"The Spirit-filled Life!" (Mark 1:9-11)

"The Spirit-filled Life!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #3)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

January 30, 2011

For a message entitled "The Spirit-filled Life!", the Word of God from Mark 1:9-11, "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; ¹¹ and a voice came out of the heavens: 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.'"

Mark proclaimed that this is the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah, the Son of God, as foretold by the Prophet Isaiah. He immediately introduced John the Baptist, who as we learned last week was part of the fulfillment of messianic prophecy as the one who was to come before the Messiah to prepare the way for Him. John the Baptist was sent by the Holy Spirit to call Israel to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. It was in the verses right before our Scripture lesson, in Mark 1:7-8, that John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus Christ, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." It is in the shadow of this declaration of faith that Mark first introduces Jesus of Nazareth!

It is important for us to realize that John the Baptist did more than call the nation of Israel to repentance; he was the prophet of God used by God to invite Jesus out of His hometown to fulfill His mission. The beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ began with an invitation from the Holy Spirit through the ministry of John the Baptist.

Today, directly from the life of Jesus Christ, we are going to learn what it means to live a Spirit-filled life.

Let's start with this first teaching point that was true for Jesus Christ and is true for every human: The Holy Spirit invites us to respond to God!

Let's look closely at Mark 1:9, "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan."

Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth in Galilee where he spent approximately the first 30 years of his life. God's Spirit was on the move inviting all the people of Judea and Jerusalem out to the Jordan wilderness to be baptized for the repentance of sins. It was in the days of this great awakening of Israel, after over 400 years of prophetic silence, that God called Jesus Christ from His place of preparation to step into His mission. This was not the first time that the Son of God had to wait for the right time to enter His mission.

The Bible records in Galatians 4:4-5 of the first time, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

Jesus of Nazareth is the Eternal Son of God and before the Christmas Incarnation; the miracle of God coming to earth and taking on flesh, Jesus willingly and intentionally waited for the ordained time to enter time and become a human for the purpose of redeeming humanity. God entered at the right time and then waited in the little town of Nazareth.

Jesus had been a respected Jewish man undistinguished from any other faithful Jewish man for those first years—a carpenter, a son, a brother, a faithful Jew. Out of this place of upbringing and preparation, the Holy Spirit invited Jesus Christ to John the Baptist and Jesus responded! Listen to how John responded to the coming of Jesus from Nazareth to him in the Jordan River. The Gospel of Matthew 3:14-15 records, "But John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?' But Jesus answering said to him, 'Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he permitted Him."

In the same way that the Holy Spirit invited Jesus Christ out of his everyday routine of life in Nazareth, so the Holy Spirit is inviting you today! God wants to be found by you! He's not hiding! Unlike so many people (unlike some of us who have hid throughout our lives and others of us who are still hiding today) God wants to be found! In fact, that is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ. To let the entire world know that there is a way back to God for eternity; the invitation came in the form of a person!

How long has it been since you have played Hide and Seek? Beorn, my 4 year old, and I play Hide and Seek. He is so cute because he will tell me where to count and then run and hide. Then, he yells out to me that he is ready to be found and to come get him. I like this version of Hide and Seek because I go straight to where He is and we laugh and tickle each other and wrestle around until it's time to hide again. I'm sure this game will get more difficult as he gets older and maybe doesn't want to be found by me quite as easily.

Hide and Seek is a game kids love to play. But you know something, they aren't the only ones! We teenagers and adults like to play Hide and Seek as well, except we try to hide from God, and we don't always call out to Him to come find us! Thank God that He is willing to seek after us!

We learn this from Jesus' teaching in the Gospel of Luke 15:4-5, "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing."

God seeks after you, in the hiding places of your life! He pursues a relationship with you until you are found because He does not desire for even one of His children to perish. This is the very mission of God through Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Son of God. As Jesus demonstrated in His invitation to the chief tax collector Zaccheus and then proclaimed of His mission in the Gospel of Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Are you separated from God today? Are you still in hiding? This is the Good News that Jesus Christ came to proclaim: you have been found by God and you are invited to know His love forever! Will you respond?

The wasted life, the frustrated life, the discontented life, and often the tragic life is the unresponsive life. How are you responding to God's great efforts to reach you and invite you deeper into His love?

From the story of Jesus' baptism, our second teaching point: The Holy Spirit empowers us to fulfill God's purposes!

Mark continues the narrative of Jesus' baptism in Mark 1:10, "Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him." At His baptism, Jesus saw the heavens open and the Spirit of God descend upon Him like a dove. This embodiment of the Holy Spirit symbolizes that the Kingdom of God is the rule of God that brings peace to all mankind—redemption through Jesus Christ!

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus later proclaims God's purpose for His life to those in His hometown of Nazareth, to the people He grew up with as a man viewed only as the carpenter's son, the son of Mary with sisters and brothers. He now stands up and proclaims that He is more than they ever could see; He is the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies found in Isaiah.

From the Gospel of Luke 4:16-19, 21, "And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to [Jesus]. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.' …And He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"

And Jesus' earthly ministry was filled with the anointing and power from the Holy Spirit. As the Apostles declared of Jesus in Acts 10:38, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill God's purposes for His life.

Earlier, we learned that Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist "to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt 3:15).

Let's take a moment to visit this truth so that we can understand why Jesus submitted himself to baptism and in turn ensure we understand what Christian baptism is and is not.

Jesus goes out to John the Baptist, who is preaching about and performing a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mk 1:4-5). And Jesus of Nazareth is baptized (Mk 1:9). Jesus is baptized not because has sinned and needs to submit Himself to John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. No! On the contrary, the Bible teaches in 1 John 3:5, "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin." Jesus was not baptized out of His need for repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but in order "to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt 3:15).

Let's go deeper to the heart of the human condition and every person's fundamental need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were designed for a relationship with God, but sin broke it! No one can stand in the presence of God with any sin. That means, without a means of reconciliation with God, any thought or action displeasing to God keeps us eternally separated from God.

In order to have right standing with God (what the Bible calls righteousness), we must have all of our sin removed from us. According to the Old Covenant with God this was attempted through the Law where priests performed sacrifices for the community's sin twice a day and other times as dictated by the Law of God. Every person's sin had to be paid for by a blood sacrifice for the wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ came as the fulfillment to the Law, and the establisher of the New Covenant with God, by providing the final blood payment for all of humanity's sin—"to fulfill all righteousness"—so that humanity can once again have an unbroken relationship with God through faith in Him as the final atoning sacrifice.

Jesus' ministry begins at His baptism when He willingly identified Himself with the human experience of sin.

Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Right standing with God is only possible because Jesus Christ became sin and then took the penalty for sin, once and for all, on the Cross of Calvary so that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ will be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, who is the seal of God's right standing. Listen to these powerful words from Ephesians 1:13-14, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."

We are saved by putting our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not by baptism nor any human action! We are filled with the Holy Spirit (God's seal of our righteousness!) not by a baptism of water, but by the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the teaching of John the Baptist in Mark 1:8 when he states, "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Immediately upon receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters into you making you a new person and sealing you for eternity! To the glory of God, you are redeemed by grace because Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness! We are saved by faith, and not be works so that no one can boast of who they were baptized by or which denomination or church they are members. Please pull out the handout entitled, "What the Bible teaches about Baptism" found inside your bulletin.

It is important that every person reads through this so that we can all know what Christian baptism is and is not. You are not saved by your baptism, nor is baptism when you receive the Holy Spirit. Both of those eternal events happen when you first accept Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior with your whole heart. We follow the Lord in baptism out of obedience to His personal example and because He commands us to do it as His set apart people. Every single person who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should get baptized.

Today is the day to make this decision and this is the year to follow the Lord whole heartedly.

There is no reason to delay this obedience as God has called us to do great things in this life! In the same way that Jesus Christ was empowered to fulfill God's purpose in His life, we too must be filled with God's power to fulfill God's purposes in our own lives.

Ephesians 2:10 declares, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

God sent Jesus Christ into the world and has invited you to believe in and know Him so that you can find and fulfill the very purpose of your existence.

