Following Jesus: Mark 1 Series

Following Jesus (1)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/1/2017

ILL. I read a story earlier this week about a high-school graduate applying to college. As she filled out her application she came across a question that made her heart sink. “Do you see yourself as a leader or a follower?” the form asked. Even though she wanted to write “leader,” honesty got the better of her and she wrote “follower.” She sent the application in, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received an acceptance letter from the college, with a note saying, "It appears that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower!"

The truth is—everyone is following something or someone. Some people follow in the footsteps of their family. Some follow a philosophy of life, like the Golden Rule. While others follow their own intuition, drawing from the salad bar of philosophy, religion, friends, and family. They do whatever they feel is right in their gut. How about you? What or who do you follow?

As Christians we are by definition “followers of Christ.”

Unfortunately, many church-goers today are more like fans than actual followers. We may wear a cross, but we don’t bear the cross. You can come to church, know all the songs, open your Bible and take notes, walk out to your car with a Jesus fish on the bumper and say grace before lunch, but that doesn’t necessarily make you a follower of Christ.

In Jewish culture, whenever a young aspiring disciple set off to follow his chosen Rabbi (teacher), the family offered a traditional blessing; they would say, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” In other words, “May you follow in the footsteps of your Rabbi so closely that you are covered in the sand kicked up by his sandals.” This is exactly what Jesus calls us to do—to follow in his steps, to teach what he taught, to do what he did.

Now, obviously Jesus isn’t standing in front of us. We can’t physically follow him the way his early disciples did. That’s why Peter explains “Christ himself... left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 TEV). That’s why God gave us the Gospels, so we could read them, study them, and discover how Jesus lived and how He loved.

In order for us to follow Jesus more nearly, it’s imperative that see him more clearly—that we enlarge our vision of who Jesus is and how He lived. So, from now until Easter Sunday, I want to invite you to join me on a sixteen-week journey of following Jesus chapter-by-chapter through the gospel of Mark.

At just sixteen chapters, Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. It’s also the first, written as early as 45 AD. It was written by John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. Mark traveled with his uncle Barnabas and the Apostle Peter on early missionary journeys. Mark listened as Peter preached about Jesus from town to town and wrote everything down in the form of a fast-paced story, like a popular novel, making it the ideal starting point for anyone wishing to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

So if you have a Bible or an app on your phone, let me encourage you to open it to Mark 1, which starts with these words: “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1 NLT).

From there Mark offers a three-fold introduction to Jesus beginning with the anticipation of Jesus.

• ANTICIPATION OF JESUS

The Old Testament was filled with prophecies about the coming of Christ—the birth of the Messiah. Isaiah wrote about it. Micah spoke of it. Even old Abraham looked forward to this day, as did Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David. They all saw it coming; they just didn’t know exactly when it would happen.

It was as if the prophets provided an advent calendar with no numbers. All of these prophesies built anticipation and expectation for the coming Messiah. No prophet wrote in more detail than the prophet Isaiah.

Mark begins by pointing out the fulfillment of one of Isaiah’s prophesies:

It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!”

This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:3-5 NLT)