The Beginning--Part 1

Today begins a new sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. My intention in this series is to preach through the whole gospel. With 11 sermons planned for chapter 1 alone, and as there are 16 chapters in Mark, it will take us some time. I do plan to break up the series from time to time with series in the Old Testament and other books of the Bible.

The author of this Gospel was Mark, also referred to as John Mark (John was his Hebrew name, Mark his Greek name. He was the son of Mary, in whose home the Jerusalem church met. He was Barnabas’ cousin, which explains why Barnabas invited him to join him and Paul on their first missionary journey and insisted that he join them in their second missionary journey. However, Paul refused to take Mark because he’d departed from them in Pamphylia. So great was their disagreement, that Paul and Barnabas went separate ways. In one sense, Paul was right as Mark did depart from Barnabas again. From this short biography, it would appear that Mark was not the boldest follower of Christ. For, whenever the missionaries met opposition, he departed. This is not surprising, as Mark was likely the “certain young man who followed Jesus” in Mark 14:51-52, “who fled… naked.”

Brothers and sisters, God uses us despite our shortcomings, our weaknesses, our sins. God used Mark for His work, and over time, Mark proved himself faithful to God, to Barnabas, to his mother, and even to Paul who referred to him as “useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Let us not grow weary waiting for God to demonstrate what He will do in each other. God’s timing is not ours, He will use us, sins and all. Mark was Peter’s companion and disciple. Peter called him his son. This indicates that Mark was a dear friend in the faith who listened to all that Peter taught. Thus, this gospel contains Peter’s eye witness recollections of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Mark wrote his gospel in Rome, with a Roman, that is, a Gentile audience in mind. This makes sense in light of the Roman centurion’s declaration, “Truly this Man was the Son of God,” upon witnessing Jesus’ death. This declaration echoes Mark’s introductory sentence, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

1. The Beginning

Mark’s gospel differs from Matthew and Luke in that there is no biographical information given concerning Jesus. In this, his gospel is similar to John’s gospel, even using similar words of introduction: “the beginning.” Mark presents a quick, concise, energetic, bold, strong, and conquering Christ who is King. And his gospel reads that way also, quick, energetic, bold. To introduce the King of the World to the world, he gets right to the point. His is not a biographical account, his is a declaration of the beginning of the new covenant in Christ. Mark is saying, hey everyone, here is the account of God’s New covenant, or New Testament. The Old Testament is closed. That work is complete. All the promises of the Old Testament, from the beginning, is fulfilled. God is starting a new work, a work leading to spiritual rebirth. Thus the reason for using the term, “The beginning.”

Brothers and sisters, this is a fulfillment; it is not a massive change. All the facts of Genesis chapters 1-11 remain true today. In six days God created the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. He created human beings in His image; male and female, He created them. And it was very good. God commanded Adam and Eve to obey; but they rebelled against Him. Every human being is naturally disposed to rebellion against God our creator. Every other worldview seeks to dethrone or outright deny God’s existence. Every heart seeks to dethrone God, unless God is Lord over that heart. Jesus Christ is our Saviour from our sins; He is also Lord and King and we must submit to Him.

It is not surprising then, that since the beginning of the fall into sin, when Satan tempted Adam and Eve, the he would go on to tempt every other human being since then. Satan was so bold as to tempt Jesus Himself! Satan challenged Adam and Eve’s worldview—did God really say? For this reason, we have worldviews that compete with the one true worldview that is revealed by God, the creator, in the Bible. Satan is still asking, “Did God really say He created the world in six days? Did God really create only two genders, or two sexes? Did God really assign marriage to be between only one man and one woman?”

As a church, as believers, we need to be absolutely sure of what God has revealed in His Word, so that we can properly engage with and demonstrate with good reason against the competing worldviews of our day and age. In churches in North America, there is increasing influence, not only influence, but total acceptance of worldviews that are opposed to God and His Word. Be prepared, don’t shy away from this, but arm yourselves with the belt of truth, the understanding of the Word of God.

2. Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the Saviour. From the beginning, in Genesis 3:15 we read, “‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’” Here Jesus Christ, the Son of God is promised.

Listen, my friends, friendship with the world is enmity with God. When we try to incorporate worldviews that come from the minds of sinful human beings (all human beings are sinful) we run into big problems. Without a literal Adam, there is no fall into sin, if there is no fall into sin, then death is not a punishment for sin. If death is not a punishment for sin, then there is no need for Jesus, whose name means, the Lord is Salvation. There is no need for salvation if there is no sin. All the current issues of this day and age is answered in the first 11 books of Genesis: Gender and sex, marriage, ethnicity (for there is only one race, the human race), sin, death, and the gospel itself—the good news of salvation from sin!

