Mark 1:1-13 . . . a whole sermon

Intro—You are a part of a family history with a story. In that history and story, there have been generations of children, parents, and grandparents that have created your story. Much of who you are is a result of family matriarchs and patriarchs infusing values into your family story all along the way. I have a sense of honor, integrity, hard work and quite a bit of redneck that was insensibly infused into my being throughout my story.

In my own immediate family, with my wife and children, we infused some values into our children through Scripture. For instance, we infused the 3 Rules of Respect into our children. These came from 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul instructed the Thessalonians how to behave if they wanted outsiders to respect them. These, we told our children, were musts if they wanted people to respect them.

Tate (my son) was recently flown out to Boise, ID to take part in a young boy’s Eagle Scout ceremony. The boy chose Tate to receive his mentor’s award. (The family paid to fly Tate out there for this). At the ceremony, Tate was to share a something to advise this young man for life; he infused some of his story; he chose to share The 3 Rules of Respect.

You are a part of a developing family history and story that shapes who you are, how you view the world around you, and what you hope for.

You are also a part of HisStory. God the Father has a family history and story that includes you; It’s HisStory.

Read Mark 1:1-8

A.     It’s God’s history . . . it’s HisStory. He told it before hand through the prophets. He spoke of the redemption of peoples through his prophets from long before this part of the story that we read here in Mark and shows it’s culmination in what John the Baptizer himself speaks.

B.     It’s God’s self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.

C.    It’s God’s identification with man needing salvation.

HisStory is not mere words, tall tales, theories or things to be forgotten; it’s grounded in the real events of a prophet preparing the way, the event of a real baptism, and the events of actual temptations.

I. God’s HisStory

           

A. Why “HisStory” rather than merely “history.”

           

God planned the redemption of peoples from the beginning of HisStory. This Good News that culminates in the preparation of John the Baptizer and Jesus’ life is not just some kind of good news; it’s THE Good News as revealed by God historically through the prophets, experientially through the history of Israel, and now culminating in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus’ own baptism parallels Israel’s baptism into Moses in the Red Sea Crossing (1 Cor 10) and his triumph over 40 days in the wilderness and temptations parallels Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness. He had been revealing it for hundreds of years. Right here, Mark demonstrates historical continuity through John the Baptizer’s arrival with mention of three prophets and Jesus’ triumph where Israel had failed. Note the three connections to prophetic fulfillment with John the Baptizer:

1)  First through Malachi (in 3:1) who prophesied 400 plus years before John the Baptizer.

2)  Second through Isaiah (in 40:3) who prophesied 600 plus years before John the Baptizer.

3)  Elijah’s coming--he prophesied 800 plus years before John the baptizer (in 2 Kings 1:8, Mal 4:5, 6).

So, you see, God said this prophet, John the Baptizer, would arrive. No surprises here, right? There were long years of teaching us the truth of what was to come through the voice of the prophets and the redemptive experiences of the Israel. It can’t be said that the event of Jesus’ arrival is accidental or coincidental; it was planned. It is the beautiful culmination of HisStory.

B. John the Immerser’s Role

Israel had always had a messianic hope. What do I mean by “messianic hope” you ask. Messiah means “savior.” God had taught Israel to hope for a savior, somebody who would build a bridge for people to gain access to God’s presence. He taught them to teach the rest of the world this hope as well.

Israel’s consciousness or awareness of this hope ebbed and flowed throughout HisStory, but it was always present at some level. John’s role was to heighten consciousness of this hope. It was to get people ready to see it when it arrived and ready to respond to it when they were given opportunity. His job was to kind of go around and shake people by the shoulders and say, in not such a quiet voice, “After me comes he who is mightier than me, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have immersed you with water, but he will immerse you with the Holy Spirit!” He is fanning the messianic hope into a roaring flame.

