, a huge majority (90%+) also responded favorably.

An even greater surprise was that the response regarding Jesus was equally high.

Isn’t that amazing?

We’d expect people in our pluralistic world to have a high view towards spirituality, but once we narrow the focus, we’d expect people to be really turned off by Jesus.

But they weren’t.

They thought Jesus was really something.

But then, when asked about their feelings toward the church, the positive attitudes tumble.

So, you ask, “Luke are you some kind of moron?

You discovered this research and you still decided to start a new church?

Don’t you see how stupid that is?

People aren’t interested in church.”

Yes, you might be right—there’s a good chance I am a moron.

But, let me offer what I think is an explanation.

Remember, people’s opposition is not necessarily to Jesus—they’re actually quite fond of him.

So, could it be that the reason people view the church so negatively is that the Christians and churches they have experienced are so decidedly unlike Jesus?

Could it be that they see a church that is concerned with all kinds of things that Jesus never cared about?

Could it be that they see a church that is just as selfish and consumeristic and unloving as the world around them?

I think that’s the reason.

Now, let me be very clear—we’re not starting Second Mile Church because we think we’re the answer to all of Christianity’s woes.

We aren’t starting Second Mile because we think that there are no other good churches around and we are somehow God’s gift to the Southeast Valley.

We also aren’t starting with any kind of unrealistic expectation that we will perfectly resemble Jesus at all times to all people.

Nonetheless, as we begin Second Mile Church, we do want to be a church that accurately and faithfully resembles Jesus and represents him.

We want to be a church that is concerned with the things that he’s concerned about.

We want to love what Jesus loves and hate what Jesus hates.

We want to preach the things that Jesus preached and do the things that Jesus did.

That’s actually the mission of our church, which is printed on the front cover of your bulletin: “To embody Jesus’ message and mission in every place that God sends up.”

This is why, for our first extended study, we are going to examine the person of Jesus as described in the gospel of Mark.

We’re going to take from now until Easter to unpack the major themes, ideas, teaching, and message of Mark’s Gospel.

As we do, we’ll become more and more acquainted with who Jesus is and what he’s done on our behalf.

And, by his grace, he’ll enable us to be individuals and a church who begins to faithfully represent him to the world.

One thing that we’ve done in order to help you dive deeper into the study is created a companion study guide that goes with this series.

These are printed in very basic paper form and are free for you to pick up.

They are also available online if you go to the “Current Series” link on www.secondmilechurch.com.

Each study provides an introduction, some investigation questions, some application questions, and answers to some challenging questions that might come up as you study.

It should be a great resource for you and will also help you stay up with what we’re doing during the weeks that you miss.

Before we dive into the text itself, a few background things will help us to correctly understand and interpret the text.

1. Author: The author of the Gospel of Mark was, unsurprisingly, a man named Mark.

Mark was a close associate with both Paul and Peter and even some of the early church’s gatherings happened in his home.

Mark particularly spent a lot of time with Peter in Rome and most scholars believe that Peter was Mark’s primary source for many of the stories that are recorded.

2. Occasion: As the apostles of the early church (those who had been key eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus) began to get older and die, it became increasingly important for the church to have accurate records of who Jesus was.

Thus, Mark was written to preserve the accurate teaching of Jesus and was written within 20 or so years of the events described.

This is important because it means that there were still eyewitnesses alive who could give accurate information and also prevent Mark from fabricating anything.

(It would be very hard to invent something that everyone was alive for.

For example, there’s no way that I could write a book today that said that in the early 1980s there was a huge earthquake in Phoenix that devastated many buildings and killed about 50 people—people would be able to refute my claims).

3. Form: Keep in mind that Mark, like the other Gospels, is not a biography.

It describes only a small portion of Jesus’ life.

It is written to help us know the key things about Jesus.

4. Original Audience: Mark’s Gospel was written with a Roman audience in mind, which makes sense since he was with Peter for an extended time in Rome.

Whenever Jewish customs are described, Mark always explains what their significance was.

When using Aramaic terms, he translates them.

Additionally, Romans were very action-oriented people—thus, it makes sense that he writes in a very fast-paced, hard-hitting way.

For example, he uses the term “immediately” 35 times in the book, four times in the passage we’re studying today.

So, who is Jesus?

Let’s dive into the text.

Mk 1:1 - The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Verse 1 serves as a brief introductory statement to the book and gives us some key phrases we need to understand.

• “gospel” – the word literally means “good news.”

This is a huge idea.

The message about Jesus is news, not advice.

Many people think that they gospel of Jesus is advice about how to live your life.

But it’s not advice, it’s news.

Advice is something that you should go do, but news is something that has happened.

Think of it this way.

My wife Molly wants to have a workbench in the garage so that she can work on projects and fix stuff.

We have a friend named Ben who knows all about how to construct stuff like that.

Advice would be having Ben giving us a step-by-step list of instructions about how to build a work bench.

But news would be coming home and finding out that Ben had built it.

It had happened!

It was finished!

And, in this case, it was very good.

This was great news.

So, the “gospel of Jesus Christ” is news about who Jesus is and what he’s done—not advice on how to be a better person.

• “Christ” – This is not Jesus’ last name, as it is commonly thought of today.

“Christ” is more of a title than a last name.

It is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which means “anointed one.”

It particularly refers to the person that was expected and hoped for by the Jews who would establish God’s kingdom.

“In Jewish thought, the Messiah would be the king of the Jews, a political leader who would defeat their enemies and bring in a golden era of peace and prosperity.

In Christian thought, the term Messiah refers to Jesus’ role as a spiritual deliverer, setting His people free from sin and death.”

• “Son of God” – this phrase is Mark’s favorite title for Jesus and reveals that Jesus is divine and has an unparalleled relationship with God.

If you put the key phrases of this together, it becomes clear what Mark’s purpose in writing is.

He intends to let us in on the good news about Jesus, and this good news is that Jesus is the Messiah—the hope of Israel—and that he is divine.

He is God.

Next we’re introduced to an important man who you may have heard of—John the Baptist.

Mk 1:2-8 - As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

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.

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Notice a few things about John:

1.

His purpose – “to prepare the way of the Lord.”

To “make his paths straight.”

A common joke in Britain is that everywhere the Queen goes, she smells fresh paint.

That’s because when somebody important is about to show up, you get things ready.