You receive the power of God through the Holy Spirit when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. How are you fulfilling God's purposes for your life? What are the good works you were created to do in this life?

From the story of Jesus' baptism, our third and final teaching point: The Holy Spirit speaks over us our true identity!

The Gospel of Mark 1:11 records, "And a voice came out of the heavens: 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.'"

This is in fulfillment of the messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 42:1, "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations."

God's affirmation of His Eternal Son as He begins His earthly ministry begins with words of identification; words that carry the weight of God's gospel to reach all humanity—the redemption of the nations—the fulfillment of the Promise to Abram in Genesis 12!

And when we become believers in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit calls out to us our new identity—our true identity—as children of God, ambassadors of Christ, ministers of reconciliation.

We are called out of our Nazareth (our everyday ordinary lives of preparation) to the place of our baptism experience in order to fulfill our purpose as God's beloved children; born again through the Holy Spirit; called to stand firm against the evil one and the kingdom of darkness for the cause of the King and His Kingdom in the epic war for humanity's collective heart.

We have our true identity spoken over us as the beloved child of God.

Friends, do not minimize this: there is power in identity! There is power in having a respected authority in our lives speak over us words of affirmation, identity, and power. Watch this movie clip from "Kingdom of Heaven".

Listen to the Holy Spirit speak words of identity and security over you in Romans 8:16-17, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

There is no greater security to be found on earth than to know you are a child of God who has received the eternal inheritance of God. When you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, no matter the circumstances or sufferings you must endure in this life, nothing can change the reality of your identity in God; you are secure in the hand of God as his beloved son or daughter. This is the love of God given to us freely through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we are children of God (1 John 3:1-2a)! Do you know His love?

God speaks over you words of identity and security; you are one of His beloved children! How will you live your life differently knowing who you are in Jesus Christ?

Will a person live differently just because they are the son or daughter of the King? I think so! In fact I know so!

"A Radical Life!" (Mark 1:2b-8)

"A Radical Life!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #2)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

January 23, 2011

When you finish this life and stand before the Judge, what will He say to you about the way you lived your life? Will you be found as a person who played it safe and remained comfortable in serving your own purposes? Or will you be found as a person who lived a radical life as a person who took the epic journey of being a disciple of Jesus Christ? This life of a disciple is the epic journey that requires you to know Jesus Christ intimately (His person, character, and teachings) and to trust Him in all things by submitting to His Lordship and following His example.

For a message entitled "A Radical Life!", God's word from Mark 1:2b-8, "BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; ³ THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'" ⁴John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. ⁸ "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." [prayer]

John the Baptist lived a radical life for God. And because of this he got the highest praise possible from the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus stated of John the Baptist, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!" (Matthew 11:11). This is a living testimony of a man that must be taken seriously! Why? Because for us Christians, the aim of our lives is to live in such a way as to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant" from our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, when we stand before Him (Matthew 25:23).

Check out this video featuring Francis Chan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_uwWPE6lQ&feature=related

What does it mean life to live a radical life for God? At the top of your sermon notes insert I wrote down a definition of 'radical Christianity' found on Wikipedia. "Radical is derived from the Latin word radix meaning 'root', referring to the need for perpetual re-orientation towards the roots truths of Christian Discipleship." A radical is someone who desires to return to the root, the founding principles and character of a movement. For us Christians who desire to live radical lives for God, this means we must return to Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Son of God, and His person and teachings.

We must continually (perpetually) re-orient our mind, body, and soul towards the root truths of Christian discipleship by daily studying the teachings and person of Jesus Christ through the Gospel narratives. This is why we are studying the Gospel of Mark together in this time of corporate celebration and mutual edification! My prayer for our faith community is that we will learn what it means to build our lives on no one other than Jesus Christ; hence, return to the founder of Christianity and live radical lives! Our focus and ambition is Jesus!

As we approach our Scripture lesson this morning, what can we learn from the story of John the Baptist who lived in such a way to receive the highest praise from the Master? What do we learn from watching and listening to him about what it means to live a radical life for God?

I will highlight three points, the first teaching point grounded in Mark 1:2b-5 is, "A Radical Life Calls people back to the way of God!"

Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). The radical life is a life that has entered through the narrow gate and has found the way of God! In John 14:6, Jesus declares Himself to be 'the way'! Mark knows this truth about Jesus Christ and he is calling people to nothing less than a radical life of entering into the way!

That is why he starts his gospel narrative with two prophetic utterances in verses 2 and 3. The first is from Malachi 3:1 and you need to understand that from its original context this quote is a promise from God to His chosen people who have left the way of God that He was sending the Purifier to purify them as gold and silver and to make them white as snow.

God speaks to His chosen people in Malachi 3:1 stating, "'Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear 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."

Mark then follows this with Isaiah 40:3, "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley'" (Isaiah 40:3-4).

God uses the prophets (who are real people in real history with real faith) to communicate that there will come a day when He will send forth the Messiah to make a straight and level path (Isaiah 35:8-10; 40:3-10) back to God through purification and cleansing!

This is the prophecy of God's redemption of His people through the Messiah, who would be preceded by the messenger, the prophet of God who is John the Baptist.

This is a call to repentance where the chosen people of God must once again return to the wilderness and be purified of their rebellion and sins (there is an allusion to the Exodus wanderings that is inferred in this passage that I encourage you to explore!). The Purifier is coming and no sinner can stand in the way of God without being consumed by God's refining fires! The impurities must be removed and the crimson stains must be washed white as snow! (Read Malachi 3:1-4)

When Mark records in verse 4 that John the Baptist's ministry was one of calling the Jewish people (God's chosen people through the Covenant of Abraham) to a "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" you need to realize that this is unheard of in Jewish tradition. And the reality of verse 5 is even more shocking: "all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins." In first century Judaism, Jewish leaders didn't require Jewish people to be baptized. As Christians, it would be easy for us to read our concept of the normality of baptism into this story, but that is not the case. The only people who were baptized were converts—people of non-Jewish ancestry who were converting to Judaism as a symbolic way of saying they were being washed clean from their former life apart from God as Gentiles (non-Jews).

John the Baptist's ministry and message is revolutionary because he is essentially telling the Jewish people (the children of Abraham) that their ancestral heritage was not enough to make them right in the eyes of God.

They have to repent of their sins just like a Gentile. Something major was happening in the way God was relating to His people as God's messenger came to prepare the way for the LORD! That is why the Gospel of Luke 3:8, an expanded account of John the Baptist's ministry, records him preaching these words to the Jewish people, "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham."

God is confronting His people (including you and me today!) with our own self-righteousness and spiritual pride! John the Baptist, the last of the Old Covenant prophets, takes his place in a long line of messengers to declare the same timeless message from God, "Return to Me!" (Malachi 3:7).

A Radical Life calls people to repentance—to turn 180 degrees from their life in the world, back to the way of God! God is saying through John the Baptist to the Jewish people in approx. 27 AD), and the Holy Spirit to us today, that you cannot rest on your family tree any longer, nor can you rest in your traditions and rituals.

Brothers and sisters, God is saying that 'the way' is not found in temple theology (church attendance), in a sacrificial system (tithes or donations), or in following a religious system (the Law or good works) because the way to God is only through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is the way (John 14:6)! You find rest only in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ!

In the same way that John the Baptist confronted the mindset of the Jewish people who felt entitled to a relationship with God, how is the Holy Spirit confronting the contemporary Church and calling you back to living your life according to the way of God?

The radical life begins with the call back to the way of God, back to Jesus Christ, and we cannot lead others in what we have not yet experienced ourselves! Going to church is not enough! Being a good person is not enough! Listening to sermons is not enough! Helping out in the community is not enough! We are not able to call people back to the way if we have not experienced the extravagant love, the scandalous grace, the healing hand of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. We must be made new in Christ!

That is why we are a people called forth to fulfill the vision set by God through 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

The radical life is the life of reconciliation that every single believer in Jesus Christ is mandated to live. The radical life is the living out of the Great Commission—the ministry of reconciliation with nothing less than the world as our ambition! How are you available (in word and deed) to the Holy spirit as someone who calls people back to the way of God?

