Sermon on Mark 1:1-8, for the 2nd Sunday in Advent, "Receive the Gospel"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Do you know why
the Christian Church observes the seasons of Advent and Lent? They come before
the two biggest festivals of the Church Year—Christmas and Good Friday/Easter. Advent
and Lent are kept by the church as a time of preparation for those high and
holy days—preparing our hearts by repentance and renewal in our faith. They
also serve to escalate or build up our anticipation that breaks out into full
joy at the arrival of Christmas and Easter. The most joyous singing,
celebration, and festivity surround Jesus’ birth and resurrection from the
dead. So John the Baptist figures prominently into Advent each year as a prophet
of preparation, readying the Lord’s way into our hearts.
John doesn’t just arrive out of the blue,
2,000 years ago—Isaiah and Malachi in the Old Testament, prophets some 7 and 4
centuries before him, had predicted his coming, as quoted in the readings. But
John’s coming is inseparable from the Lord’s coming. So while he is important
in fulfilling Old Testament prophecy, and announcing the arrival of the Lord—he
remains only a “supporting actor.” And not one who tries to steal the limelight
or win an Oscar or Academy award for his role, but one who is intent on keeping
the spotlight focused on the coming Lord Jesus. John’s posture before Jesus is
one of humility—I’m not even worthy to untie the straps of His sandals; he
says. Less than a lowly servant, he is not worthy to be compared to Jesus. Or
as he says in the Gospel of John, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Once
Jesus came onto the scene, John faded from the picture. But still, year by
year, each Advent, his voice echoes through the wilderness, calling to repentance,
to prepare our hearts, and calling crowds to baptism.
The first verse of our reading—the first
verse of the Gospel of Mark—says, “The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” With no other
introduction to Jesus’ birth or early life, Mark jumps right to John the
Baptist and Jesus as a 30 year old man, ready to begin His public ministry. Driving
straight to the point, he introduces the “gospel of Jesus Christ,” and states
from the outset who we will discover in this book—the Son of God. Gospel simply
means “Good News.” But this good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is
extraordinary Good News, precisely because it’s about what God’s Son has done
in coming to redeem His people. God Himself comes down on a mission to humanity
and all creation. But are we ready or not, for when He comes? John’s job is to
get us ready.
His prophetic message is “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths
straight”, and his action to get people ready was “baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.” Repentance is such a common word in our
preaching—but we need a simple definition. It means to “turn around” or to have
a change of heart or mind. And specifically, it means turning away from our
sins or rebellion, and turning back to God. This is why the people who came to
John to be baptized, came confessing their sins. The leveling of paths, the
straightening of what is crooked, to make a “highway for our God”, the
smoothing of rough places, are all metaphors for preparing our hearts by
repentance. Sin is an orientation away from God, that needs a turn-around. Sin
sends us on crooked paths, it fills our road with potholes and ditches and
diversions. So John’s job was to set up the sign “roadwork ahead” and get our
hearts ready for Jesus’ coming.
Sin is a hindrance or obstacle to our
relationship with Jesus, which is why we need to repent and confess our sins.
But that little three-letter word “sin” is so generic that it includes a whole
variety of ways that we rebel against God. Some sins, like idolatry, may have
us looking completely the wrong direction, and we miss God entirely. Or idolatry
tries to set up a companion “god” next to Jesus—not remembering that God
tolerates no rivals for our worship and shares His glory with no other. All idols
are vain and empty hopes. So repentance from sin first of all involves turning
back to God, and worshipping Him alone. Putting aside our trust in anything
false.
Other types of sins, like murder, theft,
or fraud, might land us in jail, and require paying up for earthly
consequences. Repentance in such cases involves owning up to what has been
done, and facing the earthly punishments—but turning to Jesus we can still find
forgiveness, and that God will not hold our guilt against us eternally, but has
taken it away on His cross. Still other sins, sins of the heart or mind, may be
so personal and close to us, that we’re not even aware of them, until God’s law
opens our eyes to it. We might even try to carry sins of lust or greed, of
dishonesty or lying, before God, without even realizing it. These sins too,
have to go. Repentance for these sins involves a total humility before God to
recognize that our sin runs much deeper than just cleaning up the outside of
our life, but recognizing that it’s a matter of our heart.
Our prayer for the day says, “Stir up
our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by
His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds.” To have a pure
mind, God has to work repentance inside and out. He has to deal with the
obvious, external, ugly sins, as much as the hidden, internal, persistent sins.
He has to deal with our mind, our mouth, and our actions—which is why we
confess each week, that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed.
And here it should become obvious that we’re not capable of repairing ourselves,
or creating the thorough renovation of our heart, mouth, and actions that God
calls for. Rather than a “do-it-yourself” effort of cleaning up our own lives
and reformatting our heart and mind—repentance is caused by the “professional”—the
Holy Spirit, whom God sends to work in our hearts. You can think of Jesus’ baptism
as like a contract—or rather God’s covenant with you, to bring the forgiveness
of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). Repentance is the Holy
Spirit’s constant work in our hearts, to turn away from sin, and we receive
that work of the Holy Spirit by faith, that is trusting in Jesus.
