The Beginning Of The Gospel Series

A. When you are writing a story, you want to catch your reader’s attention from the very start, right?

1. Here are some opening lines from actual books – some are famous, some not so famous.

2. “If you're going to read this, don't bother.” Choke

3. “I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.” The Lost Continent

4. “It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.’ ” The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

5. “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” I Capture the Castle

6. “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” The Princess Bride

7. “ ‘Where's Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” Charlotte’s Web

8. “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.” A River Runs Through It

9. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” A Tale of Two Cities”

B. But what about the beginning of Mark’s story of Jesus? How did Mark begin?

1. Mark began his gospel with the words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

2. If Mark had intended for his work to have a title, then this beginning sentence would serve that purpose.

3. Just like with the books of Genesis and John, the first word of Mark’s gospel is “beginning.”

4. Mark likely chose to start this way as a reminder that the beginning of the story of Jesus is a continuation of God’s activity in history that started with Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

5. The introduction of Jesus is no less momentous than the creation of the world, for in Jesus a new creation is at hand.

6. In one beginning sentence, the Gospel of Mark prepares us to receive the world-changing story.

7. The story of Jesus isn’t about a philosophy, or about laws, or about social ethics, rather it is about the greatest Person who has ever walked upon the earth, because of who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished.

8. The earthly ministry of Jesus is historical, actual and factual – Jesus really came, lived among us, and brought about the opportunity for us to have eternal life.

9. The life and ministry of Jesus goes back to the eternal purpose of God that was laid down before the foundation of the world.

10. As we will see, Mark skipped over the eternality of Jesus that John included in his account and he skipped over the birth narratives which Matthew and Luke included, and opened instead with the ministry of John the Baptizer.

C. The word “gospel” is a familiar one to us because it is used to designate the first 4 books of the NT, we call them “The Gospels.”

1. In the NT, the word “gospel” is never a reference to a book, but always refers to the good news of Jesus and His message of salvation.

2. The word “gospel” means “good news” or “glad tidings.”

3. In the OT the word “gospel” is used to speak of military victory, political triumph and physical rescue (1 Sam. 31:9; 2 Sam. 4:10; 18:20-27; 2 Kgs. 7:9; Ps. 40:9).

4. The word “gospel” is also found in a messianic context, where it point to the ultimate salvation of God’s people through the messianic King who was to come (Isa. 40:9-10; 52:7).

5. But the word “gospel” also had a significance to those outside of Judaism.

a. The Gentiles, to whom Mark was writing, would have understood the term to refer to the good tidings of a coming king – an inscription dating back to 9 BC reads: “the birthday of the God Augustus was the beginning of the world of the glad tidings (gospel) that have come to men through him.”

b. So the Romans, who regarded Augustus as their divine savior, spoke of the “gospel” to describe the birth and reign of Augustus.

D. Mark wasted no time in establishing the identity of his subject.

1. He abruptly and bluntly asserted that this good news is about “Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

2. These four words that Mark used should be among the four greatest words to our ears.

3. This is the good news about Jesus - Jesus was the name given to Joseph by an angel and is a form of the Hebrew name Joshua which means “Yahweh is salvation.”

4. This is the good news about Jesus Christ – Christ isn’t Jesus’ last name, but is a title which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “messiah” which means “anointed one.”