Messenger Service - Mark 1:1-8

Messenger Service

Mark 1:1-8

Introduction: In Brazil, important documents are delivered around the city of Sao Paulo by messengers on motorcycles, “moto-boys” they are called. Most of them are small motorcycles that can fit in between the lines of traffic, and make their deliveries rather quickly. It is dangerous work!  A pedestrian, a car mirror, an opened car door, a pothole, it doesn’t take much when there is so little space between cars and the bikes are moving so fast for something to go horribly wrong! In the city of Sao Paulo where we lived, every day someone dies in a motorcycle crash.  Yet the messengers have their work to do, they know the risk, and they continue.  They have counted the cost.

       We’ll see in Mark’s Gospel a call to discipleship, an invitation to believe in Jesus, and to follow Him. We’ll also see that Mark doesn’t present an “easy” picture of the Christian life. In presenting Jesus he emphasizes that He came as the suffering servant, the one who would be rejected and bear our sins. And he makes it clear that it won’t be easy for those who follow Jesus. Being a “messenger” is dangerous work, they need to count the cost. One of the most poignant scenes in the gospel comes about half way through. We read in Mark 8:31 – 38...   

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."  ³⁴ And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. [Don’t miss the connection between the suffering of Christ and the suffering of His followers! SN] ³⁶For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?  ³⁷For what can a man give in return for his life?  ³⁸For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."  

We’ll refer to that decisive context as we go through this gospel.

Context: Last week we read Mark 1:1,  “The beginning of the “Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” I watched a video this week that suggested the entire Gospel of Mark can be outlined in terms of three questions: 1) Who is Jesus?; 2) Why did He come?; and 3) What does it mean to follow Him? We’ll be looking at those questions as we go through this gospel. Today’s passage touches on all three.

The Maine* Idea: If we know Christ, personally, as He is, as He has revealed himself to be, our mission is to proclaim Him, and the message of His grace.

I. THE MESSENGER (and messengers!) OF THE LORD: John was called and sent by God with a specific mission (as are we!) [1-3].

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."

       First, notice that the Promised Messiah was announced by a messenger in accord with the prophecies written centuries before (2,3).  We sometimes see the New Testament writers subtly alluding to the Old Testament, trusting that his readers would make the connection. Here, Mark underscores John’s mission as being in fulfillment of Scripture by specifically referring to Isaiah (the quotation actually is a composite of Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3). God has spoken and the Prophetic revelation being fulfilled confirms God’s plan... (see Heb 1:1).

       As John announced the coming of Christ, and God would have us to testify that He has come.  John had his role in the unfolding drama of Scripture, and we have ours. He was the announcer, we are the proclaimers.

       The first part of the quotation actually comes from the prophet Malachi...

"Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts... (Mal 3:1).

       The Lord, Yahweh, sends His messenger in Malachi. And then the actual citation from Isaiah in v.3, “...prepare the way of the Lord...” Who is the “Lord” that Mark is referring to in his citation of Isaiah?  Jesus, without a doubt. When we turn to Isaiah 40:3 the Hebrew text is quite enlightening...

³ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

“LORD,” written with all capital letters, translates the name “Yahweh.”  The parallel phrase reinforces that he is speaking of “...our God.” Mark immediately, at the very beginning of his gospel, shockingly, emphatically, applies this passage, speaking of Yahweh, God, to Jesus. This promised one, the messiah, the coming “Lord,” is Jesus. Who is Jesus? Mark confronts us immediately with a challenge to consider His identity as the God-man, the promised Deliverer spoken of in Scripture.  Do you know Him as He is, as He has revealed Himself to be? Then be assured that our mission is to proclaim Him, and the message of His grace.

II. JOHN’s Message Focused on our Sin Problem (4,5).

⁴ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  ⁵ 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.

       Arrival of the Messenger: “John appeared...” The precursor anticipates the Messiah’s work (4). Mark immediately alludes to the second question. The first question is who is Jesus? The second, why did He come? John came into the world under unlikely circumstances. Zachariah and Elizabeth were old and childless. But God is the Author of life! As he gave Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age, He again overcomes barrenness to send His chosen “spokesman” into the world. John was a voice, like an Old Testament prophet, in the wilderness. The promised one was coming!  As a herald would go before a king, announcing his approach, so John was sent to prepare the way for the Savior, announcing His arrival.

       Notice also that John presents a “correct” perspective on what the Messiah came to do.  He was pointing to the coming One as the answer to the problem of sin. It wasn’t merely the external participation in water baptism that dealt with sin. It was a baptism accompanied by repentance. That word literally refers to a change of mind, and it implies that someone has recognized their sin and turned to God.  Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. Faith is taking God at His word, believing that Jesus is who He claimed to be and trusting in Him as our only hope for forgiveness and life.  Repentance implies recognizing our need, our SIN, our separation from God, and turning from our reliance on self to trusting Him.  

       The response exposes the readiness of hearts (5). God is at work in the hearts of humans. When Mark reports that “All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to Him...” he is using some oriental hyperbole. The point is not that literally every person from the region went out to John, but rather that a large number, from all over the region, went to him. An audience was being prepared to meet the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus.  By the way that can encourage us as we carry out His mission in the world. We have a challenge in our witnessing. People, for the most part, are dead, blind, and deaf to spiritual things. They CANNOT understand (I Cor 2:14).  We shouldn’t be surprised if they don’t receive the message! But some hearts have been prepared to hear and believe the truth. That is the work of the Spirit, who brings new life. If we know Christ, as He is, as He has revealed himself to be, our mission is to proclaim Him, and the message of His grace.

