Introduction

We need to be reminded occasionally of the context of Jesus’ ministry. It was Israel: the community God formed and called to be his people for the world. The plan was that God would then act from within this people group, fulfilling their calling, to complete his rescue operation of the fallen creation.

N.T. Wright, in his wonderful little book, Simply Christian, reminds us that Israel’s story resonates with the repeated theme of Exile and Homecoming, Going Away and Coming Back Again, Slavery and Redemption. It is an echo of the ultimate exile story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden, and of God working to bring us back again.

So, we see that the Old Testament is not a system of religion—it’s a Story; the story of God forming and working through a community of people to rescue and redeem his fallen creation.

But it is a story in search of an ending. That is the inescapable conclusion you come to as you near the end of the Old Testament. Listen to these lines from Malachi 3:1, the last of the O.T. prophets; “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says Yahweh Almighty.

All four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—though different in style and perspective, present the same idea: That this great, sprawling narrative of the Old Testament comes to its shocking, surprising, but decisive climactic resolution in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Mark 1:1-4 reads, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”—a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And so, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And then Verses 14-15, our text for today: “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

The Old Testament is not a system of religion—it’s a Story; the story of God forming and working through a community of people to rescue and redeem his fallen creation.

Christianity is rooted in history

That is, it is about something that has happened. It is not primarily about a new moral teaching. As though humanity had absolutely no clue about right and wrong until Jesus came to tell us. Jesus and the other New Testament writers did indeed offer some wonderful moral teaching, but it was building upon and expanding what God had already given centuries before in the Ten Commandments.

It is not primarily about giving the world fresh teaching about God. The New Testament does do that—we see the Father more clearly through Jesus than through any previous revelation. (cf. Heb. 1:1-2) But our problem is not that we’re ignorant and need better information—it’s that we’re lost and need rescuing, we’re dying and need new life breathed into our weary souls.

And Christianity is not primarily about Jesus opening a new way to go to heaven when you die. This is not to say that what we believe and do in this life doesn’t have eternal consequences. But it is saying that this is not what Jesus made the focus of his work, nor is it the 'point' of Christianity.

All of the above could be grouped under the heading 'Good Advice ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium