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Reading from the Gospel according to Mark.
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,
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.
The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him,
confessing their sins.
They were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist,
and he ate locusts and wild honey.
And this was his message.
After me comes the one more powerful than I,
the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water,
he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
You are my Son, whom I love, and you and I will be pleased.
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness,
and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.
He was with wild animals, and angels attended him.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God.
The time has come, he said.
The kingdom of God will come near.
Repent and believe the good news.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake,
for they were fishermen.
Come follow me, Jesus said,
and I will send you out to fish for people.
At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had gone a little further,
he saw James, son of Zebedee,
and his brother John in a boat,
preparing their nets.
Without delay, he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the boat
with the hired men and followed him.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house,
and went off to a solitary place where he prayed.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Thank you, Gail, for that reading.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Andrew.
I'm one of the pastors here.
Merry Christmas.
I want to give a shout-out to the Thomases.
I believe this is Samuel Thomas' first Sunday at Christ Church.
So welcome, little one.
What's that, seven weeks?
Eight?
Eight weeks.
That's pretty good.
And I also want to give a shout-out to Amy,
no longer Amy Howe,
but Amy Ng and Jesse Ng,
who got married this past Friday.
They're not here right now.
They're enjoying their time away.
But yeah, a lot of exciting things going on in our church.
We, between Christmas and Easter,
open up one of the four Gospels,
and today we are in the Gospel of Mark,
so we'll open that up together.
But before we do that, will you pray with me?
Father, we ask that you would speak to us,
that your Spirit would be so present
and so palpable amongst us,
that we would hear from you
and that we'd be changed,
that your word would go forth
as the authoritative, powerful, compelling,
gentle word that it is,
and that we would behold your Son,
who is not just our King,
but our servant King,
who doesn't just wear a crown,
but a crown of thorns for us.
And would that change the way we live
as children of God?
And if there are those here today
who are not children of God,
we ask that you would make your Son
so compelling to them
and the way of life that he's presented to us
as this servant King.
And we pray that because of our existence here
as a church,
that people would be led
into deeper relationships with Christ,
who we believe is the glorious one.
In his name we pray.
Amen.
So like I said,
every year we get into the Gospels
between Christmas and Easter,
and this year we are in what
pretty much everyone in the early church believed
was the Gospel according to Mark.
Mark was someone who they believed
to actually sit at the feet of Peter
to hear his firsthand eyewitness account
and record it.
We believe that this is probably the shortest
and the earliest account.
So if you ever wondered
what Peter thought about Jesus,
this is probably it,
here in the Gospel of Mark.
Now the thing about the Gospels
is that they all tell the same story
about the same person,
but each of them has a distinct focus.
So for example,
in Matthew you have a lot of Jewish references,
you have a lot of prophecies fulfilled,
you have a genealogy that goes to Abraham
because Matthew's trying to show
that Jesus is the promised Messiah to Israel.
And then in Luke you have a genealogy
that goes all the way back to Adam,
and you have a very human Jesus.
You have a Jesus who's very dependent
on the Holy Spirit,
and this is because Luke is trying
to portray Jesus as a human,
truly the Son of Man.
Then in the Gospel of John,
what do you have?
Do you have a genealogy at all?
No, you don't.
You don't.
You have,
in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
The Word created everything,
and in Him was life and light for the world.
John is trying to show that Jesus is God.
He's divine.
But now Mark,
what's Mark about?
Mark again,
it's the shortest Gospel,
probably the earliest one.
And what I love about Mark,
and why it's probably shorter
than many of the others,
is that this is kind of like raw
and unfiltered,
less interpreted Jesus.
Less the teacher,
more the doer.
Shorter dialogues,
more action,
you know,
going from this to that to that scene.
No sermon on the mount,
no great high priestly prayer,
less theological explanation
and interpretation
of His teaching and ministry.
And just look at,
like,
all the ground we covered
right here in the first 20 verses
of Mark chapter 1, right?
It's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
just keeps moving along.
And so Mark,
it points us not so much
to the messianic,
divine,
or human identities of Jesus,
but to the way He lived.