While it’s not a point particularly
stressed in our reading from Mark, the reality appears in Isaiah, and other key
Scriptures. The reality that the kingdom of God—the arrival of Jesus, is
something to be received. The Gospel,
or good news, is not something we are to do,
but a message and God’s action to be received
and believed. Jesus says later in Mark’s gospel, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child
shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). When the crowd at Pentecost repented at
the preaching of the Apostle Peter, and asked what they must do to be saved,
they were told to receive. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” It’s interesting to note that when John and Jesus came, there were
already various “washings” or “baptisms” that the Jews practiced—but these were
usually self-administered, and often considered only for the “righteous.”
John’s baptism, the precursor to Jesus’ baptism, was a baptism he administered
to others, not one they did to themselves. And it was a baptism for sinners. A
washing you received in repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Which brings us full circle to the “beginning of the gospel (or good news) of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This good news about Jesus is not something
that you do—it’s something that you receive. Even this preparation of
repentance is something you receive—the working of the Holy Spirit through
God’s Word of Law, to produce the change in heart and life that is repentance.
And once we have received God’s preparing, Jesus enters the path prepared in
our heart, and brings the Good News of the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus’ Advent,
or coming is the best news for us. When we trust in Him, He comes to gather us
like lambs into His arms, to carry us and gently lead us. When the prophet
spoke “Comfort, comfort, my people”—it is Jesus who brings us this divine
comfort. Where sin has left it’s damage, Jesus comes to restore us and make us
new. He leads us into paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, and guides us
by still waters. Though our life will not be free of suffering, He travels with
us and carries us through all our troubles and sorrows.
The arrival of Jesus’ kingdom is an
upheaval of the world. It’s met with resistance, as we don’t want to let go of
our sins, we don’t want to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.
But it’s a powerfully positive upheaval. It’s change for our good. When Jesus
travels the level path into our repentant heart, made new by the Holy Spirit,
there Jesus finds an open avenue for the working of His kingdom in you. Jesus
makes hearts and lives that are willing and dedicated to love and serve God
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as
ourselves. He creates devotion and love toward God where before there were
idols and unbelief. He creates compassion and love for our neighbor, and a
desire to protect their life, property, and reputation, where before there was
hatred, violence, greed, or lying. And He creates humility, repentance, and a
forgiving heart, where before we were filled with pride, stubbornness, and
unforgiveness. And though our sinful nature may continue to put up resistance
to Jesus’ renewal for our lives, and need constant “roadwork”, we constantly
return to Him through repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And by the new
nature that is created in Christ Jesus, we arise day by day to live before God
in righteousness and purity of heart forever.
How can we measure the impact of the
good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the world? The Christian
historian Philip Schaff put it this way:
Jesus
of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander the
Great, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, he shed
more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars
combined; without the eloquence of school, he spoke such words of life as were
never spoken before or since, and produced effects which lie beyond the reach
of orator or poet; without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion,
and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes,
works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient
and modern times.
All
of this is true: the number of Jesus’ devoted followers, His influence on
thinking and learning in matters human and divine, speech and literature,
sermons, art, and music. But as amazing as all of that is, these are only a few
of the outward expressions of the influence of Jesus on the human heart itself.
However much the followers of Jesus have failed through time to perfectly
reflect Jesus’ own love, the effect of Jesus on transforming the human heart
the world over is simply remarkable. And it all traces back to the very mission
that God first intended, to redeem the world, when He sent His only Jesus to be
born in a humble manger, of the Virgin Mary. As you prepare for Christmas this
season, pray, “Come Lord Jesus!” Amen.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
- Mark is the
briefest Gospel, and summarizes much more than the others. For example, he
tells everything up to Jesus’ temptation in just 13 verses, where Luke
takes 3 chapters to tell all this. However, his opening verse tells us
that this concentrated message is all about the “Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
What is the two-word synonym or definition for “gospel”? What divine title
does Mark call Jesus in v. 1, that shapes your understanding of the story
he is about to unfold?
- Mark 1:2-3
quotes from Isaiah 40:3-4, and Malachi 3:1. How should we understand the
identity of John the Baptist? What was his role, and what prophet is he
like? Malachi 4:5; Mark 9:11-13; 2 Kings 1:8
- How do we
prepare our hearts for Jesus’ coming? What must be leveled, cleaned, and
straightened? Repentance means to “turn around” or “change our heart or
mind.” Confession means to admit our sins to God. What do these actions
prepare us to receive? Mark 1:4-5, 15.
- Why is John the
Baptist so emphatic in diminishing his own supporting role or importance?
Mark 1:7-8; John 3:27-30. Who then receives the prominence and the
spotlight?
- When Jesus
enters the prepared path to our hearts, what blessings does He bring? What
is the “good news” of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? How is the upheaval of
sin in our lives followed by a reordering of our lives by God’s
righteousness? What shape or pattern does God set forth for our lives to
take in Christ Jesus? Philippians 1:6, 27ff.
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