The second teaching point grounded in Mark 1:4-6 is, "A Radical Life Embodies the message!"

After over 400 years of prophetic silence, God sent a man who would embody the message. God did not just send a man to proclaim a powerful message, God sent a man who was the message! As Jesus Christ stated of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:13-14, "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come."

We see in verses 4-6 that John came from the wilderness, was dressed in itchy camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist (a reference to the dress of Elijah found in 2 Kings 1:8), who ate locusts and wild honey (the diet of the poorest of poor). He embodied the personhood of the great prophet Elijah and this was not lost on the Israelites who were eagerly waiting a prophet from God after 400 years of prophetic silence. This was the biggest news in generations and everyone went out to him and his message was heard and received (verse 5) because He was the message!

The people believed in the man of God and they received Him as the messenger who was to come as foretold by the ancient prophets! The radical life is impossible if you only speak the message and do not embody it!

Friends, you will know what I say is true from experience: if our lifestyles do not match the faith we say we hold, then we will live frustrated and powerless lives of failed ministry and missed opportunities for the Kingdom.

Our lives must be an embodiment of the new life given to us through Jesus' ministry of reconciliation. Listen to the rally cry of the radical life stated by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." The radical life is a life where Jesus Christ lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. His message is our message!

But here is the reality we must confront: There has been many a person who proclaims a powerful message which s/he denies with their life. Their life does not bear witness to the message they proclaim! What areas of your life contradict the message of Jesus Christ? If you hold it as true, is it evident in you?

This is hard to hear and even harder to teach because I will be judged by God in respect to the integrity of my teaching of His Word and the extent that my life embodies this very Word of God spoken to you today. I do not wish to be found wanting by God because I proclaimed a bold message on Sunday mornings, but my life was a pathetic whisper the rest of the week. That is unacceptable to me and I pray you will find it unacceptable as well (for me and for yourself as well)!

Let's hold one another to high standards by committing to life on life, person to person discipleship so that when we face the judgment seat of God we will be found as a people recognized by the Master (Matthew 7:21-23).

The third and final teaching point grounded in Mark 1:7-8 is, "A Radical Life Submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!" John the Baptist called people back to the way of God. His message resonated as true in their hearts because they knew deep down their need to return to God. God confronted their entitlement mentality with a messenger who embodied the message of repentance! The people were confronted with a life that was completely submitted to the will of God and fulfilling his God-ordained purpose in life—to point to the King and His Kingdom! A life submitted to the Lordship of the Messiah!

Listen to this level of self-understanding that John the Baptist had in knowing who He was and was not, who Jesus Christ was, and His role in the Kingdom. From John 3:26-30, "And they came to John and said to him, 'Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.' John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.'"

You see in this ancient cultural context, the office of bridegroom's friend was a great position in a wedding. The friend of the bridegroom was the one who ceremonially handed the bride to her groom. Until he had done this, the groom's voice was not heard. As he handed the bride to her groom, the groom's voice was heard for the first time in the ceremony and the voice of the bridegroom's friend was never heard again.

John knew that his life was not about himself, but about God, about the King and His Kingdom; about handing the bride to the bridegroom! Think about it this way: How wrong would it be if the friend of the groom tried to take the bride's eyes off of her chosen groom? That is just wrong and we know it! It is just plain wrong for a friend to steal a friend's wife or fiancé. It is wrong for a preacher to take the people's eyes off of Jesus Christ and steal the glory of God for him or herself. It is wrong for the people of God to lose focus and build their church or their ministry rather than being focused on increasing the name of Jesus Christ and expanding His Kingdom! It is easy to justify our ambitions and deceive ourselves with good intentions, but the radical life submits all self-interest and all loyalties to the Lordship of Christ!

But Mark, for our benefit, records in Mark 1:7-8 John's uncompromising testimony of the One he has come to prepare the way for, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

John the Baptist submits to the will of God and takes His place as a prophetic herald of the way of God. Because of his submission his ministry is anointed by the Holy Spirit with power and authority for the purpose of preparing the way of God—for all people to know Jesus Christ.