The way He lived,
particularly as a servant.
The way He lived as a servant.
Now this idea of Jesus as the way,
you know,
I grew up in the church,
I grew up,
there was never a time in my life
where I didn't know about Jesus,
because my parents taught me
about this Messiah God
who's the way,
the truth,
and the life.
I probably memorized that,
John 14,
as a kid in elementary school.
The way,
the truth,
and the life.
And it always made sense to me
how He's the truth, right?
Like,
Jesus teaches the truth,
He's God,
He teaches the truth about
who God is,
and how to live the right way,
and He's the life,
of course.
He's the author of life,
and He came to give,
you know,
resurrection,
eternal life.
But I always thought of the way,
Him as the way,
as He's kind of like the way
to the truth,
the way to the life.
And I never really gave much thought
to what it meant
that He was the way,
which is actually what
the early church called Christians
before they called Christians,
Christians, right?
But only these last couple years
have I come to realize
that He's not just the way
to the truth,
He's not just the way
to the life,
but He is a distinct way of truth.
He is a distinct way of life.
Like,
He's not just a door
that you walk through
to get to truth,
He's not just a door
you walk through
to get to life,
but He's a pattern.
He's a pattern.
Not just some example
of how to be good and moral,
but He's the very pattern
of how life was meant to be
for the children of God.
And I wonder
how many of us
also need to come
to that realization today
that Jesus isn't just
a truth to be accepted
in our heads
or an eternal life
to hope in with our hearts,
but a way of life
to be lived out
and worked out
with our hands.
This reminds me
of a conversation
I had a couple months ago.
It was during our
Explore God series.
We had a Q&A afterwards
and I was chatting
with someone
who's been here
in our church
for a few years now
exploring Jesus,
trying to understand
and decide whether
or not he wants
to trust in Jesus
and go all the way
and become a member
of the church.
And he said,
you know,
I really am drawn
to Jesus and His teachings.
I admire Him
and His values
and the way He lived
and I don't have
a plausible alternative
account for the empty tomb
and how such
an international movement
could have come about
from this mere
first century Jewish teacher
under Roman occupation.
But what do I do
if I still feel
like I still can't believe?
And so what I said
to Him was,
you know,
it sounds pretty much
like your head is there
and it even sounds
like your heart is there.
It seems like you
want to believe
but I also get it
that you're not there yet.
I totally get that.
But what if we tried
to not just engage
your head,
not just even your heart
but also your hands?
And I encouraged Him
not just to wrestle
with Jesus
and His claims
intellectually
or just to admire Him
in His heart
but to try,
actually try Jesus'
way of life on.
Like try living
Jesus' way,
doing what He did,
spending time
seeking nearness
with the Father,
spending time
in the Scriptures
meditating upon
the Word of God,
spending time
in prayer
and in solitude,
spending time
serving others
and sticking close
to a family
of believers,
a family of fellow
followers of Jesus.
You know,
see for many of us
like Western,
rationalistic,
enlightened people,
we have a tendency
to think that we need
to know that Christianity
is true in our heads
with certainty
before we let it come
into our embodied
way of life
or for maybe
we're more post-enlightened,
we're more romantic
Westerners,
we think we need
to feel it's true
in our hearts
before we let it
affect how we live.
But what if head,
heart,
and hands
are more integrally
related
than we think?
And what if we believe
and devote our lives to,
what if what we believe
and devote our lives to
isn't simply about cognition
or about feeling,
but actually it's informed
by the way
we live our lives?
What if our habits
and our patterns
of life
are not as neutral
as we think?
There's a reason
why we do the same thing
here every Sunday.
We have a pattern,
we have a liturgy,
a habit,
a way of worshiping
to form who we are
before God.
Our pattern of life
is just as important
as our thoughts
and emotions
maybe even more.
And I think we all
intuitively know this.
We're all looking
for a way of life
just as much as we're
looking for a truth
to believe in
with our heads
and an abundant life
to hope for
with our hearts.
