Scripture: Mark 4:35-39
Proposition - Sermon 1 of 2
Steps to drawing close to Jesus - obedience, separation and invitation.
INTRO:
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus!
In the COTN hymnal, Sing to the Lord, there is a selection of songs dedicated to sharing the message of Sanctifying Grace. These songs begin with hymn # 455 (Take My Life, and Let It be Consecrated by Francis R. Havergal) and go all the way to hymn #498 (More About Jesus by Eliza E. Hewitt). Forty-one songs are dedicated to sharing what it means to desire, pray and experience a consecrated sanctified life in Christ Jesus. Listen to the titles of some of those songs and you will quickly understand why they have been placed in this section:
I'd Rather Have Jesus
Lord, Be Glorified
Be Thou My Vision
I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
I Am Thine, O Lord
Where He Leads, I'll Follow
I Surrender All
Each of these songs are dedicated to sharing what it means to Born Again and baptized with the Holy Spirit. They share with us what it means to be a genuine human being1 living out a sanctifying life here on earth. I challenge you this week to look over some of these songs and you will experience inspiration as well as enlightenment. Allow their words to speak to you soul and you will discover new ways to deepen your own walk with the LORD. These songs are more than just words put to music. They are words of inspired theology that have been partnered with beautiful music. Each song has been written to enable us to praise God and experience transformation as we sing them and make them our own.
Our passage here in chapter four of Mark's Gospel is dedicated to teaching us how to live a life of discipleship, namely, a life of sanctification and consecration. Mark's goal for us in reading his gospel is for us to be born again, that is, to experience redemption, renewal of heart and soul and to be restored to God's original plan for human beings.
Mark started writing his gospel at a very pivotal time in Early Church history. Approximately forty years had transpired since the Day of Pentecost. In that time span, the Church had experienced incredible growth. People were coming to faith from all avenues of life. The message of Jesus was beginning to be spread all over the world and the church entering into its second generation of disciples and leaders.
The Holy Spirit was working through the ministries of Peter, Paul and the rest of the Apostles to share the message of true salvation. All across the Middle East and the Roman Empire people were discovering the truth of what it meant to be a genuine human being through Jesus Christ. Lives were being transformed and people were experiencing the baptismal fire of the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God was coming to pass here on planet Earth.
All over the capital city of Rome, the message of Jesus was being preached and received with open hearts and minds. Soldiers, political leaders and leading citizens were being drawn to Jesus' message of redemption, renewal and restoration. Jesus' Great Commission was coming to pass as the world was being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mark was writing in the midst of all this excitement and evangelism. As stated, his mentor and friend, St. Peter was starting small disciple groups all over Rome and surrounding cities. The Apostle Paul was writing and sending his letters to assist the young Roman Christians in their faith walk. Paul was looking forward to coming to Rome to do his part in preaching and teaching. Everything was progressing at an amazing rate. The Gospel of Jesus was on the march and it looked like nothing could stop the advance of the message of Jesus and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
However, the Early Church also understood that the Devil would stir up trouble. Every time the Church of Jesus advanced they also began to experience demonic attack. It was no different at the time of Mark writing his gospel. The Devil began doing his best to stop the message of Jesus. We see that there arose some stiff opposition to the advance work of the Early Church. Priests and worshippers of the old pagan gods began to protest the sharing of the message of Jesus. They did not want their fellow Romans to hear about Jesus' love, grace and mercy. They did not want them to hear about Jesus death and resurrection and the baptismal fires of the Holy Spirit.
Rome was headquarters to an overabundance of polytheistic, pantheistic and animistic faiths and worship. All around the city there were temples and buildings dedicated to all kinds of gods and goddesses. One could easy find a temple dedicated to the worship of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Minerva, Mars, Jupiter and Venus. In fact, historians tell us that more than 20 different gods at one time had major congregations and temples in Rome. Sacrifices of bulls, cows, pigs and sheep were a common sight all around the capital city. Rome was seen as one of the most religious cities of the ancient world.
The worshippers of these gods strongly resisted the message of Jesus Christ. They did not want people to hear about Jesus being the only Way, the Truth, and the Life. They did not want to hear about the message that Jesus was the only way to salvation, to heaven. They were not interested in the lifestyle of purity and holiness that accompanied being a disciple of Jesus. They did not want people to experience the baptismal fires of the Holy Spirit.
Instead, they wanted Rome to continue following the teachings of the gods and goddesses. While it is true that these old gods demanded worship and sacrifice, they also allowed one to live quite capriciously. One could worship Zeus and still live according to their carnal desires. More than one of the pagan services included rituals that would lead to drunken orgies, drug induced hallucinations and sexual immorality. One could worship both the gods and never experience true holiness of heart and life.
