God’s Work, God’s Way

Title Verse

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (1:1)

The name I have given to this sermon series is “Who Then is This?” comes from the question the disciples ask among themselves after witnessing Jesus calm a dangerous storm: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him (4:41)?”

This is the same question that Mark sets out to answer in his gospel. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? We find the answer in the opening verse. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. About halfway through the book we will hear it again in Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ (8:29).” At the end of the book we hear it was well from the lips of a Roman centurion, “Truly this man was the Son of God (15:39)!”   Everything that Mark will write after this verse will explain the good news that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

 Prologue

²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
³the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
      make his paths straight,’” (1:2-3)

Mark begins by quoting two passages from the Old Testament that refer not to the coming Messiah but to the one who will prepare the way for the Messiah.   Since God’s promise to Adam and Eve in the garden that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), the way was being prepared.   Jesus will later explain to his disciples in Luke’s gospel that in fact much of what was written in the Old Testament was written to prepare his way (c.f. Luke 24:44).   And now the moment has arrived. God sends one final messenger to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah.   The task given to him is to be a “voice” crying out to others to make way for the coming king.

John the Baptist

 ⁴John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

 It is a strange thing that God would choose to communicate his truth and love through incomplete and imperfect people like us. As a pastor I am reminded each Sunday morning as I stand before my congregation both of the weight and magnitude of delivering God’s words to his people and at the same time of my own limits and imperfections. Wouldn’t it better for God to send an angel or some other spiritual being not encumbered by the trappings of the flesh and the world? And yet this is not how God operates. He communicates his perfect truth through imperfect people.

God does indeed send angels to announce the birth of Jesus but they were seen only by a handful of shepherds outside Bethlehem. Most who will hear of the arrival of Jesus will hear about it not from angels but from a man named John.   John was the herald who God set aside to be a witness to the coming of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. John was first and foremost a preacher. He was a man who not only preached a message but lived a message. We’ll consider each in turn: the man and the message.

 

John: The Man

John was a remarkable man for many reasons not least of least of which was his physical appearance:

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. (1:6)

Jesus says elsewhere about John that “among those born of women none is greater (Luke 7:28).” We are given a brief description of John. If he were to show up in our day dressed in this garb and eating bugs and honey, we would at the very least find him strange. It might surprise you to know that this would have been strange in his own day as well.   “Ordinary” people did not dress this way.   No, John was making a deliberate statement by taking up the dress and diet associated with the prophets   Specifically, his attire would have called to mind the prophet Elijah who we are told in 2 Kings 1:8 wore “a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.”

Many today, particularly from younger generations, scorn hypocrisy more than any other vice and prize authenticity more than any other virtue. They can sniff out “fake people” from a mile away. We are, after all, living in what cultural observers such as Tim Keller and Kevin DeYoung have called the “Age of Authenticity.” And while there is much to be lamented in a culture that allows you to do whatever you want so long as you are “true to yourself” and don’t pretend to be any better than you are, there are opportunities for Christian witness as well. People are keenly watching our lives to see if what we claim to be true is consistent with how we live. And so we have double opportunities to boldly live out and articulate our faith. (And double opportunities to model repentance when we mess up!)

I believe today’s generation would have admired John the Baptist. He preached a clear message and lived consistently with what he preached.   There was an authentic passion John embodied as the crowds came out to hear him. Ken Hughes reminds us of the power of being around someone who has authentic passion:

David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic, was once challenged as he was seen going to hear George Whitefield preach: “I thought you do not believe in the gospel.” Hume replied, “I don’t, but he does.” Just so! When a preacher believes what he preaches, there will be passion.  (Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, p. 12)

John: The Message

 In Mark’s typical fashion we are given just the basic information about John’s ministry:

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (1:4)

 John arrives on the scene not preaching in the villages and other common gathering places but in the “wilderness” away from the population center of his day. This is what we would call in our day the “sticks,” the “boondocks,” the “boonies,” the “backcountry,” the “bush.” And when people make their way all the way out to hear John (as they do in large numbers), what is the message that he has for them? Repent! Luke records a line from one of these sermons: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. (Luke 3:7-8).” Now I know it’s been two whole millennia since John preached that sermon, but in case you did not know, to refer to the crowds as a “brood of vipers” would hardly have been a compliment.

In order to call people to repentance John needs to explain why repentance is necessary. We repent because of sin. Sin is not a failing to live up to our potential. It is failing to live up to God’s law. Therefore, sin is not committed against ourselves but rather against a holy God whose righteous anger burns against the injustice and evil in the good world he created. If John were alive today he would tell us that it is only Jesus who frees us from the wrath of God for sin.

A few years ago the hymn committee of a mainline denomination sought to add the modern hymn “In Christ Alone” to their new hymnal but wanted to exchange the line “the wrath of God was satisfied” for “the love of God was magnified.”   The song’s writers Keith Getty and Stuart Townend refused to grant permission and the song was promptly removed from the new hymnal. Mary Louise Bringle who sat on the committee explained in an article that “the view that the cross is primarily about God’s need to assuage God’s anger” would do a “disservice” in forming the faith of coming generations.

Contrary to what has become popular in some circles today, John is serious when he preaches about sin and the wrath of God. Sin makes repentance necessary.   We are entering the 500^th year since Martin Luther nailed he famous 95 Theses to the castle door at Wittenberg. The first of those theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

John’s message was a message of repentance. And what was the response to his direct and confrontational approach?

And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. (1:5)

The “brood of vipers” responded.   John became somewhat of a celebrity with people coming out to him from all over Judea and Jerusalem. And not only did they come and listen, they confessed their sins and were baptized.

⁷And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (1:7-8)

John makes clear that this baptism is incomplete. It is a baptism done with water only. There is one who is greater who will arrive.   John can only say, “repent.” When Jesus arrives, he will say, “believe.” These actions go together: turn from your sin and place your faith in the Savior of sinners. Tim Keller put these two together well when he writes:

The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. (Meaning of Marriage)

Application

Before the Messiah would come we are told in verses 2 and 3 that preparation must be made. And what was the substance of that preparation?  Repentance.  God sends John into the wilderness to call for repentance.   Perhaps this is counterintuitive.  Shouldn’t a celebration be prepared?  Will he show up at our synagogue?  We better make sure we have special music that day!  If he is coming to our house, we had better be sure it is clean!

But  John doesn’t say the “The Messiah is coming, now get yourself together!” No, he says “repent.”  Your life is not together.  There is no sense in pretending that it is.  Repent.  As we make “room” for Jesus in our lives we must do the same.  The path to Jesus is not found through perfection but rather through repentance.

Discussion Questions

1. What does the prophecy from Isaiah (vv. 2-3) tell us about the ministry of John the Baptist?

2. When John appeared, he went to the wilderness. From a “human” perspective this does not seem to make sense. Why would do think God sent him to the wilderness to preach?

3. Can you think of some examples of how we try to do God’s work but not in God’s way? Or not in God’s time?

4. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Why might this have been shocking for the Jews to hear that they needed to repent?

5. John’s message of repentance is applicable to us as well. Can you think of some “alternatives” to repentance? In other words, what are we tempted to do in the place of repentance?

6. Using verses 7 and 8 compare and contrast John and Jesus. How are they similar? How are they different?