Think about your
Instagram feed,
those of you
who use Instagram.
You don't just follow
mind and heart influencers,
you follow lifestyle influencers,
right?
How to be a better mom,
a better entrepreneur,
CEO, investor, athlete.
We're all looking
for ways to live
in this world
as our ideal selves.
That's why P90X
was such a hit, right?
P90X.
Anyone remember P90X?
All right,
thank you, Lori.
If I exercise
in this program
for 90 days,
I'll get ripped,
all right?
That's what P90X is.
90 days,
or if I follow Sean T,
right?
25 minutes a day,
I'll burn all my body fat,
right?
Or maybe for the ladies
in this room,
the bar method,
all right?
It's literally called
a method.
It's a way.
We're all looking
for a way,
a way to live
our best lives.
So here in Mark's gospel,
we are presented
not just with a Jesus
to believe in
with our heads,
or even a Jesus
to love with our hearts,
but a Jesus to follow
with our hands.
And not just as
some glorious
God-man king,
but as a suffering
servant.
A suffering servant.
That's why we're calling
the series
in Mark's gospel,
Deny Yourself
and Follow Me.
Deny Yourself
and Follow Me.
We're going after
discipleship this year,
2024.
Deny Yourself
and Follow Me
is what Jesus says.
It's our New Year's
challenge as a church.
Will we follow
the way of Jesus
even and especially
when it requires
that we deny
ourselves?
Now I know
that can sound
pretty dogmatic,
maybe fanatical,
fundamentalist,
just super religious,
right?
Deny Yourself.
Follow Jesus.
Like of course,
of course a preacher
is going to be up here
saying that, right?
Deny Myself.
Follow whatever
this preacher claims
to be divine.
It's the oldest trick
in the book.
But this is why
it's so important.
This is why it's so important
to remember Mark's emphasis
on Jesus the servant.
Jesus the servant.
You see,
because this idea
of denying ourselves
and following Jesus,
this isn't some kind
of religious power play.
See,
with a lot of other
religions,
deny yourself
and follow me
is kind of like
a two-step process
of lowering yourself
in order to honor
and venerate
like whatever
your divine deity is,
whatever is supreme
or superior.
But you see,
with Jesus,
even though he is
the ultimately
superior one,
he is God himself,
when he says
deny yourself
and follow me,
he's saying the same thing
with both those statements.
The two commands
are intimately connected
in an extremely unique way.
Like,
he's not saying
simply deny yourself
so you can follow me
as your supreme God.
But he's saying
to follow me
is to deny yourself
just as I denied myself
and took up a cross
for you.
See,
this is the utter
uniqueness of Jesus.
He's both God
and a servant,
both crowned
and crucified.
no other God
is like Jesus.
Every other God
who exists to serve
is nothing more
than a genie, really.
If your God exists
to serve you,
that's just a genie.
You're the God
in that story.
And every other God
who supposedly reigns
as most high
and supreme
just over all
the universe,
every one of those
kinds of God
has only ever existed
to be served
and not to serve.
But Jesus is different.
He's a servant king.
That was his way,
the way he chose
to be God with us
and the way he chose
to be a human
amongst us.
And Mark shows
this to us
in a wonderfully
unique way
right from the start.
Now let's look
at our text today,
Mark chapter one.
Now before Mark
demonstrates Jesus'
servanthood,
he makes very clear
from the beginning
that Jesus is the supreme.
He's the anointed
Messiah king of Israel.
Now he's even God.
Mark chapter one,
verse one,
the beginning of the good news
about Jesus,
the Messiah,
the son of God.
And again,
not just some generic
God and king
but the God and king
that the Hebrew prophets
of Yahweh
had foretold.
Verse two,
as it is written
in Isaiah the prophet,
I will send
my messenger
ahead of you
who will prepare
your way.
The way for who?
If you look that verse up
in the prophets,
it's the way
for Yahweh.
Verse three,
a voice of one
calling in the wilderness,
prepare the way
for the Lord.
The Lord is the one
he's preparing a way for.
Mark is saying
the prophets foretold
that a messenger,
a final prophet
would come
to prepare the way
for not just
the coming
of Messiah king
but the coming
of God himself.
The coming of God himself.
He's saying
this coming one
is God himself.
And the prophet here,
boom,
is in verse four,
John the Baptist.
John the Baptist
who came to prepare
the way for Jesus.
Look at verse four
with me.
And so John the Baptist
appeared in the wilderness
preaching a baptism
of repentance
for the forgiveness
of sins.
And there are a couple
details here
that I want you
to notice.
First,
where is this happening?
In the wilderness.
Now in the history
of Israel,
what has often happened
in the wilderness?
What was the wilderness?
The wilderness
was kind of like
an anti-Eden,
the place where
thorns and thistles grow.
It's a place
of water scarcity
and little vegetation.
Hard to live there.
It's also a place though
where what?
People encountered God.
Where people
were transformed by God.
It was part of
Abram's pilgrim journey.
It's the site
of Moses
and the burning bush.
It's where Israel
was led by God
in their wandering
for 40 years.
The wilderness
is where people
had to depend on God
for their daily bread
and even water
from rocks.
The place
where it was unmistakable
that their lives
absolutely depended
on Yahweh.
Now also look with me
at who is coming
to John
in the wilderness.
Verse 5.
The whole Judean
countryside
and all the people
of Jerusalem
went out to him
confessing their sins.
They were baptized
by him
in the Jordan River.
Alright,
so here's the picture.
Remember,
Judea and Jerusalem,
they were in the south.
These were the most
faithfully religious
Jewish people
and yet
they're still occupied.
They're occupied
by the Romans.
Jerusalem is far
from its former glory
under a son of David.
And so what's their
strategy at this point
to restore the kingdom
of Israel?
Their strategy
is to follow
the Pharisees'
moralistic,
legalistic,
self-salvation project
to obey enough
for God
to finally listen to them
and give them
their kingdom back.
And they're all
trying to do this.
They're wearing
their make Israel
great again hats
longing for the
old kingdom of David
and Solomon.
The old kingdom.
But what John is saying,
what John is saying
is that you were never
the great kingdom
that you thought you were.
This entire nation
needs to be born again.
This entire nation
needs to be cleansed.
Come back out
into the wilderness.
Go back through
the baptism
of the Jordan River
again
to prepare yourself
for the new
and better kingdom
to come.
And John is preaching
a baptism therefore
of repentance
and the forgiveness
of sins.
And notice it's not,
it's a baptism,
okay?
It's a baptism.
It's not a self-bathing
to cleanse themselves.
He's preaching
a baptism.
Like think about
that word.
We don't baptize
ourselves,
right?
We get baptized.
Baptized,
baptism is a passive
activity.
You know,
if you studied
the Old Testament law,
you'd know
that up to this point,
virtually every
Jewish cleansing ritual
for the forgiveness
of sins
was a self-cleansing
ritual.
You were to go
and bathe yourself.
But here,
John was saying,
no, you can't.
You can't cleanse yourself.
You're that filthy.
That's why I'm baptizing you
as a sign
that you actually need
a divine baptism,
verse eight,
a baptism in the Holy Spirit
from God Himself
to really get clean,
to really get right
before God.
John is saying,
you need God
to come to you,
to clean you,
to forgive you,
and what you need
to do in the meantime
is to turn to Him,
to repent,
to turn your whole self,
your whole life
toward Him
and His way.
So from verses one
to eight,
Mark is making very clear
that Jesus is God
and King.
He's the Messiah.
He's the coming Lord
that the prophets
had foretold.
He is the God
who needs to come
and cleanse Israel
once and for all
with His Holy Spirit.
And even as great
of a prophet
as John the Baptist is,
he says in verse seven
that he is unworthy
to even stoop down
and untie
this coming Lord's sandals.
The most menial,
most dishonorable task,
John the Baptist
is pleading with the people
to prepare for God Himself,
to make straight His paths.
And by the way,
this idea of making
straight paths,
right,
where are they?
They're in the ancient
Roman Empire, right?
Known for its Roman roads,
right?
But for the most part,
the roads were unpaved,
often not very well maintained,
and definitely not straight.
In fact,
in many ancient
Near Eastern records,
you have kings
complaining about
just the roundabout routes
that they had to take
to get to places.
And even some of them
feeling so self-important
that they demanded
that their slaves
and that their subjects
who served them
make straight paths
for them.
Make it easy for me
to get to where I need to go.
So John is saying,
hey,
there's an even greater king
coming,
more worthy
than any other
of a straight
and direct path,
because he is none other
than Yahweh Himself.
That's who he's saying
that Jesus is.
This is John's message.
God is coming.
God is coming,
and Mark doesn't want us
to miss that.
But now he's kind of
identified Jesus as God,
but then what happens
when God does come
into the picture
in verse 9,
in the person of Jesus.
Verse 9.
At that time,
Jesus came from Nazareth
in Galilee
and was baptized
by John in the Jordan.
So try to picture this.
John is baptizing
hundreds,
maybe thousands
of Jewish people.
Many probably
are named Jesus.
Yeshua is probably
a very common name,
right?
And then his cousin comes,
and in the eyes
of many onlookers,
he's just another guy
named Jesus
in this long line,
hoping to get baptized
in the Jordan River.
And what's worse
is he's from this hopeless
little town called
Nazareth,
all right?
So he comes to be baptized,
but then what happens
after this Jesus' baptism?
Something utterly unique
happens, right?
Of all the Yeshua's
that John baptizes
after this specific one,
verse 10,
heaven tears open.
The Spirit descends
upon him like a dove.
A voice from heaven
says,
You are my Son,
whom I love.
With you I am well.
Please,
what's going on here?
Well, this is no
ordinary baptism.
This is no
ordinary Yeshua.
Whereas every other
baptism was a baptism
of repentance
for the forgiveness
of sins,
a reminder of God's
divine displeasure
toward each individual's sin,
this baptism
of the sinless
Son of God
was the first baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
It was a divine
affirmation
of the Father's
unbridled pleasure
toward His beloved Son.
The heavens
literally tore open
as if the love
of the Father
could not be contained.
Burst out of heaven
onto earth,
the Holy Spirit
descending upon the Son.
But then look at
verse 11.
Look at what the Father
says to the Son again.
You are my Son,
whom I love.
With you I am well pleased.
Now if you are familiar
with the Old Testament,
actually take out
your blue Bibles
in your pews right now.
If you're familiar
with the Old Testament,
turn to Psalm chapter 2.
You'd know
that this word
spoken from the heavens
was actually
a combination
of two prophetic words
spoken by the psalmist
and then spoken
by Isaiah.
Look at Psalm chapter 2.
It's on page 431
in your pew Bibles.
Psalm chapter 2,
verse 7.
The Lord's decree
says,
You are my Son.
Today I have become
your Father.
Ask me
and I will make
the nations
your inheritance.
If you heard these words
spoken from the heavens,
you would know
that this comes
from Psalm chapter 2.
You are my Son,
God is saying.
Ask me anything
and it's yours.
That's what he's saying
to Jesus
in this moment.
But also turn
to now
page 588,
Isaiah chapter 42.
Isaiah chapter 42,
verse 1,
page 588.
And here
you have the prophet
saying,
Here is my
servant
whom I uphold,
my chosen one
in whom I delight.
I will put my spirit
on him.
Now do you hear that?
This combination
of prophecies here
spoken from the heavens
upon Jesus,
what does it mean?
His identity
is that of
a beloved son
and a spirit
empowered servant.
He's not just a son
but he's also
at the same time
a servant.
But a special servant.
He's not some slave
but he's a chosen
servant in whom
God delights
and puts his spirit.
And see again,
this is a super
defining moment
in the life
and ministry
of Jesus.
He is given
an utterly unique
identity and role.
This is,
though he is
in very nature God,
though this is
the coming of Yahweh,
the answer to
Israel's prayers
that God would
tear the heavens
and come down
to save them,
he is at the same time
a son beloved
by his father
and a servant
empowered
by his spirit.
