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MARK: WORKING MESSIAH SECOND DIVISION: WHAT IS THE MESSIAH'S 'WORKING PLAN'? 1:14-4:34 FIRST SECTION: THE KINGDOM OF GOD AS A KINGDOM 1:14-31
(Corresponding PowerPoint® presentation: Mark 2nd Division 1st Section KINGDOM or click on Mark Second Division KINGDOM PP on the Mark studies home page.)
The Outline:
I. Jesus Comes Into Galilee Preaching 1:14, 15
II. Jesus Recruited Disciples At The Sea Of Galilee 1:16-20
III. Jesus Taught In The Synagogue 1:21-28
IV. Jesus Visited The Home Of Simon And Andrew 1:29-31
Questions To Aid In The Study Of This Section, Mark 1:14-31
Commitment! In this study, we will examine each of the scenes one by one but I would like to focus on 4 points: 1. Commitment to our leader, the King of Kings; 2. Commitment to our work, fishing for men; 3. Commitment to our doctrine, obedience to the Bible; 4. Commitment to each other, in service.
Where Did It Take Place? First let's look at our text by answering the question 'where'. Where did these 4 scenes take place? 1. The first is Galilee, a political entity, with boundaries or borders and a government. 2. The second is the Sea of Galilee, a place of work, a commercial scene. Here we find people at work, fishing in this case. 3. The third is the synagogue, a religious place. People are gathering to worship and to hear spiritual and moral instruction. 4. The fourth is the house of Simon Peter, a domestic scene. Here people sleep, eat, relax and work, serving members of their household.
Broad Brush Strokes I would like to suggest that the author of this gospel is not trying to describe a kingdom in all its details but with broad brush strokes he describes four basic aspects of a kingdom using the earthly scene to describe the spiritual. Here God's kingdom is described as a kingdom through the venues and events in these four scenes. It is not unlike what Jesus does in story form in chapter four where he describes God's kingdom through stories called parables. (4:1-34) In fact Jesus asks in chapter 4 verses 26 and 30, "How shall we describe the kingdom of God and with what shall we compare it?" The author in turn, in this second part or division of the gospel, selects stories about Jesus’ ministry to describe the kingdom of God as a kingdom, as a priesthood, as a body, as a house, and as a field. The whole division covers chapters 1:14 to 4:34. Mark begins with Jesus announcing his kingdom in Galilee and ends with Jesus describing his kingdom in the parables.
Now let's look at these scenes one by one.
I. Jesus Comes Into Galilee Preaching 1:14, 15
A Kingdom Announced Jesus announced a kingdom but not that of the Romans, nor of Herod, nor of Israel, nor of any other earthly kingdom, but of God. A kingdom can be represented by its king, subjects, or territory. In this case the King himself comes announcing this kingdom! We have already read in the previous verses in the first division, (1:1-13) that Jesus is Lord, the beloved Son of God, greater than John the Baptist and was served by angels. The Apostle Paul wrote the following to the church at Colossae, 12 …giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:12-14 NIV). When we repent of our sins and put our trust in this King he brings us into his kingdom and forgives us all our sins.
Two Responses: Repentance And Belief As he did for the ancient Galileans, Jesus calls for our repentance, the turning from commitment to other lords, gods or spiritual authorities, even from ourselves. The easiest god to set up in our hearts is we ourselves! He calls "King Me" to descend from the throne of our lives and give him that place. That's where belief comes in. Our faith in Jesus places him in the position of authority in our lives that only he deserves. But, you say, I'm a Christian, and I don't need re-evangelizing. Oh, yes, that's right, but we have our moments of rebellion! We sin and need to repent. Are we ignoring him in any way? Let's repent, return and keep trusting Him.
Sin And Persecution Sometimes the purposes of God's kingdom and of our earthly government may collide. John was put in prison for his preaching against Herod's adultery. This is explained later in Chapter 6. We may face the same. Let's make our commitment to Jesus firm and he will lead and strengthen us. It must have taken incredible boldness to go into Galilee preaching after John was thrown in prison by the ruler of that state! Jesus’ own herald, the one who had announced his arrival, was now in prison and Jesus could be the next one to suffer. God gives the grace for times like these.
He Sang! A coworker in OM told us a story of commitment to Jesus. A Chinese Christian leader was put in prison. He liked to sing Christian hymns and he did. He sang and sang and sang. So they put him in solitary. He kept singing so they put him to shoveling human excrement. The stench was unbearable but he was lifted in his spirit to Jesus each time he entered that cesspool! It was unexplainable! Each day he went to that awful place, he said it began to smell as if it were a garden! He had a clear commitment to the Lord, and the Lord was committed to him and gave him help as one of his faithful subjects.
