The Gospel of the Conquering King

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word.

It is sharper than any two-edged sword.

Lord, as we open up your gospel,

we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a work in our lives through your word.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

Please have a seat.

It's a wonderful day.

We're together at last.

Some of you guys are visiting, which is tremendous.

We are opening up our service, our first service in the Gospel of Mark.

It's a wonderful place to open up God's word,

or to open up for our first service.

If you have a Bible, fantastic.

I'd ask you guys to follow along.

If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles on the back table.

Anytime you can just get up and grab a Bible, feel free to do that.

There are some movies, and this is a very common illustration that I've heard recently, actually.

But there are some movies where if you miss the first bits of the movie,

you fail to understand the plot.

There is something very important for some movies,

the way they have that opening scene being so important

for the rest of the narrative, for the rest of the plot.

Interestingly, sometimes there's an important bit that is revisited at the beginning,

and it's also that we see again in the back.

So the placement of certain instances in a movie, I mean, it's very critical.

It's very critical if we're to watch a movie, understand the importance of the narrative plot.

This is exactly what we're going to explore this morning in Mark's Gospel.

Before we get into the Gospel, a little bit about Mark.

Mark doesn't write his Gospel in such a way that we hang on every single word Jesus says,

that Mark communicates in such a way that we hear the words of Jesus,

but more importantly, we see what Jesus does, how he interacts with people,

how he heals people and their reaction to him.

One commentator I read said that Mark, what he does is he writes with a paintbrush.

He asks us to enter into the drama that he is describing,

for us to understand who this Jesus really is, what he has come to do,

how he interacts with the rich and the poor and the marginalized or the proud.

And that's a revelation of who he is, who God is.

It's very important that as we read in these next coming weeks and months,

enter into the narrative, enter into the story.

Mark is writing with a paintbrush.

And it's really, really, it's a fantastic, fantastic way to read the Scriptures.

This morning, we are in the opening verses of Mark.

And like I mentioned about certain movies having an opening scene

that is critical for the whole narrative and it's revisited at the end,

we have two of those instances in our section of Scripture this morning.

It's very important that we understand this, actually, for the rest of our time in Mark.

It's a critical bit for us.

And we're going to be looking at two things that will present themselves in this opening section,

but that we'll also revisit at the end of chapter 15, at the end of Mark's Gospel.

The first thing is right off the bat, Mark 1, 1, and we see it again in verse 11,

where Jesus is called the Son of God.

This title that is given to him, the Son of God.

The second thing is when Jesus gets baptized, the heavens are torn open.

It's interesting.

We see this right off the bat.

We're actually going to see it again in the latter part of chapter 15.

Very critical, very critical bit for us to keep our eye on as we read the Scriptures.

So let's take a look first at the Son of God.

Right off the bat, Mark 1, 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus gets baptized.

The heavens are torn.

The Spirit descends.

And in verse 10, verse 11,

And a voice came from heaven.

This is God the Father speaking.

You are my beloved Son.

With you, I am well pleased.

In Scripture, no other person was called the Son of God.

No other person.

Moses was a servant of God.

Aaron, the chosen one of God.

Abraham was the friend of God.

David was the man after God's own heart.

The Apostle Paul was the apostle of God.

Only the nation of Israel is called the beloved Son of God.

But Israel proves to be unfaithful time and time again.

And so, this title, the Son of God, it begins to evolve in the story of Scripture.

And eventually becomes a messianic title for the offspring of King David.

That somebody would come from Israel, and he would be called the Son of God, and he would save Israel.

And this title, Son of God, very important, begins to evolve.

But there was no specifics with this messianic title.

That the Messiah would come, and he would save Israel.

But how?

How would he save Israel?

How would he go about doing it?

There's allusions to it.

We can read back, you know, from the Gospels.

We know about Jesus.

We can read back into the prophetic books, especially in Isaiah, in the servant of the Lord.

But if you're there, present, before Jesus' time, who's the Messiah?

What is he going to do?

How is he going to save us?

The Son of God, this idea, it begins to evolve.

And by the time Jesus comes on the scene, there's centuries go by without God speaking to his people.

And the Son of God became this title for the Messiah.