And this is
just as profound
as the reality
that he is both
God and servant.
servant.
You know why?
Because it portrays
for us what a
perfect life
in relationship
with God
looks like.
Yes,
a life of submission
as servants
but always
at the same time
as sons
and as daughters,
as children
of the king.
It's not like
we have to be
faithful servants
first
to earn our place
in his house
and in his family.
No,
we serve as sons
and as sons
we serve.
This is the way
of Jesus.
Jesus served
as a beloved son.
No inferiority,
no shame,
all joy,
all pleasure,
all delight,
simply living
into his identity
as a son
and as a servant.
And at the same time,
Jesus was a son
with a mission, right?
He was a son
with a mission
and a purpose,
a distinct servant
calling something
to accomplish,
something to do,
not some spoiled,
you know,
silver spoon brat
solely existing
to consume
his father's inheritance.
He was constantly
serving people.
Even having been
proclaimed as God's
beloved son
with whom God
was already
well pleased,
he still lived
to serve.
You know,
I was finishing
my McShane Bible
reading plan
this year
in the Gospel of John
and I was struck.
I was struck
by how at the end
of his life,
Jesus is dead.
And even when
his disciples saw
their supposed
Messiah crucified,
like I would have
been pretty upset.
and I wouldn't have
really cared
about his body
or about his burial
or visiting his tomb.
Like the dude said
he was Messiah
and now he's dead.
So he's no use
to me anymore.
He actually lied.
He lied to us.
Forget that, right?
But what did so many
of his followers do
when it didn't make
any sense to them,
when they had no reason
to believe that he
was the Messiah anymore?
They risked their lives
to take care of his body.
They offered up
their own personal tombs.
They spent the time
to wrap his body
and apply the spices
and the oils.
Why would they do that?
Because even though
they didn't expect
the resurrection
and even though
they had little
to no reason
to still believe
he was the Messiah,
they could not
get away from the reality
that there was
something special.
There was something
absolutely lovely
and wonderful
about this man.
Something absolutely
compassionate
about his character,
right?
This sacrificial servant
that he was,
always putting others
before himself,
healing and liberating
left and right
no matter how deserving
or undeserving people
were,
exposing himself
to Gentiles
and unclean lepers
and even to death itself.
This is the kind
of child of God
he was.
He was a servant
and a son.
And when this clicks
for us,
this servant-son dynamic,
it changes everything.
It changes everything
about how we live.
Look what happens
to Jesus
as soon as he's declared
as beloved son
and spirit-filled servant.
Verse 12.
At once the Spirit
sent him out
into the wilderness
and he was in the wilderness
forty days
being tempted by Satan.
He was with the wild animals
and angels attended him.
He's going out,
he's being baptized,
this is a defining moment
of his life.
His Father says,
I love you.
He gives him
the most powerful thing
in the world,
the Holy Spirit
and then he's sent out
into the wilderness.
What's up with that?
How could a loving father
let his beloved son
and how could a Holy Spirit
lead his empowered servant
to be subjected
to Satan
and the wild animals
in the wilderness?
Well, it's precisely
as a beloved son
and spirit-filled servant,
no one else
could endure
the wilderness
but a spirit-filled servant
and a beloved son of God.
In fact,
it's only a beloved son
and spirit-filled servant
who could survive
such a wilderness experience.
Only someone
so assured
of the love
and provision
of his Father.
Only someone
so in tune
with God's Spirit
who could endure
those forty days,
depend on nothing
but God
and his angels
and overcome temptation
and show us
our fullest potential
as humans
depending on God
in our wilderness
circumstances.
Jesus did not live
by bread alone
but by every word
that proceeded
from the mouth of God
and those words were,
you are my son
whom I love.
With you I am well pleased
and he lived
by those words.
He lived by those words.
Those were the words
that sustained him
and gave him
what he needed
through all the most
intense moments
of his life.
And my question for us
going into 2024
Christ Church
is
has this word
become our
daily bread as well?
