The Good News and the Mission of God
Mark 1:1
Introduction: Some famous first lines in
literature sound familiar to us: “Call me Ishmael...” from Moby Dick by Herman Melville. “It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times...” from A Tale of Two
Cities by Charles Dickens. Here’s a tough one, [you can probably figure it
out even if you didn’t read the book] “I am an invisible man...” from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952). The
most famous and recognizable “beginning” in all of literature may be the
opening words of Genesis: “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth...” For the Jews, the
opening words of the Biblical books were even more recognizable, since they
also served as the “title” of the book. Mark’s opening may intentionally evoke the
opening line/title of the book of Genesis, in order to clue the reader to the
significance of the story that he is about to relate...
“The
Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
It is a new beginning, the beginning of the ministry that
would make possible a New Creation. I was an awesome moment in God’s unfolding
story, the history of redemption. Mark points
immediately to the pinnacle of God’s plan of reconciliation which is found in
the sending of the Son, and starts His narrative at the beginning of Jesus’
public ministry.
Why study this
gospel? We have three others that are longer, seemingly more complete. God, in
His sovereignty, gave us four accounts of the life and ministry of
Jesus. None of them is a complete biography, but each one brings a message with
unique emphases and urges the reader to believe in Jesus and to follow Him. Most
of Mark is also contained in Luke and Matthew, but Mark’s unique, action packed
telling of the story of Jesus has a message and emphasis that we need to hear. Tradition
tells us that the writer of this gospel is John
Mark, probably the same man who is commended by Peter as his spiritual son
at the end of I Peter (5:13). The ancient church universally agrees that Mark
wrote his gospel based on the preaching and reminiscences of Peter.
We meet Mark
first in the book of Acts. After Peter is released miraculously from prison in
Acts 12, he goes to “...the house of
Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered
together and were praying...” (Acts 12:12). He is the young man who left the missionary
team in Acts 13:13, and over whom Paul and Barnabas split in Acts 15:37-40. A
few commentators think he was the unnamed young man who fled naked when Jesus
was arrested in Mark 15:50-52, only Mark gives that detail. Think of the grace
that is reflected in this guy being used of God to record one of the four
gospels! He is recording the story from Peter’s perspective, Peter who three
times denied Christ, and was restored by Jesus.
John Mark, the writer, perhaps the
one who fled in humiliation when Jesus was arrested, and who clearly abandoned
the team under unknown circumstances on the first missionary journey, who was
the cause of Paul and Barnabas having a “sharp dispute” and going their
separate ways... That was the writer of one of the four accounts of the life of
Jesus. What Grace! Even before we look
at the text, I hope you find encouragement in that. You may feel like something
from your past means you are now sidelined, that you have nothing to
contribute, or that you have disqualified yourself from service. Think of Peter
(the denier, but also the Apostle and leader), think of Mark (the quitter, but
also the Gospel writer). Recognize that God’s grace is bigger than your sin. In
fact your sin, and my sin, is exactly why He came. Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. That is where this gospel starts, with a summary
statement alluding to what Jesus came to do...
The Maine* Idea: Hear the Good News! Jesus, the Son
of God, came according to promise to make a way for sinful humans to be
reconciled to holy God.
I. The work of Christ
is proclaimed in the Gospel: “The beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus...” This “beginning” is not
the creation referred to in Gen 1:1 and John 1:1, but rather the start of the
public ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, that would ultimately accomplish God’s
plan to redeem a people for Himself.
The Gospel. Mark begins
by making reference to “the Gospel.” The word itself means “good news” and in a
sense it refers to the story of Jesus that he is about to relate. What makes
the gospel good news? God sent the Son into the world for a purpose, to
address the problem of sin. That is not a popular notion today. People don’t
like to admit that left to ourselves we would be lost sinners, without God and
without hope. All people are basically
good, right? We all believe in the same god, whatever we happen to call Him,
don’t we? Well, no, we don’t. One
summary of the liberal version of the “gospel” is that
A God without wrath bought men without sin into a
kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross...
The truth is much harder to face. The Gospel is good news
precisely because of our sin problem. This week you may have seen an obituary
in the local paper that included a simple drawing, picturing two peaks
separated by a chasm [http://www.boothbayregister.com/article/jonathan-w-south/81627].
One side is labeled “Holy God,” the other, “Sinful Man.” There is only one way
to bridge that gulf, it is pictured by a cross, and labeled Jesus Christ. That
is good news! Sin separated us from God, but Jesus came to pay the penalty for
our sins, to offer forgiveness and life to all who will believe. Paul points to the work of Christ when he
explains in I Corinthians 15:1-3,
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being
saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in
vain. 3 For I delivered to
you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the
third day in accordance with the Scriptures...
Notice what he
says, this is the gospel, the message that saves: Christ died for our sins.
He was without sin, and yet he willingly came to be our substitute. The wages
of sin is death (Rom 6:23) but He was sinless. The Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6). He died and was buried, but, hallelujah, the
grave couldn’t hold Him. The resurrection proved beyond any question that He is
who He claimed to be, and that he did for us what we could not do for
ourselves. Notice that Mark relates the name is this savior,
The beginning of the
gospel of Jesus...
His name was
given to his earthly parents before he was born. We sometimes think about the “meaning”
of a name these days, but usually we like the sound of it, or maybe it is
chosen to honor someone in the family. In the biblical narrative, an angel
appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “She will bear a
son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins..."
