If you're a rational human being, you have asked thousands of questions in your life. From those early moments as you were learning to talk and learning to discover the universe around you, you asked thousands of questions that drove your parents crazy: What? Why? Where? When? How? And every answer was followed with another question! But you haven't stopped asking questions. Sometimes you ask deep, theological questions in moments of confusion or pain. Sometimes you just wonder why someone around you has done or said the thing that they've done or said.
Why Is There Always Traffic?
Sometimes you wonder philosophically. Sometimes you just ask questions in irritation: Why does there always have to be traffic in front of you? Why is it so hard just to follow IKEA directions? Why can't they be easier? Why isn't there anything to eat? If you could think with me for a moment, what's the most important question you have ever asked? It's been said that insightful people are not first people with the right answers; they're people who ask the right questions because you don't get to the right answers without asking the right questions.
Perhaps there could be no more important questions than the three questions that are asked and answered by Mark. First one: "Who in the world is Jesus?" What an important question. Second question: "Why in the world did He come? What is this life about?" And third question: "What does it mean to follow Him?" Who is Jesus? Why did He come? What does it mean to follow Him? Mark is probably the earliest of the Gospels, and Mark answers these questions, not so much in an abstract, theological, or philosophical way, but in putting before us in hardhitting, quick-paced style, the life and ministry of Jesus.
There are many narrative passages in Scripture; this is probably the most purely narrative portion of the Word of God. Mark doesn't make as many editorial comments as Luke would make. He doesn't record the lengthy teachings of Christ as Matthew does. He puts in front of you, again and again, the person Jesus, the person Jesus, the person Jesus, until it's impossible to be neutral. You have to respond to this Jesus. You have to respond to who He is. You have to respond to what He's done. You have to respond to what He says about you.
You have to decide whether you will follow Him. You have to face the reality of His cross. You can't be neutral and read the gospel of Mark. I love Mark. I love the beautiful way he tells the story of Christ and how it confronts what we think about ourselves. It confronts your deepest needs. It confronts your deepest dreams. It confronts everything you would think about your world. How? By putting in front of you the person, the Lord Jesus. We know that everything we hold in our theology, everything we believe as Christians, is rooted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, is rooted in His historical work on earth.
And so it's right for us to go back to that again and again, to march back to the Gospels and work our way through a gospel again and again. Because without Jesus, without His work, all that we believe would be empty and worthless. You will notice, if you look there in your 'Order of Worship' at the passage we're going to look at this evening, that Mark doesn't begin with the birth narrative of Jesus. He launches immediately into a declaration of the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. These twelve words, as they are translated in English, couldn't be more radical.
I would argue that these twelve words cut a slice right down the middle of humanity, because there are only actually two classes of people living on earth: people who believe these radical twelve words, and people who don't! And if you believe them, they will change everything you think about yourself and every place you would place your hopes and dreams. And if you don't believe them, you think they are ridiculous and delusional and not worth the paper that they're printed on. I think that because we bring so much rich theology to these readings of the Gospel, we forget how radical these words would've been to somebody in the time when they were written who would pick up this and read these twelve words; "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
"The beginning of the gospel." Many commentators say the way this Gospel begins alludes back to the way the Bible begins, "In the beginning." There's a way in which Mark is saying, "What I'm about to tell you, the story I'm about to tell you, the person I'm going to introduce you to, has as fundamental and as seismic implications as the creation of the world did." As God, in that moment, creates the world out of nothing, that physical creation, this, in the same way, is a spiritual creation that happens, re-created by Christ Jesus.
This is God remaking His world through Christ. This is an awesome new beginning. This is what the world has hungered for. This is what the world has needed. God is going to deal with sin. He's going to deal with the brokenness of the world. He's going to answer all the dilemmas that could be answered. How? In the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is the best of news! It is the Gospel! God won't sit and allow His world to live darkened and damaged and deceived and seduced and broken by sin.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God
He will intervene in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a radical thought that is! And how will He do that? Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Think about this. Jesus, that male human being, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, dad was a carpenter, Joseph, Mary His mother. This real human being, this real man, you could see Him; you could hear Him; you could reach out and touch Him. He really did live. His feet really did touch earth. He really was a human being. But Mark would say, "Don't you understand?
This Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah!" Who would have ever thought that this is the One that all the prophets talked about? This Jesus of Nazareth is the Wonderful Counselor! This Jesus of Nazareth is the Prince of Peace! He comes carrying all the hope of humanity and all the promises and predictions of the prophets. He comes carrying these. It's almost hard to wrap your brain around. This is the Messiah! This is not just the hope of Israel; this is the hope of humanity; this is the hope of the world!
But Mark's not done. This One is the Son of God. Fully man and fully God. This is preexistent God; this is the Creator; this is the Sovereign One; this is Almighty God! How could it be, how could it be that this man is God? What is this message? What is this Gospel? It is the epicenter of our faith because there could be only one solution--God Himself needed to come in the form of a man. It had to be a God-man. This second Adam had to be the Son of God; because if He was not the Son of God, He couldn't live that perfect life and be that perfect Lamb of sacrifice, satisfying the Father's anger and purchasing for us forgiveness and righteousness.
There's a way in which the whole message of the Gospel is in these twelve words; "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." There's hope for us, because God's ultimate answer is not to give us a set of principles, not to give us wise philosophy, not to give us a moral code. His ultimate answer is to give us Himself in the person of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. God's greatest gift to us is God! But I'm afraid, I know it's true of me, these words become all-too-familiar to me.
B.B. Warfield writes that one of the dangers of theological education is that the radical glories of the Gospel just become so familiar to you that you lose your sense of awe; and in losing your sense of awe, you lose your thankfulness; and in losing your thankfulness, you lose your worship; and in losing your worship, you're just a step from idolatry. Where are you? Have you lost your awe? Have you lost your awe? And with the quickness of the Gospel of Mark, Mark then rushes us to the shores of the river Jordan.
He introduces that movement by the words of Isaiah: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.' (Mark 1: 2-3, ESV) Isaiah have predicted that there would be one, a prophet raised up, who would prepare the way for the coming Messiah. John did that two ways. First, he did that by preaching a message of repentance and forgiveness, preparing for the ultimate Gospel message of forgiveness in Christ Jesus.
And he did that a second way by actually being one who announced the coming Christ and baptized Him. But I want you to look at the words here that follow. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
A Vegan Diet and a Strange Wardrobe
(Mark 1:4-6, ESV) Now what a strange human being, and what an interesting account. Why are we told that this man had a vegan diet and a very strange wardrobe? What is this account about? Now, think about this: this is the one that God had raised up to begin to point us to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is now alive and well on earth and beginning His public ministry. Think about it, this is a wild and woolly prophet out in the wilderness. Wouldn't you have thought that, if there was going to be a messenger, it would've been the Chief Priest; it would've been a prominent Pharisee; it would've been an esteemed Scribe; it would've been a Sadducee?
And, notice the movement, the movement of people out of Jerusalem, away from the temple, out to the wilderness to hear this message of repentance, confession of sin, and forgiveness. You need to understand again how radical this is. There is, in the ministry of John the Baptist, a stinging indictment of the religious order of the day! That what had taken over was a deadening externalism. Maybe we could say, "Ladies and gentlemen, God has left the building." And so God raises someone outside of the religious system of the day, outside of its deadening externalism, outside of its spiritual pride, to call people once again to what every human being needs to do: confess how deep their sin is and to seek the one thing that you can't earn - forgiveness!
The religion of the day was riddled with theological pride, riddled with spiritual behavioristic pride. Maybe one of the reasons we're told about John's garments is that while John was living in camel hair, the Pharisees were wrapping rich robes of righteousness around themselves hoping that their robes wouldn't touch some despicable person who was near. The contrast is significant! And you see back as far as Isaiah, God railing against this externalism. Let me read to you some words: What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me, who is required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations--I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them." (Isaiah 1:11-14, ESV) We're told why later. You see it in Isaiah 29 - "These people honor me with their lips (hear this) but their hearts are far from me."