That we are
beloved sons
and daughters
that we are
spirit-filled
servants
of the King.
Does that give us
everything we need
to live for tomorrow?
You know,
whenever I read
about these words
spoken to Jesus
at his baptism
about his
beloved sonship,
I can't help
but think of
a story
Walter Isaacson
shares in his
biography of Steve Jobs.
In case you didn't know,
Steve Jobs was
adopted
and from an early age
his parents would often
be very intentional
about explaining to him
that he was adopted
and that that was
part of his story.
But one day
he was like six or seven
and he was sitting
on his lawn
and he was explaining
to the girl next door
that he was adopted
and you know,
she was younger,
she was just kind of curious
and she said,
oh,
so does that mean
that your parents
your real parents
didn't want you?
And Jobs said
that these words
struck him
like a lightning bolt
and he ran into the house
weeping and weeping,
crying,
and his loving parents
tried to console him
saying,
no, no,
but we,
you have to understand
we specifically chose
you,
we love you.
But these genuinely
loving parents,
these words from
his genuinely loving parents,
they never seem
to be enough.
And though Jobs
would deny it,
his closest friends
and colleagues
according to Isaacson
believe that this open wound
never really healed
and afflicted him
like all his life,
contributing to his
maniacal personality,
his reflexive cruelty,
his fierce independence,
his lust for control,
and even the abandonment
of his own child
because he just
couldn't be bothered
or distracted
from his apple empire
which was pretty much
an extension of himself,
right?
And I wonder
how many of us
can relate to Steve Jobs,
maybe feeling like
servants but not sons.
Always like we have to
try to prove ourselves,
earn our identity,
earn our place
in this or that family
or community.
And maybe we find
our servant selves
trying to treat others
as servants and slaves
just like Steve Jobs
treated his employees.
Less so out of a desire
to lead them
and honor God
and honor our neighbors
and be a blessing
to the world
and more so
just out of our insecurity.
But what if we believed
that we could be both
servants and sons
of the loving God
by uniting ourselves
to our big brother Jesus?
How might that change us?
How might that change
the world we live in
if we believed
that we were God's
beloved children
and filled with his delight,
the very spirit of his power
and his presence?
What kinds of wildernesses
might we enter
for the kingdom of God?
What kinds of wild animals
might we be willing to face?
You know,
if Mark was really writing this,
sitting at the feet
of Peter's teaching,
this was during
a very intense time
of Christian persecution
in Rome
with Christians being
literally thrown
to the wild animals.
Mark is reminding
his fellow brothers
and sisters
that Jesus gets it
just as they are being thrown
to the animals
in the Colosseum
for sport.
Jesus,
he was also
with the wild animals
and alone.
Following Jesus is hard
and it's dangerous
and it's costly.
But if we are beloved children
and empowered servants
of God in Christ,
we have what we need
to face what we face.
And not just
to face hardship,
but to thrive
in hardship
and to bear witness
to a better way
of life.
Like,
what kind of workplaces,
what kind of world
would we live in
if people walked
in the way of Jesus
as sons and servants
of an all-loving
and all-powerful God?
If we laid down
our rights
and submitted to God,
put others first,
led as servants
rather than lords?
And all the while
with confidence
that we had
a Heavenly Father
who loved us,
an unshakable inheritance
waiting for us
and the Holy Spirit's power
to do everything
that God had ordained
for us to do.
That's what it's like
to walk in the way
of Jesus.
It's to live
with the incredible confidence
of being loved by God
as His own child
and empowered
by His Spirit
to do everything
that God wants us to do.
It's taking the initiative
to exercise His authority
in the world,
in our workplaces,
in our relationships,
in our families
and neighborhoods,
inviting people
to follow us
in Jesus' life-giving ways.
You know,
after His wilderness experience,
having experienced God
see Him through,
Jesus then takes,
He picks up the mantle
from John the Baptist, right?
It says,
Jesus starts preaching
in verse 15,
the time has come,
the kingdom of God
has come near,
repent and believe
the good news.