Here’s how people respond to the “get ready” message: They are immersed in repentance. What does immersion mean? . . . it simply means to be consumed by it. What does repentance mean? . . . it means to have a change of mind . . . in this case, to agree with God--to agree with God about what is right and wrong and to do it. In The Gospel of Luke, John says it like this, if you have two shirts, share with somebody who doesn’t have one; if you have food, do the same; if your job is tax collecting, don’t rip people off, if your job is protecting the public as a law officer, don’t use your position to exploit people. So, he is essentially saying, “act in ways that accord with the Character of God.“

When we repent, we respond to the Good News and receive the benefit of the Good News. The benefit: he will immerse you in his own Spirit. Can you imagine that? . . . being immersed in God’s own Spirit . . . living in it so that it’s the atmosphere you live in? Yes, of course you can, if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It’s affects your decisions, your countenance, your purpose, your ability to live a life pleasing to God, your ability to become like Jesus . . . it changes everything. John was about clearing out the rubble and building anticipation to get people ready to respond to this miracle.

Are you ready? I’m going to share two events with starling implications.

II.God Came to Men as a Man

Read Mark 1:9-11

A. How He came.

We know, especially according to what He tells us in John 4:24, that God is Spirit. Now we need to understand how God, who is Spirit, chose to reveal himself to us. He revealed Himself to us in creation . . . yes. We look around and see that HE IS. He revealed himself to us through the prophets like Malachi and Isaiah . . . yes. But He finally revealed Himself to us most fully in a life lived. Jesus is not another God. Jesus is not something other than God. Jesus is God. Jesus is God revealing Himself to you and me in the life lived. We learn this in Jesus’ baptism; we see that this is where God, by His own Spirit, dwells, in a body of flesh, among us . . . to love us in a specific way that has eternal implications.

Illustration: The best way to reveal yourself, your true intentions, and your motives to people is to become one of them . . . to enter into their situation. When I was in college I had a beta fish. I thought it would be cool to have a pet, but found it was really just a hassle. He lived in a little bowl with a hollowed out ceramic log in the bottom of it. Every time I approached the bowl to feed him his little piece of frozen shrimp fishy food, what do you think he did? Some types of fish race to the top to grab a bit--not him. He swam to his log as fast as he could in fear. He misunderstood my intentions. He probably thought something like, “big scary monster coming to get me” or something like that. Can fish brains think like that? Anyway, if I could have become a fish for a day, maybe I could have finally explained my intentions. God became man for a time and explained his intentions.

In the life of Jesus, God most fully reveals what He wants us to know of Him and, at the same time, what He plans for us to become . . . that is that we are to become like Jesus. What is Jesus like? The rest of the Gospel According to Mark tells this story.

B. What did He accomplish by revealing himself in this way?

1)  Tearing open the barrier

Here we see the genius of Mark at work.  This is the first place we see this genius that shows up in so many places in Mark. Note how the heavens are “torn” open. Mark used a different Greek word here than did Matthew or Luke. Mark made a front bookend so-to-speak. It matches the word that he, and the other gospel writers, used at the end of the story (15:38).

[σκιζομένους (1:10) and ἐσχίσθη (15:38) are both forms of σχίζω.]

Here God is tearing open the heavens as if to demonstrate that he himself breaks through the barrier between men and God to come and to identify with man. Now God can be with men. [Spoiler Alert!] . . . At the end of the story, he tears through the temple veil—the same Greek word—that represented the barrier that kept men form coming into the presence of God. Now men can be with God. This is an ingenious method to make these profound theological statements.

2) The first of many beloved children

Here Jesus hears the voice of a father saying: “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.” I think this is a summary of the Gospel. Every person who is immersed into the Spirit immediately lays claim to this same statement from God. “You are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased.” This is amazing; is it not? Many of us need to hear this. As much as we long for this from our earthly fathers, only God is able to authenticate the conditions that truly please. I don’t expect to hear this from my earthly father. Why? Because my life is riddled with things that have displeased my earthly father. To be sure there have been pleasing things that he can speak to and affirm, but to say flatly that I am “well pleased” to the extent that there’s nothing about you that I find displeasing would be an unauthentic statement. However, this is patently the kind of “well pleased” God is with us as we repent and are immersed in His Spirit. Two things authenticate this “well pleased” statement:

1)  First, in Jesus Christ, he authentically removes all things that displease by the power of the blood of Christ.