The expectations were that the Messiah would come and would absolutely smite Israel's foes.

But even then, the Messiah was still just a man.

That's it.

He was just a man in the minds of the Israelites.

A mighty man.

A fantastic man.

A man of excellence.

A man full of God's strength.

But still a man.

A man.

Jesus, right off the bat, it seems like just, not like a throwaway bit, but verse 1-1, the

beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It's like the intro credits to a movie.

It seems like it's just some kind of passing title.

But right off the bat, what Mark is doing, he's saying, let me introduce you to the hope

of Israel.

Israel.

The hope of the Messiah.

The one who will come to save Israel.

And we'll see what that kind of looks like.

Because it's not just Israel.

But Mark here is declaring that the hope has arrived.

He's on the scene.

He's come.

It's interesting.

Right off the bat, following on the heels of Mark's declaration, we see that this Son

of God is no mere man.

He is most certainly a man.

But there's something divine about him.

He's, he's, can't quite put your finger on, on who this Son of Man is, because right off

the bat, in verse 2 and verse 3, Mark quotes prophetic books that talk about the Son of

Man, the Messiah.

And all of a sudden, it's using the language allotted just to God.

Talking about John the Baptist.

Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way.

This is talking about John the Baptist.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.

Make his path straight.

This Son of God is divine.

He is not just a mere man.

Not just a savior.

Not a guy that is just a bit stronger than the foe is able to vanquish them.

No, there's something, there's something greater to this Son of Man.

Verse 8 also.

John the Baptist speaking of the Son of Man, of Jesus.

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Only God gives the Holy Spirit.

Nobody else can give the Holy Spirit of the Almighty God but God himself.

All of a sudden, this Son of Man, like it is an incredible, all of a sudden, it's like we double click on it.

And we see that the Son of Man is pregnant, like the title is pregnant with meaning.

It's no mere generic title.

God has visited Israel and he will save her.

And it is so interesting because we will see that this term doesn't show up again on the lips of anybody else until the very end of chapter 15.

If you turn with me to chapter 15, keep your finger or thumb in chapter 1.

In 15, I'll just, I mean, we're not going to get to this for some time as we preach through the gospel of Mark chapter by chapter.

But here we are.

Jesus is on the cross.

He has died.

And this is what it says.

This is a Roman centurion.

Verse 39 of chapter 15.

See, Mark has, it seems like there's a bit of a secret about who Jesus really is.

That Jesus is keeping from his disciples, from the religious leaders, from those who are poor.

Basically, all of Israel.

He keeps, it's almost a bit of a messianic secret.

And the first person in Mark's gospel to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God is a Roman centurion.

And it's very likely that he was the captain of the guard squad that put Jesus to death.

It was his enemy.

Jesus' enemy.

A foreign ruler.

Jesus' son of God.

Jesus' son of God.

The Messiah was supposed to smite the Romans into oblivion.

To crush them.

That was the messianic hope.

And here Mark has, the first person to confess the Son of God, is the captain of the death squad.

It's remarkable.

And all of a sudden, this small picture of the Messiah, the Son of God, who was just supposed to save Israel,

we get a glimpse into the Son of God saving the entire world.

There is no insider or outsider if you confess who Christ is.

There is no greater outsider than the centurion who put him to death.

He is a pagan.

He is a man of blood.

A man of terror.

And Mark here, remember, right?

He bookends the entire gospel with the Son of God.

And we see it at the beginning and we see it at the end.

This is a very important scene.

And why is this important for us?

God is eliminating the boundary markers of who's in and who's out.

Who's clean and who's dirty.

Who's beloved and who is just refuse.

And it's not based on where you come from or who you are.

It's based on what Christ has done.

What he has done.

And all of a sudden, in our culture, in Canada, where there is so much polarization.

And there always is polarization, of course.

But it seems it's hit a bit of a fever pitch.

We see here God throwing all that stuff on its head.

The centurion doesn't...

I mean, he's still a centurion.

He doesn't go through some kind of de-radicalization class

before he is brought into the kingdom.

Or at least recognizes that Christ truly is God himself.

On the spot.

On the spot.

And we remember him.

We're reading about him 2,000 years later.