Badly Beaten Many times we don’t know if persecution is official, instigated by the state, or by the religious leaders. It can be something more personal, perpetrated by fanatics or motivated by personal vengeance. We were told of a case in which a team of OM received threatening phone calls. Stones were thrown over the walls of the team’s compound. Sam (not real name), a team member, went out one afternoon to by bread. As he went four men jumped him, took him to an abandoned building and beat him until he was unconscious.
He could not speak for three weeks. After recovering he fell sick of Typhoid fever. After a time he recovered from the fever and rejoiced in the fact that he had suffered as a faithful follower of Jesus. (Newsletter, P_______ Prayer Update, March 2001, by Mike W.)
II. Jesus Recruited Disciples At The Sea Of Galilee 1:16-20
No Unemployment Here! Here Jesus approached men at work, and he called them to follow Him. He had a job for them to do as they followed him. He would make them fishers of men. Later people by the thousands would be gathered into his kingdom because of their preaching and service to others. Unfortunately some Christians give the impression that when it comes to the Kingdom of God they are unemployed!
Two Responses: Leave And Follow Jesus expected a twofold response here as well. Firstly he expected them to answer his call. Our text, in v.18 says, "at once they left their nets and followed Him." Here we see two realities, which correspond to the "repenting" and "believing" of v. 15.
First they left their nets. They were to follow Jesus for three years, from his baptism until he was received into heaven, in order to be eyewitnesses of all he had done, and, especially, of his resurrection. Later on when they chose someone to take the place of Judas Iscariot, they had to choose from amongst those who had been with Jesus from his baptism until he was received back into heaven, after his resurrection (Acts 1:15-26). In order to follow they had to set certain activities aside. They had to leave their normal work and do what Jesus called them to do. Later in Acts 6:1-6 they had to choose between serving tables or the ministries of prayer and of the word. They continued with praying and the ministry of the word and left the, nevertheless important, task of serving tables to others.
Let's ask ourselves two questions. Firstly, am I willing to leave behind rebellious and sinful activities in order to follow the Lord? Secondly, am I willing to invest time, money and energy in that service to which he has called me?
Part Time, Full Time Some of us serve full time and some part time, which are not adequate terms really. All of us should serve the Lord in everything and at all times. Some of us in the midst of our business, studies, and daily life serve the Lord, and we will be a testimony in those situations, something like Joseph did, first as Potiphar’s servant, then as a supervisor in the prison and finally as the governor of Egypt. In the same way Daniel served as governor under the two kingdoms of Babylon and Persia. As in the case of both of those men we will have to decide how to use our free time. Daniel, for example gave three times a day to prayer (Daniel 6). I suppose he might have decided to attend a feast or other meeting in the palace instead of giving time to prayer. It is also very probable that he attended some festive occasions because protocol demanded he be there. On one occasion the three friends of Daniel were present for the occasion on which Nebuchadnezzar demanded his officials be present when they were forced to bow to the image he had made (Daniel 3).
It Takes A Team Let's also remember that net fishing, commercially, requires a team! The four of them, plus their father, and the hired servants worked together. When fishing for people let us renew our commitment to team work.
In Bible Introduction class, we heard about The Gallic War and that created in me an “itch” to read Julius Caesar's books about his conquest of Gaul. In that war the commanding general was Julius Caesar. Jesus Christ lived just a few years after the Caesar. They were both leaders and yet very different. Jesus was born in the empire that Julius Caesar was involved in building. I learned in classes at Moody Bible Institute (1964-1968) that while there were only nine known manuscripts of The Gallic War, there were in the realm of 5000 of the New Testament. The manuscripts extant of The Gallic War date from centuries after they were written while some manuscripts of the New Testament date from the century in which they were written. The Gallic War was written by Julius Caesar himself (except the last volume of eight volumes), about himself, while the New Testament was written by at least seven different authors about Jesus! In any case, since then I had wanted to read Caesar's report of his conquests. One of the secrets of his success was the close teamwork of the Roman army. The Gauls were brave enough but could not match the coordination of the Romans. (Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars: with the Supplementary Books attributed to Hirtius, Julius Caesar, University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. This version is available from the University of Virginia Library. Charlottesville, Va., http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modeng0.browse.html, 1996)
Team Work Helped George Follow Jesus We are not all gifted evangelists, but we can help evangelists. George Verwer, the founder of the ministry of OM, accepted Christ one evening at a meeting in New York City. A lady by the name of Mrs. Clapp had prayed for him for years and sent him a Gospel of John, published by the Pocket Testament League. A local businessman, a Mr. Gallenkamp, hired a bus to take people to the meeting and that enabled George to go. Jack Wyrtsen and team had organized the meeting in Madison Square Garden, and Billy Graham preached. It was a team effort. We are not "Lone Rangers" and even he had a sidekick.