Against all of this perversion came the true message of Christianity. Jesus taught that God so loved the world that He had sent His Son to bring redemption. Jesus taught that humans could once again be one with God, with themselves, with others and with nature. Jesus taught humans could be transformed from the inside out through the power of God's Holy Spirit. Jesus taught that humans could be free from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. Jesus taught that humans could be free to love God, themselves and one another.
At first, very few of the pagan religions were concerned about the message of Jesus and the Early Church. Christianity was seen as some new fad that soon would disappear in a few months and years. However, as Senator and Historian, Tactius, shares with us that it wasn't long until the leaders of Rome began to look at the Early Church with great earnestness. For instead of fading away, the message of Jesus was spreading and with that advancement so to was the Empire changing.
The Roman government began to wonder if these "Christians" and their message were subversive to Roman law and politics. (IT WAS) They began to wonder what Jesus' message of Redemption, Grace and Forgiveness would do the fabric of Roman society. What would Jesus' message do to the worship of all the gods and especially to the worship of Caesar as most high god? Could worship of Caesar and Jesus co- exist?
Caesar had proclaimed himself to be the god of gods and lord of lords. Every Roman citizen was to give Caesar their ultimate allegiance and worship. Worshiping the other gods and goddesses were allowed, but ultimately one must bow the knee to Caesar, to Rome. So, what would it mean if the citizens of Rome began to hear and believe in the Lordship of Jesus? What was Rome to do with a group of people who proclaimed that it was Jesus Christ who was the Savior of the World? Rome had prided itself on bringing Pax Romona (ultimate peace) to its people and now this Jesus was being proclaimed as the one who would bring ultimate peace to the world and its people.
As early as 60 AD the Early Church was coming under attack from every corner. Gossip and hostility was filling the air. Christianity was beginning to be viewed as a serious threat. Both pagan worship and the Roman government teamed up to get rid of Christianity. Many rightly believed that if Christianity was allowed to grow, it would completely transform Roman society and culture. Romans would begin to live differently and look at life differently. Rome's theological foundation would change and that in the end would lead to more even religious, social and even governmental changes. Everything and everyone's life would change if the Early Church continued to grow and share the message of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a threat to the stability of the Empire.
Acts 17:6 gives a small glimpse of these very thoughts being expressed throughout the Empire. The leaders of Thessalonica began to shout at the leaders of the Early Church located in Thessalonica in protest over the influence of Christianity. They believed that this message of Jesus was one that would turn the world upside down if it was allowed to continue.
"And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also ..." (ESV)
As a result of all of all this by the time of 60 AD we begin to witness:
a. The intensification of local persecutions. Christians in Rome and other cities were beginning to be denied the ability to find work and reside in certain areas of the Empire
b. Laws were being written to specifically curb the growth of the Early Church and later laws were written and enacted with the goal of annihilating the Early Church leaders and disciples
c. A concentrated effort was employed to transform the message of Jesus so that Christianity might either be absorbed back into ancient Judaism or adjusted in such a way as to be compatible to one of the more modern mystery religions. The idea was if you could not stop the growth of Christianity, perhaps you could syncretize it. You could water down its message so that it would easily fit alongside that of the other religions. It would become one of the many ways to worship. No longer would Christianity be seen as the only way, but one of many spiritual options to worship.
It is in the midst of all of this turmoil, that our writer pens his gospel. Mark is both an apologist and an evangelist. He writes in defense of the message of Jesus against those who would want to either destroy it or misrepresent it. He wants his readers to know the truth of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. He wants to provide a foundational base for the next generation, so that they too will know the truth. He wants them to understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, what it means to be Born Again, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Mark is also writing to encourage and give support to those who undergoing persecution. Mark knows that for many, proclaiming Christ as Lord, would mean that they would be treated first as outsiders and then face increasing persecution. He knew that they would need encouragement and support if they were going to continue their walk of faith.
History shows that by AD 64 this is exactly what happened. Emperor Nero used the Christians as a scapegoat after his fiery urban renewal project disaster. He blamed the Christians for setting the fires, destroying homes and business, and being what he called
"haters of mankind".
It wasn't long after Rome's fires, that Christians were being arrested and murdered in all manner of hideous ways. It wasn't enough that Christians had to die, but Nero devised all kinds of hellish torture. Christians were wrapped in the skins of wild beasts and feed to packs of wild dogs. Many were nailed to crosses showing what it meant to truly follow Jesus. Jesus had told his disciples that they too must take up their cross, so Nero used that as a way to kill Christians. Some were captured, their bodies covered with tar, nailed to a wooden stake and then set on fire. Jesus had said that his followers were to be His light for the world and so Nero used this way to teach what it meant to follow Jesus. If one wanted to be a light for Jesus, Nero would burn you on a pole. Perhaps the most humane way under Nero for a disciple of Jesus to die was by beheading.