Remarkable.

What do we do?

We, in our culture, we decide who are the clean and unclean.

And we're polite about it.

We are.

We don't say it...

We scoff at the people who are overt in how they draw lines in the sand

between the good and the bad.

Based on politics.

Based on vaccination status.

Based on who you have a history with.

What your history is.

What part of town you live in.

It's true.

I mean, those are a few examples.

You could fill in other examples yourselves, I'm sure.

If you're honest with yourselves,

think about ways that you've done this.

Or maybe you have been on the receiving end.

You haven't been the one who has decided who's clean and unclean.

You're just unclean.

It's just been...

It's just...

It's been your experience.

People talking down to you.

Or marginalizing you.

This is...

This happens.

And why does it happen?

We...

What we do is we put ourselves in the judgment seat

that only God can occupy.

Only God can occupy that judgment seat

to declare who truly is clean and unclean.

And he has, in fact.

The scriptures speak very clearly

that sin, it makes all of us unclean.

And nobody in here, nobody in here is faultless.

Nobody is.

Certainly the Roman centurion wasn't.

And yet, a work was done in his heart

to open his eyes to the truth.

Remember, moments before,

earlier that day,

he participated in a mock...

of mocking Jesus,

of spitting on him,

of striking him.

And then all of a sudden,

he recognizes.

And if that's not the work of the Holy Spirit,

I mean, this is...

that's exactly it.

So what we see here

is that Jesus,

he is reconstituting humanity

into clean and unclean.

And it is based upon what he has done

on the cross at Golgotha.

That he has taken upon the sins of the world

so that we are made clean and right

by what he has done.

It's remarkable.

Son of God.

God.

We don't see it too often

in the scriptures.

And yet,

it is the very title

that really marks the gospel of Mark.

So that is one aspect,

one thing that starts at the beginning,

we see at the beginning,

and then we see at the end.

What is the other one?

Well, the other one,

like I mentioned,

is in verse 10.

I'm going to read verses 9 to 11,

the baptism of Jesus,

and we'll see it again.

In those days,

Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee

and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And when he came up out of the water,

immediately he saw the heavens being torn open

and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven,

You are my beloved Son.

With you I am well pleased.

So at this baptism,

the heavens are torn,

and the image is of a violent tearing,

like a child opening their gift at Christmas.

You aren't saving the wrapping paper.

It is done.

I also like the example,

it's like when certain people get home decor boxes

in the mail from Wayfair,

and they just tear into them,

and the box is shredded to confetti.

The idea is that there's a violent tearing.

There is a violent tearing that is pictured here.

The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus.

The Father affirms his delight with the Son.

And here,

it's a bit of a side bit,

we won't get into it,

but it's not that God the Father

is adopting Jesus as his Son.

It's presupposed from the beginning of time.

This isn't like a divine adoption.

But here we see the Father affirming his delight with the Son.

We see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

glorifying one another,

distinct yet together.

And this is a monumental event,

because like I mentioned,

we will see something very similar to it

at the end of chapter 15.

And by the way,

this was witnessed publicly.

This wasn't just an existential experience

that Jesus had.

There were witnesses to Jesus' baptism,

and witnesses to the heavens being torn,

and the Holy Spirit descending upon him.

And the voice of God

declaring his delight in the Son.

So what is this other example?

Well, again,

put your thumb in

to chapter 1,

and join with me

in chapter 15.

And this is right before

the centurion says what he says

about Jesus being the Son of God.

So Jesus,

why don't we back it up a little bit,

starting in verse 33.

Chapter 15, verse 33.

And when the sixth hour had come,

there was darkness over the whole land

until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour,

Jesus cried with a loud voice,

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

Which means,

My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?

And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

Behold, he is calling Elijah.

And someone ran and filled a sponge

with sour wine,

put it on a reed,

and gave it to him to drink,

saying,

Wait, let us see

whether Elijah will come

to take him down.

And Jesus uttered a loud cry

and breathed his last.

Verse 38.

Here it is.

And the curtain of the temple

was torn in two

from top to bottom.

It's the same word.

It's the same idea.

It's the same picture

of a violent tearing

of the curtain temple

in the second temple

in Herod's temple

that represented

the separation

between man and God.