The radical life is only possible through submission to the Lordship of Christ; no submission, no anointing! And Lordship is only possible through an honest and sober assessment of who we are in relationship to God and our purpose in following the way of God—who is the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God!

The Gospel of Mark 8:34 records, "And [Jesus Christ] summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.'"

Listen to the invitation of the radical life as given by the source of life Himself, the root of Christianity, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Follow Me" is the heart cry of Jesus Christ to you today and the radical life is simply the re-orientation of your life to the way of God perfectly demonstrated through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. What area(s) of your life have you not yet submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Luke 6:46)? How is the Holy Spirit inviting you to take deeper steps of discipleship today? Have you asked Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life (Romans 10:9-10)?

What will the Judge say to you at the end of your life?

"The Beginning!" (Mark 1:1-2a)

"The Beginning!"

Falling in Love with Jesus…All over again! An expository sermon series through the Gospel of Mark (message #1)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls

January 16, 2011

As a man created in the very image of God, I dream of playing my part in an epic war. I am a warrior at heart, but I am also a lover. I desire a damsel in distress to rescue, a villain to defeat, a mountain to climb, and a river to ford.

Have you ever yearned to embark on a journey of epic proportions? A journey that you know will change your life and the life of those you encounter along the way.

Have you ever yearned to set sail on the open sea in pursuit of a precious pearl or hidden treasure? A treasure so vast, a pearl so rare in size and beauty that once you see it you know you would be willing to sell all that you have to be able to grasp it in your own hands.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:44-46)

The Bible teaches us that God has given us (every human) a yearning for eternity in our hearts, but He did not give us the capacity to comprehend it (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Why would God do this? Why would He give us a hunger for eternity, but then not give us the ability to fully comprehend it?

I'll tell you why! Because God has made us to be a people created to embark on an epic journey to find the Kingdom of God! And not just find it, but to explore it and possess it as our very own. God breathed into us the ability to find Him because God wants to be found by us! This is reality is His ultimate desire for all of His creation—to know and to be known! True love affair, intimacy! God handcrafted us to never be satisfied in this life, because the true destination of this epic journey is the other side of the sea, the land beyond the shadows, the final frontier beyond the clouds. We hunger and thirst for our true Home because there is a designed part of us that knows nothing in this life is worth more than the Kingdom of God—a time and place where God is the king and all things and all people are under His rule. Ours is to be a life of seeking after this precious pearl, this hidden treasure of eternity that He planted in our hearts! And once we find it, we find our meaning and nothing else matters…we sell everything, we give up everything to attain it!

I am introducing a twist in the story of your life, just as significant as when Frodo Baggins of the Shire was told by Gandalf the Grey that great evil was after him.

And if he did not leave the only home he knew and loved to go upon an epic journey to mysterious and dangerous places then all would be lost. Just as was true in the Lord of the Rings, your story is set in a world of great danger where forces of good and evil are already on the move; there is a battle that has been waged for millennia and I am here to open your eyes and ears and set you out on a journey…a journey that will most likely move you out of your comfort zone to places you never would have imagined going otherwise!

Don't be deceived, we (you and I) are already on the battle field in a decisive time and place in history, and we are surrounded by the walking wounded, the living casualties, the defeated as well as the victorious. Are you going to answer the call to begin the journey of a lifetime? Are you going to hear the call to be a part of the greatest story ever told? For this is not only the beginning of a story that you cannot afford NOT to know, but today is the beginning of the rest of your Life!

This is why Mark put pen to papyrus in 65 AD. Mark, the scribe of the great Apostle Peter and the fellow missionary alongside of the Apostle Paul, for over 30 years had experienced the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he wrote this gospel account to convince a Roman audience of their need to begin the journey of faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God because as he knew and discovered Jesus Christ is the gateway to the Kingdom of God which was worth more than anything else in this life or the next. Mark found the precious pearl.

