The Gospel of Mark (7) - Repent and Believe the Good News

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming

the good news of God.

"The time has come," he said. "The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

--Mark 1:14-15

Repent... and Believe

 "Repent and believe the good news!" Jesus said when He announced His Kingdom.

Matthew and Luke tell us that John the Baptist also linked God's coming Kingdom with repentance.

In Matthew and Luke we read John's words: "Repent, for the kingdom of  God is near...produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

Paul, though not present at the announcement, understood it, too.

In Acts 20:21 he tells the elders at Ephesus, "I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus."

The gospel is clear - repent and believe!

Repentance alone is not enough to save us, though God certainly expects sinners to turn from their sins.

We must then put positive faith in Jesus Christ and believe His promise of salvation.

What happens if we repent without belief?

Nothing good, that's for sure.

Repentance without faith can become remorse, and remorse can destroy people who carry around the burden of guilt for their sin.

Remorse darkens our lives with fear and condemnation. There is no escape.

Repentance and belief bring freedom and joy.

It isn't good news unless the burden is removed from us and it is removed, "as far as the east is from the west" when we put our faith in Jesus and believe on Him.

That's the gospel - the really good news!

The Gospel of Mark (6) - The Kingdom

The Kingdom

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is now. Repent and believe the good news!"

--Mark 1:14-15

Here is the first message of Jesus that Mark records.

It is about the good news! That's what the gospel is! It is news that brings joy!

REPENT

Part of the good news involves repentance. 

"Repent" means to "reverse course," or turn away from something.

It does not mean to veer away, or alter slightly.

It means to "reverse" - change direction!

In the Bible "repenting" means we are turning away from something God does not like and doing something He does like.

BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS

Gospel is not everyday, ordinary, better-than-average news.

It means history-making, life-changing, news.

At the time of Jesus, gospel was not a religious word.

Archaeologists have found an ancient Roman inscription from that time that starts: "The beginning of the gospel of Caesar Augustus" which records the story of the birth and coronation of the Roman emperor.

A gospel, to men of Mark's time, noted an event that was would change history.

From Timothy Keller:

     Right there you can see the difference between Christianity and all other religions, including no religion.

     The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially news. Other religions say,

"This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God."

 

     But the gospel says, This is what has been done in history. This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you."

     Christianity is different. It's joyful news!

     The gospel is that God connects to you, not on the basis of what you've done or haven't done, but on the basis of what Jesus has done, in history, for you.

     And that make it absolutely different from every other religion or philosophy.

                  -- From King's Cross, Chapter 2

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

In the first two chapters of Genesis we discover that we were created to live in a world where all was perfect - because God was King.

Then in chapter 3 we read how man chose to go his own way - chose the path of self-centeredness,

choosing to orbit around himself and his own desires, instead of around God, who could fulfill all man's desires Himself.

Self-absorption - that's what mankind chose.

"What is best for me? What's in it for me? How can I get to the top of things? How can I get everyone to

notice me and serve me?"

We took God off His throne and crowned ourselves in His place.

So we have wars, family disintegration, child abuse, murder and broken down relationships.

Pain and suffering all around  us.

We are all waiting for Someone to come and rescue us - to save from our own folly - to save us from ourselves.

We are waiting for the rightful King to come back and reclaim His throne!

There's a sort of sublime truth in our old fairytales.

A prince charming is coming to rescue us. A king is coming to save us. He will slay the dragon. He will kill the wicked witch. The evil king will be defeated. We will be free. We will live happily ever after.

The good news, the gospel, is that Jesus is the true King. He will make everything bright and new, shining with joy, and we will live happily every after!

Someday God's Kingdom will circle the earth. All will be renewed.

As Jewel, the majestic Unicorn in Chronicles of Narnia, said, "I've come home at last! This is my real country. This is the land I've been looking for all my life!"

That's because the rightful King will have resumed His throne.


THE KINGDOM - IS NOW - and in the Future - and Forever!

God began renewing His Kingship when His Son came to earth.  For two thousand years His Kingdom has been making advances, claiming a strong foothold on this blighted planet.



Someday Christ will come back -  He will ascend His throne. Mankind will step down.

After all, Jesus can be King all by Himself.

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place

and gave Him the name that is above every name,

That at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth

and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

  -- Philippians 2:9-11

 

              

The Gospel of Mark (5) - The Beginning of the Battle

The Beginning of the Battle



At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and

he was in the desert 40 days, being tempted by Satan. 

 He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Mark 1:12-13

"At once," Mark says, in his typically fast pace.

Jesus didn't just find Himself in the place of testing.

He was brought there by the Spirit.

It was not a random detour - an alternate path on the way to another destination.

Jesus's arrival in the wilderness was on the arranged route on His journey.


Looking Back to Genesis

Just as in the first verses of the chapter, when Mark points us back to Creation, he does so again here.

In the Creation account in Genesis, the Spirit moves over the waters and God speaks the world into existence and humanity is created.

What happens next?

Satan tempts the first human beings, Adam and Even, in the Garden of Eden.

Now here - the baptism of Jesus, with the water, and the Spirit and the voice, and a new humanity comes into the world.

And Satan arrives on the scene.



This account of the temptation of Jesus is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Only Mark, however, tells us about the "wild animals."

At the time Mark was writing this Gospel, Christians were being thrown to wild animals as entertainment for the Romans.

They could read Mark's record and see Jesus, like Adam, experiencing an intense personal relationship with God, and then suddenly being thrown in a threatening conflict with Satan.

It must have been encouraging for those early martyrs to read Mark's words. "He was with the wild animals and angels attended him."

Mark treats Satan as a reality, not as a myth.

