Beginning Of The Good News About Jesus Christ Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

BEGINNING OF THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS CHRIST

A. Gospel of Mark.

1. Today we begin our Summer Sermon Series on the Gospel of Mark: God’s Servant In Action.

a. Today’s lesson serves as an INTRODUCTION / OVERVIEW of Mark’s Gospel.

b. Next Sunday I will be on vacation, and Ben Noll will be speaking. Then we will pick it up again

the first Sunday in June.

2. Initially, my intention was to PREACH through the entire book of Mark this Summer, as I have other

books of the Bible.

a. But as I began reading through Mark once again, I was reminded of all the GOOD STUFF that this gospel contains about the MINISTRY and MISSION of Jesus that I would be doing our Lord and Savior a disservice by cramming 16 ACTION-PACKED chapters into just 12 sermons.

b. So I decided to preach this sermon series into TWO PARTS: half of the book this SUMMER and the other half starting in January of next year (if the Lord is willing).

3. The verse in Mark’s gospel that summarizes Jesus’ earthly purpose is found in Mark 10:45 (READ).

Jesus came to SERVE and to SAVE.

a. This SUMMER we will look at Jesus as a SERVANT, starting from His BAPTISM up to His

TRANSFIGURATION: Mark 1:1 – Mark 8:30.

b. Beginning in January we will look at Jesus as our SAVIOR, starting with His TRANSFIGURATION all the way to His CRUCIFIXION, RESURRECTION and ASCENSION into heaven: Mark 8:31

through the end of the BOOK.

c. Again, if the Lord is willing, we will conclude the series the Sunday after Easter.

B. The reason I chose the theme, GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION, is because, unlike the other gospels, Mark

doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on the WORDS of Jesus as much as he does on His ACTIONS.

1. This GOSPEL pictures Jesus ON THE MOVE meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of

the PEOPLE He meets as He travels from one LOCATION to the other.

a. The word “IMMEDIATELY” is used 42 times in the book of Mark, compared with only 12 times

in the rest of the New Testament.

b. Mark wants his readers to know that Jesus CARES for them. ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS.

2. In our New Testament, Mark’s Gospel is placed second after Matthew, but scholars believe that Mark

is actually the first to write down the EVENTS of Jesus’ LIFE.

a. They put the DATE of this gospel between 55 to 65 A.D.—twenty to thirty years after the crucifixion

of Jesus.

b. Mark is writing to a Roman audience—believers and non-believers—who were more interested in

ACTIONS than WORDS.

COMMENT:

So, Mark begins with the MINISTRY of Jesus when He was 30 rather than with His BIRTH and a long GENEALOGY. Right from the start, Mark wants his readers to get EXCITED about what Jesus came to DO for them. He presents Jesus as the MIRACLE PERFORMING, BURDEN LIFTING, DEMON CASTING, ENEMY CONFRONTING Servant and Savior of the world.

C. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Mark.

1. His official name was “John Mark”- Acts 12:12.

a. John was his Hebrew name, which means “grace of God”. And Mark or Marcus was his Latin

name, which means, “Hammer”.

b. We could call him the “Holy Hammer”.

2. In Acts 12:12 we see that Mark was an early disciple of Christ.

a. His mother was name Mary and lived in a large house in Jerusalem where Christians would often

gather for PRAYER.

b. Peter referred to Mark as his “SON” in 1 Peter 5:13, which had led many to believe that Peter was

the one who brought Mark and his family to Christ.

c. Mark was also the cousin of Barnabas. “He joined Paul and Barnabas on their second Missionary

Journey”- Acts 13.

ILLUSTRATION:

It was on this short-term MISSION TRIP, however, that John Mark could not WITHSTAND the RIGORS of the JOURNEY and ABANDONED Paul and Barnabas right in the MIDDLE of their

MISSION during a very difficult time when they NEEDED him most.

“This caused a such great CONFLICT between Paul and Barnabas—these dear FRIENDS—that they BROKE-UP their MISSION TEAM and went their SEPARATE ways”- Acts 15.

COMMENT:

Not a very FLATTERING depiction of the one who WROTE the first GOSPEL of Jesus, is it?

But it wonderfully reveals that we SERVE a God of SECOND CHANCES.

At the close of the apostle Paul’s LIFE while he is awaiting EXECUTION in a Roman prison, in the very LAST LETTER that he writes he says to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry”- 2 Timothy 4:11b.

3. Mark begins his gospel with these words: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God”- Mark 1:1. (LET’S BREAK IT DOWN!)