Mark found the hidden treasure. Mark found God! And so Mark starts His greatest work with these words found in Mark 1:1-2a, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:"

What we have here in Mark 1:1-2a is not only the introduction to this "historical narrative with a theological intent" (the literary genre of a gospel), but the beginning of the greatest story ever told. This is: The Beginning of the Good News…

The Greek word euaggelion used in Mark 1:1 literally means "glad tidings" and is commonly the title for the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus began and we are still to be completing today. This is the gospel! Mark is declaring the purpose of this epic story from the start…he is recording not a history book, not a biography, but the Gospel that has the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Within this story is the key to decisive and overwhelming victory in the epic war between good and evil! Within this story is the treasure map to the hidden treasure you are seeking!

Listen to the Scriptures from Romans 1:16-17, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.'"

Mark is writing the gospel story to invite all who have eyes to see and ears to hear to answer the invitation to embark upon the epic journey of faith. The Gospel is the portal into the Kingdom of God! The Gospel is more than a story; it is the story that demands a verdict by each person who hears it. It is how you respond to the Gospel that determines whether today will be the beginning of Life or another day in darkness.

The Bible teaches us of the Gospel in Hebrews 4:2, "For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard."

Making the decision on whether or not you are going to put your faith in this Good News according to Mark will impact every day of the rest of your life, both on earth and in eternity. But this doesn't need to seem like an impossible decision.

Putting our faith in someone or something else is an everyday occurrence! Have you ever been a passenger in a car, gone scuba diving, or jumped out of a perfectly good airplane? I want to show you a video that captures my occupation for some years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrggphCtTm8&feature=related This is how I used to make my living—I was an Airborne Ranger, a paratrooper in the 82^nd Airborne Division. In fact, my wife Kimberly was an Airborne Medic and we both used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes on a regular basis.

When you are training your mind, heart, and soul for war, you learn quickly to trust your equipment and the people you fight with and who support you. A myriad of little things can ensure death or serious injury on any routine jump.

Faith is not as foreign of a concept as many would like to think. We do it every day! We put our faith in chairs, in cars, in people, in elevators, etc. Who are you trusting your life with on a daily basis? Why? Have they proven themselves trustworthy? What are you putting your faith in? Why? Has it proven itself trustworthy? Who or what do you put your faith in?

Mark continues in Mark 1:1 by telling us that this Good News is actually about a specific person, The Beginning of the Good News about Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus was a real person in real history!)…

Did you know that Jesus Christ is a real person, in real history, with real emotions, who dealt with real temptations, and had a real faith? There is one thing that Mark, the gospel writer, will not let his readers do and that is have a philosophical faith. Mark demands that you put your faith in the person of Jesus Christ! So we are quickly learning that this journey we are on is not just about salesmanship by us buying into an idea called the Gospel, it is about relationship by us falling in love with a person. Not a mushy Hollywood love, but the I'll set out on a quest to the end of the world to find the hidden treasure because Captain Jesus said it's worth it!

So, we need to ask ourselves, if I am going to put my faith into this Gospel, that means I need to put my faith in the person of the Gospel and that person is Jesus Christ! Who is Jesus?

Jesus was a real man in real history with a real mother and real brothers and who worked with his hands and dealt with neighbors in a small town like just we do! Listen to this hometown account from Mark 6:1-3 states, "Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 'Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?' And they took offense at Him."

The person of the Gospel is a first century Jewish carpenter, an untrained teacher who was not respected by the religious elite of his day because he was from the north and did not train in Jerusalem as the notable Rabbis did. Jesus had real emotions (Mark 3:5) and made real human connections (Mark 5:41) and dealt with ragamuffin disciples like us (Mark 4:40 & 8:17).

In fact, the Bible teaches us that Jesus of Nazareth can relate to us as one who knows us and the temptations of our lives. He knows the difficulty of living as a human in this world and all its universal and timeless pressures.

The Bible declares that Jesus was tempted in all things as we are, but remained pure having no sin. Hebrews 4:15 states, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."