(Isaiah 29:13, paraphrased) So God raises up a prophet quite apart from the formal religious system of the day to call people to repentance, confession, the seeking of forgiveness. We can't read this account without hearing its warning. Let's be honest, brothers and sisters: that externalism is not dead. I would be so bold as to propose that perhaps that externalism still exists even in the confines of Tenth Presbyterian Church. Oh, we can sing with such enthusiasm, "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!" and yet be an ungracious father and an ungracious husband.
We can exegete a theology of the love of God, yet live selfish, me-oriented, unloving lives, stepping over human need and not being bothered at all. We can talk about the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account, and that very week, look at internet pornography. We can talk about reconciliation to God and be willing to live in broken relationships with brothers and sisters. We can talk about the sovereignty of God, and we can exegete that doctrine like few people can, but we try to move ourselves into control of situations and circumstances, and we worry all the time.
You see, the heart of our faith must not be our theological knowledge, must not be external Christian habits. It must be a heart that loves and worships the Lord Jesus and is ruled by Him in all of the situations and all of the relationships of our daily lives. Could it be that God would say to some of us, "Enough of your hymns, enough of your offerings, enough of your buying of another Christian book. They're an abomination to me, because you honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me."
Christ-less Christianity
It's a radical picture here of God turning His back on that system: "That system will never lead to redemption because that system is not dependent on Me." There is such a thing as Christ-less Christianity, and it can be that your theological knowledge and your Christian habits actually hide and promote personal sin because it's not habits of the heart and it's not a theology of the heart. Then Mark moves to John's message. "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.'"
For all the notoriety of John, Mark would make us think that this man had established quite a reputation, and it says in verse 5, "All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him." There's quite a movement his way! But John realized his position; he realized who he was. And he says, "I'm not the mighty one. I'm not the answer. I'm not the Messiah. I do not have to offer you what you actually need. There is one who comes after me who is the mighty one.
He's mighty in power; He's mighty in grace; He's mighty in love; He's mighty in wisdom; He's mighty in redemption; He is what you need. In your weakness and your brokenness, you need His might." And then, both sweet and humble words, "I'm not worthy to untie his sandals!" It's a cultural reference. As the master of the house would enter the house, the junior, lowest of the servants, the slave of slaves, would run to the door, get down on his knees, would unlace those sandals and would wash those dirty and dusty feet.
It was a despicable job. And John says, "This one is so mighty, is so wonderful; I am not worthy to do for him the basest of things." This is a prophet speaking. This is a man who's been recognized by many. You could say it this way: the only way we will ever be in our proper place is if Jesus is first in His proper place. Humility is the product of worship! John knows what he is there for; it's not about him; it's not his story; it's not his moment. This is not John's moment! This is Christ's moment!
And then he says something glorious, "I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." John's baptism was a preparation; it was a sign of what was to come, but it was limited to a water baptism, and he said, "The one who comes will baptize you in the Holy Spirit." What is he saying? He's saying, "This one will deal with the ultimate damage of sin. What does sin bring? Sin brings death! And this One, by His Spirit, will give life to you. That's something I can't give." You see, this introduction to the ministry of Christ is like a great knife that slices its way through the middle of humanity, because if you believe these words, if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Mighty One, the Savior who will give you new life, it changes you and everything about your life.
It becomes the single most important thought and pursuit of your existence. It defines everything you think about you, everything you think about your world, everything you think about others. Or, it's a silly delusion. How could you believe such a thing? I would ask you this evening: What are you doing with Jesus? Have you placed your faith in Him? If you're a believer, do you live by faith in Him? Does that belief in Jesus the Christ shape the way you think about your marriage and the way you think about parenting, the way you think about your life at your university, the way you think about your job?
Do the radical claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ move and motivate you? Do you come with a deep sense of need with the enthusiasm of worship? Or, could it be that you've lost your awe and you need to confess that it has all become too familiar, too commonplace, that your life maybe isn't driven by worship of Jesus as it should be. May God help us to celebrate the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and may that celebration not just be with a theology that we embrace and with hymns that we sing, but with every word and thought and desire and decision of our lives.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this powerful beginning of this beautiful Gospel. May it unsettle us. May it give us a lens into the struggles of our own hearts. May it renew in us belief and celebration and worship. And we pray these things for Your glory. In Jesus's name, Amen.