2)  Second, though there be mistakes along the way, this is not a fiction, because, by His Spirit, he makes us able to live and progressively become like Jesus. In increasing measure, He conforms us into the likeness of Jesus who is the standard for God’s intentions for the genuine human experience.

I have heard this for myself: “You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.” This is enough for me . . . it’s the good news I need today.

Is that true, did Stacy Abernathy hear this today? Yes, it’s true. I hear this every day and believe it, because God Himself creates the necessary conditions, authenticates the reality of it, and longs for me to believe it.

STOP for a moment here. Read this statement out loud, putting your own name in the blank:

_________, you are my beloved child, with you I am well pleased. 

Have you heard it today? You have heard it, and it’s true if you are in Christ Jesus. This truth has been the most overwhelmingly profound realization in my own life.  

III.          God Identified With Man

A. What he accomplished in the temptations.

Illustration: One of my vocations over the past decade of my life has been to minister to the Lord’s church. A big part of my vocation, or job (if you will), is helping people in their life’s difficulties. More times than I can say, my offer for help has been rejected. Rejection often comes for reasons like these:

1)  You don’t really care; you’re just doing it because you get paid to minister.

2)  You don’t understand; you haven’t experienced what I have.

3)  What you’re suggesting can’t be done.

Some of this is true. I haven’t experienced every difficulty that every other person has experienced. (Thank you God.) And all of those people haven’t experienced every difficulty that I have. (Thank you God.)

However, it seems to me that if I had experienced everything that every one of you has experienced, and had come out triumphant on the other side ahead of you, you all might just be more willing to listen to any advice that I might have. You might just be willing to follow my lead.

Read Mark 1:12-13

This portion of the story is about Jesus identifying with each one of us. By God’s choice he experienced difficulties, trials, and temptations like we do. He was hungry; he was tempted to grasp at power; he was tempted to strive after the affirmation of men. He was tempted and tested in every way yet was without sin. He experienced life and came through it triumphant. He has dissolved these excuses:

1)  You don’t really care . . . wanna bet . . .  But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9)

2)  You don’t really understand . . . wanna bet . . . For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:17, 18 ESV)

3)  What you are suggesting can’t be done . . . wanna bet . . . For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 ESV)

As a pastor, a minister, I cannot identify with you in every trial. I have not preceded you triumphantly in everything. And, though I do authentically care, I cannot love you in the same measure that God has loved you through Jesus Christ. This I can assure you: God chose to identify with you in every necessary way, in every temptation, every need, every desire, every joy and every hurt. He knows. He understands. Not that he didn’t know and understand before, oh but what lengths has gone to show you. Do not think that you cannot turn to Jesus and not be understood or helped.

B. Yes, you still have trials.

You might assess your situation and say, “okay, where is he now?” The angels did not stop the tests and temptations from happening; they did not completely drive the wild beasts from his presence  . . . they ministered to him in the midst of it. If you are in Christ today, I think he is saying this to you now: “my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased, I understand; I hurt with you; I rejoice with you; I am with you in the midst of your trial ministering to you.”

Close--Will you be written into HisStory?

Could you entrust your life . . . for all of eternity . . . to this Jesus who has humbled himself to identify with you in every way?

He will immerse you in his own Spirit to make you able.

He has identified with you.

Will you now identify with him through your own repentance and baptism?

Wisdom from Above

I share here notes from an old sermon in regard Walking in the Spirit, Walking in Wisdom, Walking in the Way of Love. My hope is that this will help us recognize outcomes of hearing the Holy Spirit.

And, for the mediocre preaching of this passage, here you go:

Holy Spirit--Experiential

I’ve written much about the practical side of walking in the Spirit and therein being continuously directed. The aspect of experiencing the Holy Spirit that I have covered might seem mundane; it might be overlooked; it might be taken for granted. There’s another aspect of the Holy Spirit that is much more intoxicating.