It is to these Early Christians, Mark is writing. He is writing in hopes of undergirding their faith and commitment. He is writing in the midst of the fires of evangelism and persecution. Mark does not complain about the inhumane treatment that he and his fellow Christians were facing. His gospel is not anti- Rome. Instead, he believes that those who have been transformed by Jesus will be able to stand fast and through their commitment lead others to faith as well. Mark believes that the fires of evangelism will burn brighter than the fires of persecution.
Now, that is a lot of background but it is necessary background to understand our passage. Let's begin our look at Mark 4:36-41 where Mark wants to share how one can continue to be close to Jesus, our Savior and LORD.
It is Mark's contention that one's commitment and consecration will parallel a person's oneness in Christ. If the Early Church was going to survive Nero's persecution, it would only happen as the Body of Christ stayed true and committed to the faith. For that to happen those who followed Jesus must do so with tenacious courage. More than ever it would be necessary for them to walk in the steps of Jesus. More than ever they would need to know Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives.
And so, in his gospel, Mark shares with us all these wonderful stories surrounding the adventures of Jesus and his disciples. All with the intention of helping his readers understand and connect with Jesus. Mark writes with a very specific mission, that of leading us to a life or radical discipleship involving total consecration and sanctification.
Let's look for a few moments at verses 35 - 36. In these two rather simple verses, Mark shares with us three pivotal ways to draw closer to the LORD. Three pivotal ways that we can all travel to draw closer to Jesus.
Mark employs the miracle on the sea to help us to see those ways:
I. Mark starts by telling us that we can draw closer to Jesus through simple obedience.
"Let us go across to the other side"
"Let us go across to the other side" are such simple little words, but they are powerful little words. They are foundational words that we see in story after story in Mark's Gospel. Mark has this amazing way of sharing stories that concentrate on Jesus giving a command that demands immediate action. Jesus calls, and now it is up to those that hear that call, if they will respond positively or negatively.
One of Mark's favorite responses it to use a form of the word, "immediately" to describe one's proper response to Jesus words. In Mark's theology, one should not delay or contemplate on whether or not to follow Jesus. One's action, in Mark's mind of being a disciple of Jesus is to immediately obey the LORD words, directions and leadings. True discipleship involves immediate obedience.
We see this same theme being advanced throughout the other Gospel accounts. Story after story, teaching after teaching, we begin to understand that when it comes to Jesus the correct response of being his disciple it to immediately follow, immediately obey and immediately commit. Learning disciples understand more and more not to second guess Jesus. We learn that by delaying we allow the Devil to come in and tempt us to be disobedience and disobedience leads to stagnation and spiritual death.
Therefore, we see Mark's answer to Jesus command of "let's go across to the other side," involves no hesitation or delay. We read where the disciples and others simply head for the boat. They do not think of the time of day or weather conditions. Jesus said get on the boat and so they started getting on the boat.
Before we go any further in looking at our passage, in our hearts and minds we have to make that same commitment and consecration towards obeying the LORD. We have to determine that we will be obedient to Jesus not just in theory but in practice. We have to draw a line in the sand of our hearts and say, wherever, whatever Jesus tells us to do we will do. There really is no other way of being a true disciple of Jesus. Obedience is non-negotiable when it comes to Jesus.
II. Secondly, Mark tells us that if we want to be close to Jesus we not only have to be obedient we have to separate ourselves from the crowd.
Mark doesn't go into great detail, but there were some who were following Jesus who decided to stay behind. He labels them as the crowd -
"And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat"
Everyone heard the message of Jesus. Everyone experienced what it meant to spend time with Jesus. And everyone heard Jesus plainly say - Let's go to the other side but not everyone was ready to go. Some chose that day to remain with the crowd. Some chose the safety of the shore rather than get in the boat with Jesus.
They had heard the wonderful words of Jesus. They had listened to His parables about the Sower, the Lamp under the Basket and the Mustard Seed. Jesus had spoken to them the secret of the Kingdom of God. He had revealed the Father's truth and plan. He had opened up to them the way for everlasting life and the possibility of being able to live a genuine human life here on earth.
However, for some reason some of the people decided to stay behind. Mark doesn't give us any specifics concerning their choice. For Mark, the crowd proved to be living examples of Jesus' Parable of the Sower. Jesus had taught that there would be those who due to hardness of heart, shallowness of spirit and busyness of life would chose not to follow him. Jesus had just taught this to the crowd and sure enough, Jesus was right.
