The Gospel According To Mark (Part 2)

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The Gospel according to Mark

(Part 2)

Welcome to Jesus Church here and online

Last week we started a new series going through Mark

• Mark is the oldest of all the gospels
  • It’s the shortest of all the gospels
  • And it really focuses on the ministry of Jesus over life of Jesus
  • Which means you don’t get birth story… not much after rez
    • Why? Not Marks goal – Goal is to present Jesus ministry
    • And allow you to decide what Jesus is to you

• And last week to looked at just 1 verse… but a very important verse
  • Because in these ancient writings – First sentence was key
  • And Mark starts off talking about this thing called the Gospel

• Found out the Gospel/Good News is different than what many think
  • Gospel according to Jesus isn’t that we get to heaven someday
  • The Gospel is that Jesus is bringing Heaven to Earth
  • Why… because when God created the earth what did he call it
    • GOOD – And God loves his good creation
    • The problem is we brought sin into that creation

Mark 1:15

“The time has come. The Kingdom of God has come near… repent and believe the good news”

And when we look at Jesus words – Declaration and Command

• Declaration: Heaven is here // Command: Repent & Believe
  • Why… Reason Hell is still here – Is because we are still here
  • It’s the pride/jealousy/selfishness in our own hearts
• But God loves us so much he commits to us – If we trust what he says
  • He will change us from the inside out… like a doctor in surgery
  • Changing your heart one decision at a time
  • Until what the Bible says is the fulfillment of time
    • In which Jesus returns and once and for all destroys all of sin
• And for those who reject God and solution to sin…God honors that
  • C.S. Lewis calls it the Monument to Human Dignity and choice
  • Because if someone refuses to be healed by the Great Physician
  • God will honor that…
    • But he won’t allow Hell to continue ruining his good world
    • So the last picture is Heaven and Earth renewed
    • And Hell is outside of that new reality for eternity

So today lets continue with Mark 1:2

Mark 1:2-8

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the wilderness ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

John wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locust and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

[PRAY]

Story – Learning about where people are from

I love learning backstories… where people are from/heritage/background

• My grandfather was super into family trees
  • Every time we went to one of those dinner shows with knights
  • He had to buy another family seal
• I think if he would have been alive when ancestory.com came out
  • He would have spent all of him money on that
  • But we understanding someone – being helpful – good friend
  • Its important to know where they come from
• My last name actually doesn’t mean we made cheese (feta)
  • We were employeed by the kings house
  • When important guests arrived a Phetteplace show them around
  • Also make sure they didn’t do anything shady

Jesus is no different… when and where he was born is important

• The reason is because he is the pinnacle of the story of Israel
  • And the story of Israel shows us how God related to his people
  • And how God relates to you and me
• Mark knew this and while he didn’t have the space to write it out
  • He still conveyed it in his writing with this quote from Israel’s past
  • In a way that would tell us something important about Jesus
  • By connecting Israels past to what Jesus is doing now
• So he quotes Isaiah… but also quotes Moses as well
  • This is what Moses said that Mark quotes

Ex. 23:20 – Lost in translation but this is a verbatim quote in Mark 1:2

See I am sending an angel (messenger) ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared…

Ex. 23:28-30

I will send the hornet (metaphor) ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

• Understand… Israel’s entire story revolves around Ex. 23 (Exodus)
  • It’s the paradigm that Israel’s past/present/future was based on
    • Every year the Jews would retell this story around Passover
    • Mark comes in and ties Jesus to the story of the Exodus
  • That’s important because when Jesus shows up on the scene
    • Israel is waiting for another Exodus
    • They are living in oppression just like they did in Egypt
    • And they are waiting for a messiah to free them again

That’s one part of the prophecy Mark uses… other is from Isaiah

• Fast forward 900 years after Moses… Israel left God and in shambles
  • Is. 1-39 is a warning from God to repent or be conquered
  • Is 40 starts years later after Israel didn’t listen and are in exile

Is 40:1-5

Comfort, comfort my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed that her sin has been paid for (forgiven), that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

• This is God no longer warning Israel… but comforting Israel
  • God acknowledging that they are paying for their sins
  • But God hasn’t abandoned them – and there is still hope

… A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level the rugged place a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all the people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken”.