So we have the heavens

being torn open

and the spirit descending,

and we have,

after Jesus has breathed his last,

as the Son of God

on the cross.

The very thing

that separated

symbolically

mankind from God,

it's torn

in a way

where it's not going

to be stitched up again.

Just in case anybody

wanted to give that a go.

It's done.

The curtain's done.

There's always been

this separation

between God and man

from our first father

and mother,

Adam and Eve,

sinning in the garden.

They were expelled

from the garden.

They were separated

from God.

There's always been

some kind of separation.

We have this wonderful

kids' book.

It's called

The Garden,

The Curtain,

and The Cross,

and it tells this story.

And the refrain is,

because of your sin,

you can't come in.

That's what God says

to people.

Not because God is mean,

but because He is holy.

And because the holy God

can't interact

with sinful,

broken,

messy people.

And how do we sin?

Because sin can be,

again,

a term thrown around

to ostracize this group

from that group.

But in this case,

I'll say this.

Instead of recognizing

the kingship of God,

we fancy ourselves

as kings.

Once again,

our autonomous rule

bubbles up,

our ego takes over,

we know what's best.

We put ourselves

in the seat

of the Creator.

We assume His throne.

And here's the thing.

The irony is that

at best,

we're puppet kings

of our own lives,

if we think that

we are the kings

and queens

of our lives.

Puppets.

Puppets.

Because the real ruler

will be our flesh,

our desires,

that are not kept in check,

but that just rage,

our bellies,

our eyes,

our sexual drives,

our desires for prestige.

The world will also

direct the way

we,

what will be our king,

will be the true king

and we'll just be puppets.

The world has

a wonderful way

of saying

what is the right way

to live

from one moment

to the next.

And that's exhausting

to keep up with.

And it's also false.

And then there's the enemy.

He will tempt,

and if we give in,

He is ruling the roost.

He is the king.

And we are just puppet kings.

That's if,

that's if we assume

the throne of God.

The thing is,

I mean,

we don't want to be ruled

by anybody,

but the fact is

we were made to be ruled.

And that's not exactly

a fun thing to say.

But it's the right thing

to say.

Because when we live

under God's rule,

it's,

it's the most freeing

we can be.

the most free

we can be.

The most authentic

selves we may be

will be under

God's rule.

There's this wonderful,

I think it is,

the collect

for Concord.

It talks about,

in your service

there's perfect freedom.

It's in the liturgy

for morning prayer.

In your service

to the king

there's perfect freedom.

It's a wonderful

kind of juxtaposition.

But this is the reality

of it.

I mean,

God,

what he has done

in Christ,

the son of God,

the king of the universe,

he has made a way

for us to enter

into his presence again.

So that we are free.

And what are we free

to do?

We are free

to serve him.

So we have this

tearing

at the baptism

and we have this

tearing

at his death

and it means

for us

that we get

to be

under the reign

and rule

of Christ.

And it is freedom.

It is freedom.

It's wonderful.

So how should we live?

There's two ways.

The first is

to live

a humble life

of worship

to Jesus.

In certain

homiletics classes

that's like a preaching class.

You talk about

application.

And, you know,

the best

application

is to come away

from

a sermon,

from a church service

and worshiping Christ.

Knowing him more

and worshiping him.

Having

your desire

to please him

be the

very main desire

guiding your life.

So the first

way that we should

live in light

of the Son of God

who dies on the cross

to save humanity,

who tears the curtain

in two,

ushering us back

into the very presence

and rule

of God

is to worship.

You will live

a more free life,

a life more

full of peace

because your sins

are counted against you

no more.

A clean conscience.

It is wonderful.

We see this

in John the Baptist.

We'll go back with me.

Chapter 1,

verse 7.

John says this.

And he preached,

John 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.

The job of the man

who was to

take off the sandals

and wash the feet

was the slave,

was the servant,

was the lowest

in the pecking order.

The feet,

it was disgusting.

And John is saying

the right thing.

I am not even worthy

to stoop down

to untie his sandal.

May we have that heart.

May we have that heart.

We will partake

in Holy Communion soon.