What I allude to appears in 1 Peter:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)

The Apostle Paul referred “manifestations” of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

Spiritual gifts are given to individuals (i.e., every believer) for the good of the whole rather than for the good of the individual. For instance, if one is gifted to teach, it’s not to benefit the teacher, but, rather, the students. We are therefore directed to serve as good stewards of that gift, implementing it for the sake of others.

There is nonetheless something amazing in it for the gifted. The gifted operates in the strength that God supplies to do something beyond self and beyond self’s ability.

I do not experience this strength when I serve in forced ways. I, personally, experience this when preaching or teaching the Gospel. There is nothing mundane, to be taken for granted, or overlooked in the experience. It is, as it were, the power of the Living God himself welling up within me and sweeping me along. The experience makes it impossible to dwell in unbelief.

Lord God, give me opportunity to serve as a good steward of the gift that you have given. Be glorified in its outcome. Thank you for the strength that wells up in me in the midst of my weakness.

The Holy Spirit in Acts

• Jesus instructs the apostles "through the Holy Spirit" (1:2).

• Power of the Holy Spirit for believers

• Promised to first disciples (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)

• First disciples received at Pentecost (2:1-4)

• Promised to all repentant and baptized (2:37-39)

• Gentiles receive at Cornelius’s house (10:44-48; 11:15-18)

• The disciples at Ephesus (19:1-7)

• Terminology for receiving the Holy Spirit

• Baptized with (1:5; 11:16)

• Filled with (2:1-4)

• Poured out (2:17, 33)

• Fall upon (8:16; 10:44)

• God gave (15:8)

• The Holy Spirit in relation to water baptism

• First 120 disciples at Pentecost (2:4)

• 3000 at Pentecost sermon in conjunction with water baptism (2:38)

• Samaritans after water baptism, prayer, and laying on of hands (8:14-17)

• Cornelius after believing, but before water baptism (10:47)

• Ephesians disciples after two water baptisms and laying on of hands (19:1-6)

• The relationship of  tongues to the Holy Spirit in Acts

• To preach intelligibly to speakers of other languages (2:4-12)

• As a sign of fulfillment to the Jews of Gentile inclusion (15:6-9; Is 28:11; 45:23)

• Evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Similar to other evidences:

• Joy (13:52; 16:34)

• Sharing (4:32)

• Speaking with boldness (4:31)

• A heightened power of the Holy Spirit present during times of need

• Filled to preach (2:4; 4:8, 31; 11:24)

• Filled to confront evil (13:9)

• Filled to withstand persecution (7:55; 13:52).

• Deacons and other ministers must also be "full of the Spirit" (6:1-6), esp. when they prophesy (6:10; 11:28; 21:4).

• The Spirit "speaks to" the apostles and prophets (8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:1-4; 21:11).

• The Spirit leads and guides the decisions and actions of the Christian leaders (13:1-4; 15:28; 16:6-7; 19:21; 20:22-23).

How to NOT hear the Holy Spirit

I’ve recently written that you must ask, seek, and knock to hear from the Holy Spirit, which manifests as discernment to act in ways commensurate with love. 

The key to an effective conversational relationship appears in Matthew 5:48 and James 1:4. Jesus, and his copycat brother, say that we have to be “perfect.” No problem; right? The concept of perfect can easily be misunderstood here. This is perfect as in singleness, complete, undivided, or, in this context, single-mindedness. In the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5-7, it appears in ideas like:

• One audience for worship, prayer, and fasting
• One master (i.e, God rather than money)
• One pursuit (i.e., the kingdom and God’s righteousness)
• One way (i.e., the narrow way, the way of love)
• One foundation

James is more direct, adding the word “complete”as a synonym and “double-minded” and “unstable” as antithesis.

So, what’s this boil down to? If you really desire to enter into and live in the narrow way, without meandering in and out of it for your own benefit, you will receive what you ask for. It’s the person who pursues his own kingdom part time that fails to hear. That’s the surefire way to NOT hear.