III. John’s Message pointed to Jesus (6-8). John would later say, “He must increase, I must decrease...” He knew that He was just the messenger, that it was all about Jesus...

⁶ Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.  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."

John looked and lived like an exile in this fallen world (6).  In 2 Kings we read the story of the LORD sending Elijah to intercept the messengers of Ahaziah who were going to inquire of the prophets of Baal concerning the king’s recovery from an injury. They were met on the way by a rather unusual looking character who brought a message from the true God. We read in 2 Kings 1:6-8...   

⁶ And they said to him, "There came a man to meet us, and said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"  ⁷ He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?"  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."

The message surely helped, but the dress left no question, just by the description Ahaziah immediately knew it was Elijah! Why was John the Baptist’s dress mentioned by Mark? The Jews expected Elijah to return before the coming of messiah, and John the Baptist certainly looked the part! In Malachi 4:5-6a we read,

⁵ "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  ⁶ And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers...

We know that later Elijah appears with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, but Jesus also says that John came “in the spirit and power of Elijah,” so in a sense he fulfilled that eschatological expectation. We read in Luke’s account the angel’s word to Zechariah,

¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,  ¹⁷ and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared..."  (Luke 1:16, 17).

That was John the Baptist’s ministry, in fulfillment of Scripture. He was announcing the arrival of the promised one, and preaching a message that moved many to recognize their sin, and to look ahead for the Rescuer who was about to appear on the stage of human history.

       John understood his mission was to point people to Jesus (7).  “After me comes one who is mightier than I, the strap of who’s sandal’s I am not worthy to untie...” The lowest servant in a household would undo the sandals of the master and his guests and wash their feet. John expressed his humility by saying that he was unworthy even of that humble task. He knew his calling was specific, to point people to Jesus. Do you understand your calling?  Roughly 3 years after John’s death, after the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the Lord would tell his disciples, “...you shall be my witnesses, starting in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth...” (Acts 1:8).

       Jesus would accomplish salvation, and then send the Spirit to empower and mobilize the church (8). John says his baptism in water wasn’t an end in itself, it pointed forward to what the Messiah would do: baptize them in the Holy Spirit. Water baptism in John’s ministry is not the same as Christian baptism as it is practiced in the church. It was symbolic of cleansing, and like the baptism of proselytes, converts to Judaism, it pointed to a new spiritual beginning.  John is pointing ahead to Pentecost, when Jesus would pour out the Spirit on the church.  The Lord taught the disciples for 40 days after the resurrection. Then, as the time for His ascension drew near, we read in Acts 1:3-5,   

³ To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.  ⁴ And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me;  ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Ten days to be precise. The ministry John predicted would be realized. They had to wait for the pouring out of the Spirit on the church.  Now there is some discussion and disagreement among believers (even in our church family) as to what this “baptism” is.  With humility and respect I suggest the scriptures point to Spirit baptism as the common experience of all true believers in this church age. We see it unfolding in Acts 2 as the Spirit is poured out on the church.  The disciples explain it in terms of the work of God in the last days as He pours out His Spirit. Peter says, “This is that!” It is the new reality of which all true believers in Christ are a part (Rom 8:5-11; I Cor 12:13). We have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

       Now let’s take this back to the calling of John and our calling as the witnesses of Christ. John was preparing the way, looking ahead to the life and work of Jesus, and ultimately of His sending of the Spirit. We, in this post-Pentecost age, have the reality of His presence, to empower and to guide us.  Have you ever thought, “I can’t be a witness, I can’t share my faith. No one would listen!” In your power that is true. God is the one who has to open hearts. Paul talked about that in 2 Corinthians 4:4-7, affirming the need for divine intervention to open the hearts of humans...  

⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.  ⁶ For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Remember those three questions: 1) Who is Jesus? The promised messiah. The suffering servant. God, incarnate. 2) Why did He come? To address our sin problem. To make a way for sinful humans to be reconciled to Holy God. 3) What does it mean to follow Him? We are called to be His messengers, His witnesses. He doesn’t promise that it will be easy, quite the contrary. Remember, we are pilgrims in this fallen world! That’s the Maine Idea: If we know Christ, our mission is to proclaim Him and the message of His grace.

What would God have me to do in response? How then should we live? The moto-boys in Sao Paulo know they have a job to do, they’ve counted the cost and they are out there. We know how John the Baptist’s story will unfold. He’ll be arrested, and before long, he’ll be martyred.  Some believers, in other parts of the world, realize that might be the cost for them. Everyday people are martyred because they are willing to say, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”  For most of us, the cost is not so literally the ultimate cost.

       I was reading the story of Stephen, the first martyr of the post-Pentecost Church, in Acts 7. He knew what was happening when he was seized by a crowd and dragged out of the city. Still he spoke the truth. And he loved his countrymen, maybe some from his own oikos, he loved them enough that he even prayed for them as they were throwing stones at him to kill him. Most of our friends, relatives and neighbors won’t go that far! 

       Are you praying for those in your sphere of influence?  Have you identified your oikos, the 8 to 15  people that are closest to you in your day to day life? The people that you rub shoulders with on a day to day basis? You have to list them, at least in your mind, preferably on paper, in order to start praying for them. Praying, and looking for opportunities to invite, and opportunities to speak, to maybe give them a tract or a Gospel, and to say that this message, the Gospel, is true, it is real, it has changed your life, and if they are willing, it can change theirs.    Are you willing to be God's messenger?   AMEN.