Sunday Sermon
sunday morning 24th Jan 2010
Mark 1v1-8
Marks gospel opens with an amazing introduction:
“the beginning of the Good News”
It reminds us of other great biblical starts:
Gen 1v1 in the beginning God
John 1v1 in the beginning was the word
This is the beginning of Good News.
Mark is written then to tell us Good News.
It’s Good News, as opposed to bad news, upsetting news, disturbing news .....
Mark is saying listen to this, here is something really great, wonderful, amazing.
This news centres around a person, this news is a person!
“Jesus Christ Gods Son”!!
He is Jesus – the Saviour
He is the Messiah, the appointed One, the one who was to come – the Christ
He is Gods Son – not like any other!
The Good News is all about this Person. Marks Gospel is all about Him!!
What do we learn of the Good News in these verses?
1) he is so great that a way has to be prepared for his reception v2-4.
A messenger has been commissioned to go before Jesus.
He is to prepare the way for the Way!!
a) How is he to prepare the way?
· by crying out in the desert!!
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Gods ways are not our ways.
What are we doing to prepare the way for the Good News?
The voice was to cry out in the desert! Not the place you might expect.
A barren place, a place with seemingly no life!
But that is what our hearts are like before Jesus enters in – dry and lifeless.
· By clearing the path
Taking away every obstacle that might hinder the reception of Good News.
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Perhaps our task in witnessing to the unbeliever is to think about why a person may not believe and then take away whatever the hindrance is?!
People are all different, some have questions of science that need addressing, other have had bad experience of religion.
Thus we need to get to know people so we can clear the way for Jesus.
· By preaching repentance – showing the need to change the way we think.
He preached repentance and baptism for forgiveness of sins. He cried out and cleared a path by calling people to readdress the way they were thinking: repentance.
b) Who was the Messenger? V4
we are simply told that John came, baptising in the wilderness!
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The work of the “messenger” is essential for salvation.
Every Christian is a messenger. We have a message to tell.
Part of clearing the way for the Way, involves telling what Jesus has done for me.
John was a great man, but Mark really makes nothing of him here!
We may not feel well equipped but the it is not ourselves we point people to but Jesus.
c) how was the message received? V5-6
Repentance and forgiveness was preached and the response was confession!!
People came to him from the towns and cities!!
The message of the need to repent, was accepted and so people confessed their sins!!
People came probably to see the 2nd Elijah v6 (2Kings 1v8).
The description of John would have immediately indicated that John was a prophet, that he was a messenger of God, thus people went out to him.
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The important point for us to think about is what could we do today that would lead to such a response?
All we can do today is point people to Jesus, and that is what John did to as we will see:
2) the message that John preached v7-8
a) v7: someone is coming, more powerful than I!
John must have been an impressive character, to have all the people come out to see him!
The message that someone more powerful was on the way must have been astonishing.
John says he is not even worthy to do the task of the lowest house slave, undo sandal straps!!
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This shows us the need that Christians have to show a holy life.
We must lead lives that can only lead to one explanation – God is at work here!
Someone more powerful than I.
What divine qualities should the Christian show?
Love for God:
Displayed in an adoration of Christ, a continual longing to know him more
Love for one another:
Displayed in a readiness to forgive and serve one another.
b) v8 this One coming will baptise with a different element!!
To show the greatness of the Christ John draws a contrast between what he baptises with and what the Christ will baptise with: water compared to the Holy Spirit!
Water is needed for life. Without it we will die.
But the Spirit is the One through who the waters were created. The Spirit was there at the beginning, hovering over the waters Gen1v2.
The baptism by water is symbolic and outward.
The baptism in the Spirit is life giving.
John can perform the symbol of new life, Jesus can give new life!!
John was a great man. The last great Old Testament prophet.
He did a great work in preparing the way for the Christ.
But he knew all along that he was just a servant to the King.
The Great King was coming and John was delighted to preach in His arrival.
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For us to be effective messengers what we need more than anything else is this great impression of Jesus Christ Gods Son.
His greatness, power, glory, beauty, who He is! Should fill us with wonder and awe so that our lives can do nothing but prepare the way for Him.
sunday evening 24th Jan 2010
Mark 1v9-13
This morning we saw that Mark wrote his Gospel to tell people Good News.
That Good News is Jesus Christ Gods Son.
So good is the news that a way had to be prepared for its reception.
The ground had to be cleared, so John came preaching repentance and baptising for the forgiveness of sins.
There was a great response – the people came, from all over confessing their sins!!
His message though was all about the One who was to come – the One much greater than he. The One who would baptise with the Holy Spirit.
So the scene was set, the time was right, the ground was ready for the Saviour to come.