The Veritable Smorgasbord of Love Manifestations

The way of love encompasses a veritable smorgasbord of manifestations. When people think of love, they most readily think compassion, pity, mercy, kind, polite, and etc. The most compassionate and merciful effect you can have on somebody’s future might appear harsh.

Most of us would agree that Jesus ALWAYS and without fail walked in the way of love . . . that narrow way. We see several different  manifestations of the narrow way in his example

The Compassionate Jesus

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36 ESV)

The Indignant but Patient Jesus

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. (Mark 10:13-14 ESV)

The Angry Jesus

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. (John 2:15 ESV)

The Avoiding Jesus

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25 ESV)

The Frustrated Jesus

Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” (Luke 9:41 ESV)

Help me categorize this one?

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (Mark 7:15 ESV)

Really now . . . he’s talking about poop. Is that a loving thing to do? Do you reckon maybe he has a sense of humor?

Though the list goes on and on, I end with the Sarcastic Jesus

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” (Matthew 15:26-27 ESV)

True, love is not rude . . . 1 Corinthians 13 . . . but can sarcasm be the best way to love somebody? I have to watch the sarcasm myself; many people frown on that. It’s a difficult restraint to avoid talking the way I think. In my last job I was getting good at restraint in the workplace. Then we added a young woman to the staff as a part time employee. The first time she cut me with some sarcasm . . . I was shocked . . . she was good at it! . . . it caught me, yes . . . even me . . . off-guard. Then I quickly realized . . .  YES; I love it! It was a relief to me to not have to take all things so seriously all the time. Sarcasm might be the right thing for a degenerate like me.

It may be that Jesus lightened the burden with a little sarcasm . . . which Jesus’ interlocutor was apparently adept with herself.

The narrow way meanders widely between “judge not” and “withhold from dogs and pigs.” The manifestations of love are a veritable smorgasbord. Be prepared to bring any Holy Spirit directed option to bear.

Aha, "Judge not"

“Judge not . . .” is a well-known passage . . . even by not-yet-Christians. How many times have we heard not-yet-Christians, with an index finger wagging in the air and an “aha”, remind us? Though Matthew 7:1-5 is well-known, verse 6 is much less known:

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.(Matthew 7:6 ESV)

The fact is, verses 1-6 form the complete idea. What happens when you take them together? Let’s put the two together in abbreviated form:

Wait now; if we’ve just determined that somebody is a dog or a pig, did we not just judge? And Jesus, of all people, compels us to withhold from these people. Does this seem contradictory?

[I can put silly stuff on my blog since only 5 people read it]

Let’s examine the “Judge not” idea first.  If we look at this parallel saying in Luke 6:36-38, we can see that this “judge not” saying happens in the context of granting mercy. Without going into a long explanation here (go to my “Measuring by Mercy” post for more on this), I’ll suggest that this means something like “ don’t judge them unworthy of the same mercy that you rely upon.”  So, on the one hand, we look at a person, no matter how harried the situation, and know that he needs mercy upon mercy . . . like me.

Now let’s take a look at the “dogs and pigs” idea. I think it’s as simple as this: “don’t grant scoundrels who defame The Gospel the courtesy of hearing truth that they then only defame. . . i.e., keep your mouth shut.”

I just wrote “as simple as . . . .” Is it ever simple to know what to say, how to say it, or if to say it? Not so much. This is the reason it’s not simple: Theses two saying represent two sides of an issue, two extremes, one juxtaposition.  I view it like this:

Someplace in between the two extremes is the right way to respond to people and circumstances. This situation calls for mercy upon mercy.  That situation calls for you to say nothing. Those situations call for a rebuke. Others call for a silent hug. Who knows? God knows. How do you know?  ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. The Holy Spirit will tell you where the Narrow Way is right now, with this person, under these influences, and in this circumstance. Don’t try to figure it out yourself. The way is too narrow, variable, and circumstantial for you to find it without asking. 

Loving does not look like the same thing in every case, not even with the same person the next time. It will turn out closer to one side of the juxtaposition or the other.