And it is not like Jesus was asking them to give up their homes and go on the road with him. Instead, all Jesus desired from them was to get into a boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This was something that they had done many times in their lives and was a trip that would take two or three hours. All was at stake was giving Jesus a few hours of their time.
However, they walked away. They simply faded into history. We don't know if they ever were given another chance to follow Jesus. More than likely, they merely went back to their homes and continued the lives as they had before they encountered Jesus.
Mark is telling us that there will always be the crowd. There will always be a group of people who will begin to follow Jesus but will in the end stay behind with the crowd. There will always be those for some reason will not separate themselves from the crowd for Jesus. There will always be some for some reason or other will not decide to give Jesus the needed time to get close to him. Instead, they will stay on the shore while others will go into the deep waters with Christ.
Nevertheless, if we are truly going to follow Jesus, we must not only obey but we must separate ourselves to Him. Obedience will at times lead to separation. When Jesus calls us we must go away from the crowd and be with Him. Our spiritual walk with him depends on both obedience and separation.
It's a great part of what the word sanctify means. The word sanctify/sanctification means being set apart. It means living a life dedicated and consecrated to the LORD. At times that requires us leave the crowed and get on board with Jesus.
Does this mean that all crowds are evil and bad? Of course, not. It does mean that when Jesus calls us we can't look around and see who is going, we must step out and go with Jesus. When He tells us to go to the other side, we must leave those around us and begin to step in the boat.
And this leads us to our third step of getting closer to Jesus
III. Thirdly, Mark tells us if we are going to get close to Jesus we have to invite Jesus into our boat
And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat
They first obeyed, then they separated themselves, and now Mark says they took Jesus with them in their boat. They invited Jesus to share sacred space with them.
Please take note, Jesus did not tell them to get into His boat. Jesus did not have this huge boat when he invited everyone around to climb aboard. Instead, Mark tells us that Jesus wanted to be invited into their boat/boats. He sought to share space with them in what they had and where they were staying.
All of those around that area knew how to sail a boat. And so Jesus doesn't attempt to tell them what to do, instead he just accepts their invitation to be a part of their team. He just steps into their boat and therefore into their lives.
Mark doesn't tell us what boat Jesus stepped into that evening. All he tells us is that there were more than one boat obeying Jesus and going to the other side. We can gather from our story that there was a fleet of boat hugging the shore as they set out to make their seven mile journey over water.
It would have been interesting to know whose invited Jesus into their boat. We could surmise that it might have been one owned by James or John or even Peter and Andrew. But then again, would they have even had a boat at this time and would it have been on this side of the Sea of Galilee? More than likely it was someone else that had been on the shore listening to Jesus. More than likely it was someone who had listened to Jesus and was not putting their faith into action.
I think Mark doesn't tell us for a reason. He doesn't want us to focus on the person or on their boat but on the invitation. He wants us to focus on the fact that Jesus was invited and that Jesus accepted that invitation.
He wants us to understand that Jesus still wants to get into our boats, into our lives.
Revelation 3 shares with us this beautiful picture of Jesus asking to be invited into a person's house. Some have seen this picture as Jesus speaking to an unsaved person, but as you read the passage it really speaks of the church. The passage is to the Church of Laodicea. You may remember that this is the church that was suffering from being lukewarm. They wanted to follow Jesus but wanted to be a part of the world's crowd. And when we try to do that our experience with Jesus will be lukewarm at best.
Jesus understands this and asks to come into their heart and their lives in a deeper way. That is why he is knocking. Mark uses the metaphor of Jesus getting into the boat to speak the same thought.
We can obey Jesus.
We can even separate ourselves to Jesus.
But to really get close to Jesus we have to invite him into our boat/our lives.
Ultimately that is where Jesus wants to be and that is the only true way to be close to Jesus. Yes, it is vital we obey all of God's commandments. Yes, it is vital that we separate ourselves from all that would lead us astray. But, we will never be close to Jesus unless we allow Jesus to fully be in our lives.
For as we shall see - true life only begins when Jesus is in the boat. Once Jesus is in the boat we will experience miracles and see things and experience things that we will never experience if we just stay on the shore with the crowd.
As we close - have we made up our minds and hearts how we are going to follow Jesus?
+Will we - have we - chosen to be obedient to His Word and to His call?
+Will we separate ourselves from others and other things to be with Him?
+Will we invite him to be in our boat/lives?
1 A Genuine human being is one ( through the power of the Holy Spirit) who is being redeemed, renewed and restored into the image of Jesus. In essence, genuine humanness occurs when we experience once again a right relationship with God, with ourselves, with others and with creation. This is the telos of salvation. It is this life/truth that Jesus has made possible through his death, resurrection, ascension and the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit.