• And this is about not just Israel coming back to God’s promised land
  • But actually God coming back to the land himself
  • And he will create a path that seems impossible right now
  • Moving nature itself to bring this story forward
• And really what God is doing – And what Mark is bringing together
  • Is that his Gospel is this 2^nd Exodus they were all waiting for
  • The deliverer is hear & Mark is going to show how he conquered

So Exodus reference quoted by Moses… and preparation quoted by Isaiah

• Mark says this is all being prepared through a guy named John
  • And who is John… He wears flip flops and eats bugs… wild man
    • Which is to say he’s nothing like religious leaders of the day
    • They lived in the big city – Education – Connected – Trained
  • John is none of those things… yet he is preparing the way of God
    • Which is encouraging b/c if you ever feel God can’t use you
    • You don’t think you have what it takes
    • Jesus later says John is the greatest prophet ever born
  • And all John did was point people to Jesus… that’s it
    • Can you do that (Yes)
    • And what’s your wilderness
      • Cubical… campus… Morning shift that starts at 5am
      • Don’t have to be at church – Just point people to Jesus

And this was the Message he gave…

Mark 1:7-8

“After me comes the one more powerful than I (GOD), the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie (Job of a servant). I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

• Saying my baptism is to get you ready… get you in the family
  • But there is something else coming… and that’s the Holy Spirit
  • And you might ask what is the difference
• The significance of water baptism is being emersed in water
  • Symbolically this represents death of your old self… alive to new
  • We can’t go underground… so this is an easier ritual to show that
• And its something anyone can do – we baptized people last month
  • I baptized Greg in a pool… which is awesome
  • I’ve baptized people in horse troughs

But Baptism with the Holy Spirit is something different

• It’s something John couldn’t do… only God could – Through Jesus
  • And the relationship we get to have with the Holy Spirit
  • Is a relationship of guidance

Jn 14:26

Jesus told his disciples, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Jn 16:7-8

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

• So the job of the Holy Spirit… given by God
  • Is to guide you through the “wilderness” we face every morning
  • Lead and guide you to God’s promises for your life
  • So you can claim what is rightfully yours as God’s heir
• Now that sounds a whole lot like what God did in the Exodus story
  • The Gospel of Mark starts by telling us we are in a new Exodus
  • And here is why that is so important for us to understand

We live in Christian world view that uses legal concepts

Example: Jesus died in my place // paid penalty for my sin // Justified you

• Salvation is transactional – You give Jesus sin… you get righteousness
  • And it makes sense b/c many early Christian writers were lawyers
  • Two famous ones: John Calvin… Charles Finney…
• That isn’t wrong… using what they knew to contextualize Gospel
  • Bring it to people in a way they could understand
  • And WE BELIEVE ALL OF THAT… it’s all true

Problem is when you read the Bible as a whole – NT specifically

• The legal metaphor is just one metaphors (not the only metaphor)
  • And honestly… its not even the main metaphor that God is using
  • The main metaphor is this idea of a “NEW EXODUS”
• And we’ll get into all the examples that parallel the OT
  • Jesus is a new Moses
  • 12 disciples are a new Israel
  • Jesus’ way is a new exodus
• But its also a theme throughout the New Testament
  • When Paul uses the term redemption…
    • That’s actually a fast way of pointing to exodus
    • But Paul revolves it around Jesus

Power of New Exodus is salvation isn’t just a transaction (it is but more)

• You give Jesus sin… He gives you righteousness – Thank God!
  • But its more than that: It’s the idea of transformation
  • Because the Exodus story starts with the Passover lamb
• And the Jews would sacrifice a lamb… put blood over door of house
  • And God would pass over that house – Hence the name
  • This is where the transaction concept comes from
    • A sacrifice dying in our place to take our sin
• Jesus even makes the connection easier – He dies on Passover
  • But was the Passover at the beginning or end of Exodus story
  • Its right at the beginning
• And its after that God brings Israel out of slavery
  • Through waters of Red Sea
  • Into the wilderness where people got to know God again
  • He teaches them to trust him… rely on him… disciplines them…
    • Eventually bringing them into a land filled with milk & honey

But the lamb was sacrificed at the beginning of the story

• That is the starting point… not the ending
  • Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior isn’t the ending
  • It’s painting the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your heart
  • God wants to do so much more in your life than just forgive sins
    • Not to down play that – But that is only the beginning
• Mark is saying that God wants to lead you on a new Exodus
  • Out of the slavery of sin… narcissism… anger… addiction
  • God wants to lead you out of all that
  • Through the Red Sea… and impossible obstacles you gave up on
    • For your family & friends
    • For your finances
    • For your school… or work… or neighborhood

3 Questions to end with

Q1: Have you repented of sins, been baptized and filled with Holy Spirit?

Q2: What’s next in your Exodus story – In AND through you (community)?

Q3: Are you leaning into the Spirit to sustain you along the way?

JESUS WANTS TO LEAD YOU INTO A NEW EXODUS…