1) the Greater One enters the public stage:
· He goes forward for baptism v9
We know that in other accounts John takes some persuasion to do the baptism, but here Mark is in a rush to get on with the story so he misses out such detail.
He simply wants us to know that Jesus was baptised.
Right from the start the Great One is acting contrary to what we might expect.
Undergoing a baptism of repentance! Why? Mat 3v15 tells us that Jesus was baptised to “fulfil all righteousness”. He was baptised because it was the right thing to do.
In being baptised he was saying that He was seeking God along with all the others.
He was associating himself with sinners in this humbling act.
Also the baptism links the ministry of John and Jesus together on the same line.
Jesus in this act is affirming the whole ministry of John.
He is the great One but even He acknowledges the forerunner.
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He humbled himself under the baptism of water for you.
Showing right from the start that His ministry was all about the service of others.
This is the good news, Jesus the Saviour King is the Servant King.
He came not to be served but to serve.
- how do we serve? Why do we serve?
· The Spirit descends on Him v10
Following the baptism, associating himself with sinners, humbling himself, “immediately” God’s blessing follows. But only after the humbling.
The picture is both violent and gentle.
Jesus see’s heaven being torn open! It’s unclear whether anyone else sees this.
Then the gentle image of the dove coming to rest on him.
John sees this happening and it is a sign to him the Jesus is the Christ (John1v33).
The Good News here is that Jesus is the One who is anointed by the Holy Spirit right from the start. He is filled with the unbodily personal power of God right from the start.
The power of the Spirit working through Jesus is seen in all that follows in the Gospel.
The Spirits power is what enables His powerful ministry.
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As we humble ourselves under Gods mighty hand he will lift us up (1Pet 5v6).
The Lords lifting up came immediately, ours requires patients. It requires then waiting on the Lord in prayer.
· The Father adores Him v11
Lastly at this point we see the Father worships the Son.
This is my beloved son! This is more than affirmation, more than encouragement, this is worship. Another way of translating the last clause is “in you I delight”.
That is worship, delighting in God. The Father delights in the Son.
Here we see then the full glory of the Christ. He is not just a man, he is not just a saviour, he is God in the flesh: Jesus Christ Gods Son.
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This is getting to the core of the good news for us! God came into the world.
He came to save us!
How are we to respond to Jesus? By delighting in him, even as the Father does.
2) Jesus leaves the public stage:
· He is cast into the desert v12 – this happened in Marks words “immediately”
After the high of the Trinitarian revelation – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the account takes another sharp turn.
“Immediately” Jesus comes under the power of the Spirit and is cast into the desert.
He could have resisted the Spirit, but he walks by the Spirit and obeys the Spirit.
Though the Spirit is forceful! The Gentle Dove, compels the Mighty Christ: drives him into the wilderness.
Such is the way of God.
To our minds we may think. Why did Jesus not there and then start preaching, after such a public entrance onto the scene! But God takes him back out of the public arena.
All the time Jesus is learning obedience to God! (Heb5v7-9)
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Political service these days is all about image about being seen, about networking etc.
Christian service is about obedience to the Spirits leading.
The most important question to ask is “am I doing this to be seen or to obey”?
· He is tempted for 40 days v13a
In the wilderness he is tempted for 40 days!!
The change form baptism, Spirit anointing and divine worship to temptation could not be starker. One moment he is in the presence of the Trinitarian community, the next he is in the desert being tempted by Satan.
We know little of this whole event from Marks perspective.
But this is part of the growing and learning spiritual formation of the Christ.
And of course we know he overcomes – he was tempted....but without sin!
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To be tempted is not sin.
Temptation can make us upset, it can make the going very tough, but it is not a sin to be tempted.
That Jesus was tempted shows how close he is to us. He knows what it is like.
That too is part of the Good News – Jesus knows what it’s like to be one of us.
Further, that he overcame the temptation is Good News because he did that also for us.
He resisted the devil for us.
All that Jesus did was for our salvation. He had to resist to stay the perfect Lamb of God.
If he gave in for a moment, our salvation would be lost.
· The wild animals are with Him and the Angels attend to Him v13b
a) Marks reference to Jesus being with the wild animals is unique to his account.
Perhaps it signifies something of the total salvation that Jesus came to bring.
Salvation in its fullest sense is for the whole cosmos. Humankind is obviously important but so is the rest of creation.
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Perhaps a side application here is to our environmental responsibilities?!
b) But of greater significance is the Angelic presence.
They are attending to him. They are serving Him, they too are worshipping Him!!
So we come back to the great thrust of Marks Gospel: this is Good News about Jesus Christ.
He is the one who associates with us, who is baptised with the Holy Spirit, who is Worshipped by God the Father, who is tempted yet without giving in, and who is adored by the angels!!!
This is our Saviour, let us worship Him to.