No comic horns sprouting on his head and no fiendish grin and no tail here - but a personal, calculating, intelligent agent of evil, intent on destroying God's people.

Mark does not give us many details, which fit his quick style. We see more detail in Matthew's account in chapter 4 of his gospel and in Luke's record, also in chapter 4, of his account.



Temptation is Personal and Specific

But it is clear that temptation is not impersonal - it is an intentional act taken by the Enemy, here with Jesus in the wilderness, as he was in the Garden with Adam and Eve, and just as he comes to us as we journey.

And temptation is not general, but specific. Satan arranges his attacks exactly where he sees we are
at risk.  Adam and Eve were rebellious. Jesus was hungry.

The Bible tells us there are real forces of evil. They are complex and intelligent. Satan is  the leader of these forces.

That's what we see with Adam and Eve in the Garden and also what we see here in the wilderness with Jesus. A personal, intelligent force of evil.


If You love Me.....

God created us to orbit around Him - to be centered in Him. "Don't eat the fruit of that tree," He told Adam and Eve. "Because you love Me, don't eat of that tree -- just because I told you."


"If you love Me, you will obey Me," Jesus said (John 14:23).

It was about a  tree in the Garden of Eden. Obey and they would live, God said.  

It was about a tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But that tree was a cross. Obey and You will die, God said.

C.S. Lewis spoke about our Christian life being "a dance" - but it is also a battleground.



Jesus went into the battle, armed with scripture to defend Himself against the assaults of Satan.

We also are in a battle against the Evil One.

"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour," wrote Peter
(1 Peter 5:8). 

Sometimes the battle seems overwhelming. Sometimes we appear to be losing.

But we will not be overwhelmed and we are not losing.

That's when we should listen for the words, "You are my beloved child. I am giving You my strength and My power. With you I am well pleased."



P.S. Another encouraging note, from Hebrews 2:18:

Because He suffered when He was tempted,

He is able to help those who are being tempted...

Because He suffered when tempted, He understands and can help "those who are being tempted" and that means "Me"!

The Gospel of Mark (4) - The Trinity - The Divine Dance

The Trinity

The Divine Dance

The Dance....

In Christianity God is not a static thing....but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. 

                         C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

If from all eternity, without end and without beginning, ultimate reality is a community of persons knowing and loving one another, then ultimate reality is about love relationships.

Why would a triune God create a world?

If he were a unipersonal God, you might say, "Well, he created the world so he can have beings who give him worshipful love, and that would give him joy."

But the triune God already had that -- and he received love within himself in a far purer, more powerful form than we human beings can ever give him.

So why would he create us?

There is only one answer.

He must have created us not to get joy, but to give it.

He must have created us to invite us into the great dance, to say: If you glorify me, if you center your entire life on me, if you find me beautiful for who I am in myself, then you will step into the dance,* which is what you are made for.

You are not made just to believe in me or to be spiritual in some general way, not just to pray and get a bit of inspiration when things are tough.

You are made to center everything in your life on me, to think of everything in terms of your relationship with me.

To serve me unconditionally.

That's where you will find your joy.


That's what the dance is all about.

Are you in the dance or do you just believe God is out there somewhere?

Are you in the dance or do you just pray to God every so often when you're in trouble?

Are you in the dance or are you looking around for someone to orbit around you?

If live is a divine dance, then you need more than anything else to be in it.

That's what you were built for.

You were made to enter into a divine dance with the Trinity.

            --King's Cross, by Timothy Keller, chapter 1

The Gospel of Mark (3) -The Trinity - Does it matter?

The Trinity -

Does it Matter?

Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming 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; with you I am well pleased.'

--Mark 1:9-11

The doctrine of the trinity is, at best, challenging. The question about how God can exist in 3 persons opens our minds to the great Mystery of who God is.

We do not believe in tritheism, a type of polytheism, that teaches the existence of three gods who work in harmony.

We do not believe in unipersonalism, the idea that God sometimes takes one form and at another time a different form, and that these forms are simply different representations of one God.

Instead, we are trinitarianists, believing that Scripture teaches that there is one God in three distinct persons who know and love and honor each other.

He is not one more than the other. He is all three - always.

When Jesus is baptized, God the Father covers Him with words of love: You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.

From Timothy Keller:

     This is what has been happening in the interior

     life of the Trinity from all eternity.

     Mark is giving us a glimpse into the very heart

     of reality, the meaning of life, the essence of

     the universe.

     According to the Bible, the Father, the Son, and

     the Holy Spirit glorify one another.

     Jesus says in His prayer recorded in John's

     gospel: "I have brought you glory on earth by

     completing the work you gave me to do. And,

     now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the 

     glory I had with you before the world began"

     (John 17:4-5).

     Each person of the Trinity glorifies the other... ..

     Theologian Cornelius Plantinga develops this,

     noting the Bible says the Father, the Son and

     the Spirit glorify one another: "The persons

     within God exalt one another, commune with

     each other, and defer to one another....

     "Each divine person harbors the others at the

     center of his being.

     "In constant movement of overture and

     acceptance, each person envelopes and encircles

     the others...God's interior life overflows with

     regard for others."

   

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each centering on the others, adoring and serving them.

This relationship brings them complete joy!

An example for us on a human level would be falling in love and finding that love returned.

We become centered in the one we love.

Sublime joy!

Does it matter very much? C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity,  says: It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us...Joy, power, peace, eternal life are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.

Our inclination is to live a self-centered life, with everything and everyone around us orbiting around us.

The Trinity is completely different. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are characterized by mutually self-giving love. Each circles around the others.

We are to be like them!

This is the ultimate reality. If the God who made the universe is like this, and we are His image-bearers, then relationships of self-giving love is what life is really all about.