And one of the prayers

we'll pray

is the prayer

of humble access.

And it says,

We do not presume

to come to this,

your table,

O merciful Lord,

trusting in our own righteousness,

but in your manifold

and great mercies.

It's the same heart

that John is having here.

We humbly,

humbly submit.

And the fact is,

what Christ does

on the cross,

we come into

the throne room of God,

and yes,

we can approach God

boldly because of Christ.

We can call him

Abba Father,

like a closeness

to that fatherly relationship,

but he is still a king.

He is still a king

and he deserves reverence.

And it's a humble heart

that approaches

the living God.

That is the way

of the Christian.

The second thing

is linked to

that humble

life of worship

to Jesus.

And it's

to expect hardship.

It really is

to expect hardship.

To follow the way

of Christ

as the people of God.

The wilderness

is always the destiny.

Israel gets

rescued

from

slavery

and bondage

to Egypt

right into the wilderness

for 40 days.

And here we have

Jesus going into

the wilderness

for 40 years

and Jesus going into

the wilderness

for 40 days.

That's no coincidence.

Mark is

helping us

to remember

the way

of God's people.

The way

of God.

John,

his whole ministry

is in the wilderness.

It is difficult.

It means

that when we put

ourselves

under the lordship

of Christ

and submit

to his ways,

yes,

we will have peace.

we will have joy

but we also

have hardships

because his way

is not the world's way.

He came to establish

the kingdom

of heaven

on earth

and just remember

you were part

of the kingdom

of earth.

You don't like

you feel

straight jacketed.

You are in

active rebellion

against

the kingdom

of heaven.

The centurion,

remember,

he is

inactive

actively

opposing

the kingdom

of heaven.

Now he is

a part of it

and it comes

with great

sacrifice

and hardships

and it doesn't

necessarily mean

you will be

facing martyrdom

but it might

mean

that you don't

compromise

that work

in a way

that would

get you promoted.

That there is

a thankfulness

that totally

trumps

the desire

to climb

over people

stepping over

them

stepping on

them.

It might

mean living

a celibate

life

and that's

hard

it's lonely

but it's

the right way

to do it

it's hard

there's

hardships

getting reviled

for sharing

your faith

faith.

We have

brothers and

sisters

in Central

Asia

we support

Church of the

Messiah

a brother

in East

Asia

that this

is his

very reality

is the

potential

the ever

possible

likelihood

of him

getting

persecuted

for his

faith

facing

hardships

and yet

if you

talk with

him

he has

joy

he has

peace

so how

should we

live in

light of

all of

this

as God

being our

king

the son

of God

in worship

and in

expectation

that he

will lead

us down

the same

path

that he

walked

friends

if you

do not

know this

king

if you

are new

to the

Christian

faith

or you

fall in

the way

you're a

seeker

in some

kind of

capacity

like the

Roman

centurion

who says

truly this

was the

son of

God

this is

just like

that

just in

a moment

and you

are part

of his

kingdom

you are

a son

or a

daughter

of the

living

God

you come

under

the

lordship

and kingship

of the

son of

God

Jesus

Christ

and for

us

may we

ask that

the Holy

Spirit

would work

in our

lives

work in

our

lives

helping us

to put

away

sin

it's

like

we

still

like the

Israelites

we still

kind of

pine after

the

food

the

life

of

Egypt

failing

to

remember

that

it

is

bondage

and

that

God

offers

us

so

much

more

we

struggle

with

living

in

the

kingdom

of

heaven

on

earth

and

we

need

to

ask

that

the

Lord

will

give

us

strength

to

do

so

let's

stand

and

let's

pray

ask

if

you

have

children

you

can

get

them

now

and

sign

them

out

and

bring

them

back

for

a

time

of

holy

communion

heavenly

father

we

thank

you

so

much

for

your

wonderful

truth

in

scripture

that

the

son

of

God

was

much

more

than

just

a

savior

for

Israel

against

their

occupying

enemies

but

he

was

the

savior

for

all

mankind

that

his

death

on

the

cross

tore

the

separating

barrier

between

us

and

you

Lord

let us

live

into

that

every

day

by

your

spirit

in

Jesus

name

Amen