And not only does He preach,
but He takes initiative
in His relationships.
You know,
in the Jewish tradition,
how it typically worked
was students would go
and they would pick
the rabbi
that they wanted to
sit under
and learn from.
The disciples would
pursue that rabbi,
ask,
can I join your school?
And then once admitted,
they would serve that rabbi
hand and foot
so that He could devote
His whole life
to teaching them
and they could receive
His instruction
and they could try
to live the way He did
to the best of their abilities.
But this is different, right?
Here,
we see Jesus
taking the initiative,
Jesus pursuing,
Jesus inviting
these disciples
to come and follow Him.
And I think what Jesus
is doing
is He's modeling
His alternative way
of relating to people.
Not pursuing people
to colonize them
and to oppress them
and to proselytize them,
but pursuing people
with love.
Pursuing people
as a servant.
Just as the Father
tore the heavens open
to speak a word
of affirmation
and welcome to Jesus,
so is Jesus speaking forth
His own words
of loving invitation
to these disciples,
to invite them,
to adopt them
into His own family.
He's generously drawing them
into something
far more wonderful
than they can imagine.
And sure,
they'll probably treat Him
much like a rabbi
and serve Him
so that they can focus
on His teachings,
but they're about to get
something far greater
than what they give
to their rabbi.
Now,
you might have found
this kind of strange
that these fishermen
at the end of this account
in verses like 18 to 20,
they left so much, right?
Just because Jesus called them.
They left their nets,
they left their boats,
their businesses,
their hired men.
James and John
were probably pretty successful
in their fishing business.
They left their father.
And Mark really doesn't
give any reason at all.
It's just like there's
this inherent power
and authority
to Jesus' words,
come, follow me,
and I will send you out
to fish for people.
Because honestly,
they clearly had no idea
what they were
getting themselves into
by following Jesus
and leaving their nets
behind, right?
But what we do know
is that at the end
of their lives,
all four of them,
Simon, Andrew,
James, and John,
they were totally glad
that they did.
And they counted it
the greatest honor
of their lives
to walk in the way
of Jesus.
And they even died
following Jesus
and walking in his way
as servants
and sons of God.
Because you know
what they discovered
in Jesus?
This coming God
and king
for whom they were
supposed to make
straight paths
for his arrival?
they found a king
who charted
his own path,
who charted
his own way.
Without conscribing,
you know,
forced laborers
or slaves
to make his arrival
smooth and easy,
Jesus took
a different way.
Born as a helpless baby,
lying in a manger
to a poor family
from Nazareth,
and the only straight road
that he walked
was from the cradle
to the cross.
The mighty Messiah,
the sovereign son,
did not turn to the left
or to the right,
but willingly went
directly to the cross
as our crucified king
and suffering servant,
sure of who he was
and what he was called
to do,
what he was meant to do.
And the world
we live in
has simultaneously
looked upon
this way of Jesus
both with tender admiration
and defiant disgust.
Having never seen
such a beautiful sacrifice,
and yet,
in our own sinful,
self-interested natures,
choosing more often
than not,
again and again,
not to serve,
but to be served.
But that's not
the way of Jesus.
Christchurch,
Jesus invites us.
He invites us
to deny ourselves
and to follow him,
to take up our crosses
into the wilderness
amongst the wild animals
and to fellowship
with him
as the servant,
son,
and savior
he chose to be
out of his own self
denying love for us.
He invites us
to enter into his
belovedness
as servants and sons
ourselves
for the good of our world
and for the glory of God.
Will you pray with me?
Lord, we ask that you would
give us what we need
to walk in your way,
to walk in the way
of the servant,
son,
Jesus,
to be his disciples
and to make disciples
of this servant king,
savior of the world.
Would we do so
to the glory of your name
and for the good
of our neighbors?
Would you heighten
our imagination,
our vision
of what this could look like
here in the Bay Area,
living the way Jesus lived
and bearing fruit
because of what you're doing
in us?
Would you do that here
in our church,
not because we deserve it,
but because you deserve it,
Lord.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.