Jesus is the Saviour. He is the only way to the Father. There are no other ways. You cannot be good enough. You cannot add your own righteousness to Christ. You cannot pad your faith with other views. That’s what Israel was guilty of doing. They worshipped God, but they also worshipped other gods. They followed the ways of the world around them. They subscribed to other philosophies and ideas, thinking, “Well, maybe our God isn’t enough. Maybe we need to try these things too. Those people seem awfully successful, maybe they’re smarter than we are, maybe we should do what they’re doing.”

There’s an element of pragmatism that has come into the church—along with consumerism. And together, these things are causing much of the disruption in churches today. Instead of asking, “What is God calling us to do in His Word?” Many Christians are looking around and asking, “What is working? Where are the successful churches and what are they doing?” Others are asking, “What can I get out of church? How are my felt needs being met? How do I actualize my worshipful self?”

Brothers and sisters, such questions may come out of good intentions, but they are self-serving. Christ calls us to self-denial. The Holy Spirit urges us to die to ourselves and to be raised to new life in Christ Jesus! The world would have us believe that we can be truly fulfilled and satisfied in anything other than Christ. But look at what we remembered today—Christ Jesus died, He offered His life as an atoning sacrifice for us, who were dead in our trespasses, dead in our sins. To all who believe, He gives salvation, for He is the Son of God.

3. The Son of God

We understand from the genealogy in Luke’s gospel (and this is why we have four gospels), “Jesus being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, and so on, the son of David, the son of Jesse… the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

Jesus is the direct human descendant of Adam, and having taken on human flesh, is fully human, and is certainly the fulfillment of the promise in Gen. 3.15. The book of Hebrews contains a beautiful explanation of who Jesus is. Hebrews 1:1-4 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

And consider also Hebrews 4:14-16 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

And also Hebrews 9:11-15 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

And finally, concerning the Son of God, Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords who, at the right hand of God, reigns with all power and authority. The Son of God, is the King of all creation.

4. The Prophesied Prophet

Every king has a herald. John the baptizer, is the prophesied prophet who announces, who prepares the way for the King. Last week, Queen Elizabeth celebrated the 70th year of her reign. Throughout the commonwealth, but particularly in England, there were celebrations galore. And, not surprisingly, there were preparations in place, long before the actual celebration began. Venues had to be booked and arranged, prepared in advance for the Queen’s arrival. And on each day, before the Queen arrived, people announced her coming.

So too with Jesus. John was the last and the greatest of the prophets. His sole mission in life was to be the messenger before God, before His face. By this we understand that John’s work was done before the face of, with the blessing of, in the whole aspect of God’s face. God’s face, as we know from the priestly blessing recorded in Numbers 6:24-26, and likewise reinforced in 2 Corinthians 13:14, communicates God’s blessing, the light of His light as of the sun radiating upon us. It is His goodness, His love, His power, His presence upon and within John.

John did what all the prophets did. He called people to repent. He prepared the way for Jesus who is the Way, the truth and the Life. John was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John was literally in the wilderness, but he was also there figuratively.

The way of salvation in God had become overgrown with sinful human invention. While there was still truth proclaimed, the hearts of all people were wild and weedy. There was utter corruption within the whole system, from the least important to the most important. John came preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

His voice, His proclamation, His sermons, and as we’ll see next week, His baptism, was making the pathway straight for Jesus. The wilderness around the Jordan was a metaphor for the hearts of the people of Israel. John came with a chainsaw, a bulldozer, an earth mover, an excavator. Through him the Holy Spirit broke up the stony hearts of the people. He ripped out the weeds and the trees that cut off the Son. He cut down the hills of pride and self-reliance. The Holy Spirit, filled in and closed forever the valleys of despair and darkness, where evil hearts and evil thoughts lurked. The Holy Spirit straightened out the paths of the wicked, which always lead people far away from God, far away from the truth. The Holy Spirit, through John, carved out a new, straight path, to God the Father, through the Son, preparing hearts to receive Him as their true King.

Brothers and sisters, those here, and watching online, let the Holy Spirit work in your heart. Let Him break down the strongholds of pride, sin, and self. Let the Holy Spirit lift you up, up out of the depths of shame, guilt, sin, despair, fear, and loneliness. Let the Holy Spirit work in your heart to break you out of your bondage to sin and the ways of this world. Let Him prepare your heart to receive your one and only Saviour and Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Prayer

Father in Heaven, work in our heart, mind, soul and strength to set us free from the curse of sin and shame. Set us free, by Your Spirit, on account of Jesus our Saviour and King. He has fully paid for all our sins, by His precious blood. Hold us to Him, our Solid Rock, so that whatever we face in this life, is as nothing compared to Him, His power, His strength, His Lordship over our lives. Help us to truly see Him as He is, Amen.