(Matthew 1:21). The name is the Greek form of the name “Joshua” and literally means “Yahweh
saves.” His name reflects his purpose in coming, to be our substitute, to
pay the price for our redemption, and to call sinners to repentance and faith. He
came to make a way for fallen humans to restored to fellowship with God. Do you remember the angel’s word to
the shepherds, unto you is born this day a Savior, Christ the Lord. He came to
save. That is the Maine Idea! And it is Good News! Jesus, the Son of God, came
according to promise to make a way for sinful humans to be reconciled to holy
God.
II. The Plan of God was prophesied in the Scriptures: “...the Gospel of Jesus Christ...”
This detail is
one of those things that we could miss as New Testament believers in the 21st
century. All of our lives we have heard
the full expression of the Lord’s name, “Our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In fact, other than someone sinfully taking
the Lord’s name in vain, the only time we hear the word “Christ” is in reference to Jesus. It was
however a word very well known to Jews in the Greco-roman world of Jesus’ day.
Literally it meant “The Anointed One”
and it was used to translate the Hebrew word, meshiach, or “Messiah.” There was an anticipation of a coming one, a
deliverer, throughout the Old Testament.
The first hints of a coming deliverer are found in the passage that is
called the proto evangelium, the
“first good news,” in Genesis 3:15, in the context of the fall, as God is
spelling out the consequences of sin, he speaks of a “seed” who would crush the
serpent's head. That idea is repeated and developed throughout the scriptures,
in the Law, the Prophets, and the writings (see Luke 24:44).
During the
inter-testamental period the messianic expectation was growing. For the most part, the people hoped in a
human deliverer, someone like David or Solomon who could unite the people and
lead them to victory over their oppressors, establishing peace and security in
the land. Very few seemed to wrestle
with the savior’s role in addressing our sin problem. Much less did they understand
that the messiah would suffer, and even die for the sins of His people. The
sacrificial system pointed to the seriousness of sin and the need for
atonement. They should have understood the words of Isaiah the prophet which
spoke of a suffering servant, one who would bear our sins. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have
turned every one to our own way, and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of
us all...” (Isa 53:6). They should have thought about the “Righteous
Sufferer” in the Psalms, who seemed to be a king, innocent, yet rejected and
suffering. Could this be God’s Messiah?
It could only be the Promised One! And then in the fullness of time, God
sent forth the Son. That is the Maine*
Idea... And that is Good News! Jesus, the Son of God, came according to promise
to make a way for sinful humans to be reconciled to holy God.
III. The Identity of
Jesus is revealed in His Sonship: “...the Son of God...”
One of the titles related to the king, and by extension to the promised son
of David, was “Son of God.” We sometimes think that Scriptures like Psalm 2
were purely prophetic of the coming messiah, and ultimately they were. But they
were also applied to the king, who, in his leadership of Israel, served as
God’s vice-regent, as the representative of his rule before the people. So at
the anointing of the king the second psalm would be read, including the oracle,
“You are my son, today I have begotten
you...” (Ps 2:7). The background to this was the promise that God had made
to David in 2 Sam 7:14 when he said that David’s son would be called the son of
God.
What was true in
type for the merely human kings of Israel, was true ontologically for Jesus. He
is eternally the Son in relation to the Father, it is His nature. The Son
existed from eternity in a face to face relationship with the Father and the
Spirit. It was true with respect to His human nature, because Jesus had no
biological, human father. As the Son of God He would be born miraculously
to a virgin (cf. Isa 7:14). The angel’s announcement to Mary alludes to this
extended meaning of the title,
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the
house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 And Mary said to the angel,
"How will this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 And the angel answered her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son
of God... (Luke 1:31-35).
Jesus would be
fully man, and fully God. The theological term that is used to describe that
paradox is the “hypostatic union.”
The eternal divine Son, the Logos who was with God and was God, took upon
himself a human nature. There was not (and is not) a human Jesus and a
divine Christ, but one person with two natures. I believe Paul refers to this
in Philippians 2:6,7,
“...though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, [by] taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Jesus took upon himself a human nature. God the Son became
the God-Man. To undo the sin of Adam. To bridge the chasm that separated sinful
humans from Holy God. He came to open a pathway to reconciliation, and that
pathway is the way of the cross.
What is God saying to me
in this passage? Hear
the Good News! Jesus, the Son of God, came according to promise to make a way
for sinful humans to be reconciled to holy God.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Have you trusted Jesus as your only
hope of salvation? Have you acknowledged Him as the Lord of your life? The Gospel
is a message of Grace, of God’s intervention in history, of the supreme
demonstration of unconditional love: “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...” His plan for
getting that message to the world is US – you and me! Think about the people
around you, your family, your neighbors, your co-workers... you are God’s
ambassador, his missionary, sent to them to share the Good News of Jesus. After all He has done for us, will we be
found faithful in fulfilling that calling?
Remember what Jesus said to the healed man, “Go, return to your house (oikos) and tell them what the Lord has
done for you.”
As we embrace
that mission, we hope to be equipping you to be a follower of Jesus and a
witness in all of our teaching in this church. We want to have resources
available like Gospels of John and tracts that you can give to the people you
encounter. We also want to encourage you to invite the people around you to
come and hear the truth. Jon’s faith was shared yesterday and in his obituary.
No doubt hundreds heard the Gospel. Easter is just ahead, a time when some
might be open to an invitation. Be praying now about who you can invite.
Even now, as we
prepare our hearts to share in the table the commemorates the sacrifice that bought
our redemption, let us repent of the sin of complacency, and determine in our
hearts to love our oikos, our
household, the people that God has sovereignly and strategically placed in our
extended sphere of influence, let us commit to praying for them, and asking God
for the opportunity to give a reason for the hope that we have in Jesus. The
table invites us to look back on His sacrifice, and also remember that we
celebrate this ordinance “until He returns.” We don’t know the time, but now is
the day of salvation! AMEN.
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