Where There Is Smoke… What should we do about burnout in our service for the Lord? Two of the fishermen we meet here, Simon and Andrew, were casting a net into the lake. The other two, James and John, were preparing their nets. These activities are two sides of the same coin. When fishnets are torn the fish find those bigger holes and escape. Give yourself and your coworkers time to prepare, time to practice (preaching, teaching, testimony, music, sketch board, mime), even time to rest and study.
I do a few household repairs at home. I'll confess I'm lazy about preparing drill bits. I “forget” to sharpen them or buy new ones. What happens then? It is hard to make a hole; in fact, the bit starts burning the wood. Smoke comes threading out of the hole!
The Christian worker needs preparation in order to avoid burnout. The preacher needs fresh messages. He needs to pray, read, study, meditate, and receive from the Lord. He needs rest. One of the purposes of Christian retreats and conferences is preparation, mending!
Remember To Go Fishing!But it's dangerous to go on preparing and never cast your net! You may be well prepared. Your boat fairly skims across the water. Your nets are in perfect condition. Your casting style is well developed. You have full points for technical and artistic preparation. But you will not fish until you go cast your net into the lake. After conferences, retreats, time with the Lord, studies, and even practice, remember to go fishing!
Once, while on a flight to New York I began asking the Lord to give me an opportunity to help someone meet the Lord and join my local church there. I went out one night with the visitation team, and we met Joe. Later he and his wife started attending our church. He has even become one of our ministry supporters. REMEMBER TO GO FISHING.
Let’s now move on to scenes three and four where we find Jesus attending the synagogue and visiting the home of Simon and Andrew.
III. Jesus Taught In The Synagogue 1:21-28
Refreshing Authority Jesus amazed people in the synagogue by his teaching. He taught as one who had authority and not as the scribes, or teachers of the law.
License To Preach In the first chapter I shared about my desire to preach and teach the Bible. At the same time I found it almost impossible to even read the Bible, let alone study it. God changed all that. Now I enjoy studying his Word. It is a privilege to share his word with others. Much later, after finishing my studies at Moody, my church in New Jersey, gave me a license to preach. In many churches they confer ordination, and in mine as well. But apart from ordination they also have this other category which is called a license to preach. I hope this license to preach never becomes a “license to kill or put to sleep!” My desire is to know the Word of God and to preach it with authority.
Authority And Visible Results Some Christian workers are discouraged into believing they have no authority in their ministry because so few people respond to the gospel. Let's remember that while some responded to Jesus everyone did not respond positively. Many did not even understand. Later Mark says in 4:33 and 34 that he spoke to the crowds in parables but to his own disciples he explained everything. Some are working in tough places where it is slow going. People are not quick to respond to the gospel in parts of the world. Visible results are not necessarily an indication of authority.
Examine, Practice, Teach If teaching is important to our general education, how much more important is it to our knowledge of God and his salvation. God aims at the heart. In Zechariah 7:10 Israel was taught, "In your heart do not think evil of each other." Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 "But, I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Think of Ezra. In chapter 7 and verse 10 of his book the Bible says, "For Ezra purposed in his heart to examine the law, to practice it, and to teach it in Israel." Some of us would teach the Word of God. That is very commendable! But remember the two preceding steps, studying and obeying God's Word.
The Obedience Tests David Gooding, someone who has been used in many lives to stimulate us to study the Scriptures, once told us something striking. He said that throughout his life God has dealt with him on each issue he has taught. He has had to face the issue of obedience in all he has shared with others.
Two Extremes Now in the synagogue there suddenly occurred a strange event. A man possessed of an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God!" It's amazing to find in this religious place two extremes in religion, the teaching of the law and a man possessed of a demon! In our ministries let's avoid these two extremes, too much of the law or too much of the spirit. I'm overstating this but it can happen to a ministry. Law without the spirit means death! Spirit without the law is license! Note how dead so much religion is and what license some religions take!
The Pharisees and the Sadducees, in Jesus’ day, had the synagogue bogged down in law. Let’s be very careful in our religious contexts, of extremes that could parallel this. For example, a church that is so “full of the spirit” that it will do anything and everything for the “spirit”, or on the other hand be so full of the law that there is no joy or enthusiasm for the Lord.