If you want to be a master electrician or carpenter you find the best and you study what they do, when they do it and how they do it. You become their disciple! You want what they have so you follow them. If you want to be a master human then you have to learn from the man who lived life perfectly. There is only one to choose from, so choose wisely—His name is Jesus of Nazareth and he walked and talked and felt real human emotions and showed us the way to live our lives, every aspect of our lives, and here is some good news: his life and lifestyle and behaviors and attitudes are recorded for us in the four gospels. We are studying the first one written—Mark--this is the essential read of eternity. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ then Mark has provided for us a portrait of this Jesus, the central person of the Good News. Jesus is the way to attaining the priceless pearl, the hidden treasure! If this is true, then it naturally leads us back to this question: Who is Jesus? [show picture 1] We, Christians have made one of two mistakes regarding our image of Jesus: 1) we make Jesus in our own image and we bind Him in our cultural identity [show pictures 2, 3, 4, 5] or 2) we make Him so otherworldly that no one can relate to Him [show pictures 6 & 7] Let's journey together and fall in love with the Jesus of the Gospels allowing God to remake us in His image! [show pictures 8 & 9]

Does your faith allow you to see Jesus as a real person in real history who can teach you how to live your day to day life? Who is your model for work, rest, and play?

For far too long we have made Jesus in our image and that has blinded us and impeded us from entering the Kingdom of God. Jesus is our exemplar, our teacher, but the burden of who He is demands an even greater verdict that cannot fall short. Mark won't allow it as one who recorded the gospel so he finishes verse 1 and enters us into verse 2 by saying that our view of Jesus cannot be limited to Jesus of Nazareth. There is more to this epic story that we must understand by faith! Mark states, this is The Beginning of the Good News about Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Messiah, the Son of God, as foretold by the prophets of God!

Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, literally in the Greek it says, the Christos, the Christ, which is the title given to the anointed One of Israel, the Messiah, the one long foretold by the ancient prophets of Yahweh who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and redeem the people of God from their sins!

The early church in Acts 10:38 wrote this of Jesus of Nazareth, "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

And it was not just the early church who attributed this title to Jesus (like some contemporary scholars would argue as they simultaneously castrate the gospel!), but Jesus knew Himself to be and declared as such His messianic title and role to Israel and the nations. Mark records this of the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Mark 1:14-15, "Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'"

It was the Messiah who would come and preach the gospel--the Good News--and usher in the Kingdom of God--this is not a temporal or geographical kingdom. This is the eternal reign of God brought from Heaven to Earth by the anointed One of God long foretold by the prophets, especially the prophet Isaiah as Mark points out and as Jesus quotes in his own preaching. From the Gospel of Luke 4:17-19, "And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to [Jesus]. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.'"

The Gospel is Good News because it is worth more than anything we can attain in this world and it is the work of the Messiah who was Jesus of Nazareth to bring it to us! This book, the Gospel of Mark, we are embarking upon, is the epic journey to attain this hidden treasure. We are going to study it verse by verse as if it were the detailed map to Treasure Island because in its very words are the details of Jesus Christ, who is the One who has brought redemption to all humanity! Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, is not just a man who walked a perfect life filled with the Holy Spirit (as amazing as that is!); this is the epic story of the Son of God (who is one with God and has always existed with God!) who stepped down from His throne in Heaven, and stepped into time and creation to become a man for the purpose of returning humanity back to Eden (perfect relationship with God) through a plan foreseen (the gospel has always been in the mind of God) and a promise made to the first Patriarch Abraham. Listen to this verse from Galatians 3:8, "The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.'"

All the way back to when God established the Abrahamic Covenant in the year 2,100 BC, God had in mind the way for every people group to be blessed. From the beginning of the story, God saw that He would be the one who would come and fulfill His promise! From 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us--by me and Silvanus and Timothy--was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us."

What God has ordained to happen will happen! And God has made a promise that all the nations would be blessed through Abraham. We are a part of the fulfillment of that promise today and that fulfillment is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which was foretold long ago through the Prophets of God!

This Good News is the Victorious News because it is the strategic victory (the D Day) of the epic war between good and evil. It is Victorious News not to those who hear it, but to those who hear it and then receive it in their hearts by faith. It become the Victory of God in your life when you believe in the One who was a real person in real history and who is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ!

The Bible teaches us of this Victory in 1 John 5:4-5, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

Will you be counted amongst the victorious subjects of the Kingdom of God? Mark begins to tell a story, a story you cannot afford NOT to know!

Mark invites us to begin an epic journey, the journey of the rest of your life today…