What’s Wrong With This Witness? In the synagogue in Capernaum Jesus told the evil spirit to be quiet and cast him out. The witness of the demon as to who Jesus was represented a voice of authority from the other world, the spirit world. Why did Jesus not allow him to continue witnessing as to who Jesus was? Surely this was a powerful witness! Why not allow the demon to continue? There is a simple reason. Demons cannot be trusted. They might begin by telling truth but when they have an opportunity they slip in the lie. Satan does not mind trucking in ‘loads of truth’ as long as he can mix in a lie or two. The truth makes it all palatable and a lie follows unnoticed.
Satan does the same sort of thing that we do when our dog is sick. We give him his medication by wrapping the tablet in a small scrap of sliced meat, and he devours the meat. Fortunately the tablet goes down easily and the dog never knows he took it. The devil knows how to wrap a lie in lovely scraps of sliced-up truth.
Two Responses: Hear And Obey One reality we must not overlook is the fact that when Jesus gave orders to the evil spirits they had to obey. When he gives us his commands he gives us the option to obey or disobey. What Jesus expects of us is obedience. James 1 says, "Do not be hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But be doers of the Word (NIV)."
IV. Jesus Visited The Home Of Simon And Andrew 1:29-31
Frustrating Finally in the fourth scene we find Jesus visiting the home of Simon and Andrew in verses 29-31. Can you imagine the frustration of Simon's mother-in-law? She has a fever and cannot help with the serving of the guests.
I remember when I was thirteen years of age; I was recuperating in a hospital in Africa when our school’s annual track and field day came around. I was feeling much better and was desperate to get out of that hospital bed to witness the events of the day. The doctor had promised I could go but must have forgotten. When that day arrived no one came to release me. It was one of the saddest days of my boyhood. I had to stay in bed. And so it would have been for Simon's mother-in-law, if Jesus had not raised her up. What a joy to see her respond by serving with the strength the Son of God had given her. The strength God gives us is not for hoarding. It is for serving others.
Minister So Others Can Minister And what a blessing to see Jesus minister to Simon's mother-in-law so that she in turn could minister. He did not take from her what she could do in service. He gave her service back to her. You go and do likewise. Don't take over what others can do. Serve them so that they can serve. It would have looked strange to see Jesus, as the guest, go about Simon's home doing the cleaning, rearranging the cushions on the sofa and then heading for the kitchen to put on the coffeepot and rustle up some fried eggs! No, Jesus gave her back her service to others by raising her up.
Two Responses: Rise And Serve When we are saved, encouraged, called, taught, helped, healed by Jesus we could simply sit around enjoying it all. Let’s thank God for all he has done for us. But let us also rise up and then ‘go down’ in service just as Simon’s mother-in-law did.
Polished Shoes Service does take time and effort. One of the stories from the early years of OM is about Dale Rhoton, the former director of OM ships. The team in Turkey used to wake up in the morning and find all their shoes brightly polished and placed by each person's sleeping bag. Later they learned it was Dale. He had taken the time to rise early and serve them by polishing their shoes.
Let’s Review The kingdom of God is a kingdom and what a wonderful kingdom we have. We have a glorious King over us! We have the job of bringing others into that kingdom and under that King! There is teaching to do in God's authority and in the Holy Spirit's power, and what a privilege to find ourselves in God's kingdom serving each other.
This is the King to whom we commit ourselves. This is the work in which we can rejoice. This is the teaching we can share with others. This is the family of which we are a part.
Questions To Aid In The Study Of This Section, Mark 1:14-31 1. Where did Jesus go in these four scenes? What do these places teach us about the kingdom of God? Example: Galilee, a region, in the first scene (1:14, 15). 2. What are the two reactions expected from us by the Lord typified by the examples in each scene? Example: Repent and believe, in the first scene (1:14, 15). 3. If your herald were put in prison, as happened in the case of Jesus, when John the Baptist was imprisoned, how would you have reacted (1:14, 15)? 4. If one is dedicated to fishing why does one have to repair the nets? Can you suggest parallels between fishing and fishing for people? How should we prepare ourselves to fish for people (1:16-20)? 5. What is the difference between the options offered to people as opposed to those not offered to demons (1:21-28)? 6. Why didn’t Jesus allow the demons to go on speaking? If the testimony of demons is from the other side of that invisible curtain then it would be impressive! Why did Jesus tell the demons not to speak (1:21-28)? 7. What should be our response after Jesus saves, helps, encourages, teaches, counsels, guides and maybe even heals us? Does he take away our service or does he return it to us? Explain (1:29-31).
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