Sermon Tone Analysis

*Introduction:

The Message of Mark (Mark 10: 45 & Acts 12: 24; 13: 13; 15: 36-41)*

When you read a book, and before you start reading it, it’s good to get to now the writer of the book, the background, purpose or the reasons behind the book, and all these questions are important for us to better understand the book.

That’s exactly what we want to do today, as an introduction to the message of the Gospel of Mark.

It’s a common understanding that the writer of the Gospel of Mark is none other than John Mark – the evangelist.

Yet, we need to ask: Who is John Mark?

Over 2000 years of Christian history, there has been a debate over the identity of the writer.

Various traditions have developed concerning him.

Some of those traditions appear to be quite reasonable because they don't seem to contradict any obvious Scriptures.

Others traditions concerning him are less reliable.

Some traditions have nicknamed him 'stump finger', probably because they believed he had some disability.

That may or may not be the case but it doesn't really matter.

Others believe he was the founder of Christianity in Alexandria in Egypt.

There are reasons for that, but we're not sure about it.

According to the Roman Catholic source, they believed Mark suffered a martyr's death in Alexandria, and then his body was taken from there to Venice and buried in a church called ‘San Marco’ built in the 10th century.

Now we cannot be sure of any of those things, in fact some of them are highly dubious.

What we must always maintain is that we need to look to the Scriptures to construct a reliable picture of the writer.

So let's look at the Scriptures and find out what we know about writer.

I will refer to some traditions when they're helpful and reliable but we want to look primarily at the Scriptures to find a portrait of the John Mark – the Evangelist.

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*/Mark’s Background/** (PPT)*

Let us first of all see what we can find out about his background.

John Mark is a combination of Jewish and Roman’s name.

'John' was his Jewish name, which means 'the grace of God, and ‘Mark” is his Roman surname, which means 'the hammer'.

According to the Book of Acts, chapter 12: 12, he was the son of Mary of Jerusalem.

Mary was a common name but this one was a wealthy woman.

She owned a house in Jerusalem and her house was a meeting place for early Christians.

It was in Mary’s house where believers gathered together to pray for the miraculous release of Peter from prison.

There you see, the early Christian see their homes a place for ministry.

We also know from Colossians 4: 10, John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas the encourager.

We also know from Acts 12, both Barnabas and Mark accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey.

But later on, we read in Acts 13 and 15 it becomes clear that this young man, John Mark, had a shaky beginning in Christian ministry.

We read in Acts 13: 13, he abandoned the apostle Paul, and decided that he had had enough and was returning home.

Now, for what reason we are not sure because it's not given.

One thing we are sure is that Paul the apostle was so unhappy with Mark that he refused to take him on his second missionary journey, even though his cousin Barnabas had recommended him.

This started a bitter quarrel between the apostle Paul and Barnabas, two good friends and partners in the Lord’s ministry.

The quarrel resulted with Paul and Silas going one way, and Barnabas and John Mark going another.

Then for some years, we didn’t hear of John Mark.

Whatever had happened to him, we do know.

All that we know is that those years may have been wasted in a spiritual sense.

But then years later, we know Paul & Mark reconciled although we do not know the details, or how it happens.

Something did happen in the life of John Mark.

When the apostle Paul was in prison in Rome, we read in Philemon 24 & Colossians 4: 10, there was some kind of reconciliation.

Mark actually served as the apostle Paul's helper and then he became a delegate to him in Rome in service, from Rome to Asia Minor.

Later we find in 2Timothy 4: 9-11, Paul asked Timothy to bring John Mark back with him to Rome, because he was useful to him in the service of the Lord.

Listen to what Paul says in verse 11 as he speaks to Timothy, “/Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service”/.

Putting all this together, what can we know about this young man John Mark?

First of all, he is a man who had a serious /spiritual malfunction/, backsliding Christian.

He was also the /cause for division between Paul and Barnabas/, two spiritual leaders.

But the surprising thing is that this was the same man that the Holy Spirit turned around and to write an account of the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as verse 1 tells us.

Here we see God’s amazing grace is at work here.

That means you may have been a failed Christian, you may have been a cause for dissension in the church, you may have felt discouraged, but like Mark, if you would submit to God’s grace, if you would let Him, He can turn you around, and you can do greater things for Him.

The question is: would you let Him?

Even Paul had to recognized God’s grace was at work in Mark’s life.

Paul had been so hard and critical of Mark, but now he accepts Mark’s restoration because the grace of God had restored him.

Therefore, Paul ready to reinstate John Mark as an invaluable servant of Christ.

He saw God’s grace at work in the life of John Mark.

Now, don’t you think this is a tremendous reminder for us all?

Most people, including Christians, cannot take failure because it implies shame or in Hokkien, “Bo Bin”.

Failure to some is almost like the end of the world, and so they give up.

One writer (Erwin T. Lutzer) wrote a book entitled 'Failure Is the Back Door to Success', and that’s indeed the case when we submit to God’s grace working in us.

If you read the book of Acts, and when you read till the middle parts of the book, John Mark’s Christian service is over.

However, God turned him around.

The Spirit of God renewed and refined and transformed him and enabled him to write the 16 chapters of Mark.

Now of course, we all familiar with Apostle Peter, and he was no stranger to failure himself.

In fact in 1 Peter 5: 13, he called John Mark, “my son”.

So, it appears that Peter could've been a great influence on this young man John Mark.

Peter could have been instrumental in helping John Mark out of his spiritual instability.

Peter could have been his pillar to provide him the strength and maturity that he would need to serve the Lord in the work that He had called him to.

It was Mark's close relationship with the apostle Peter which motivated him to write a portrait of Christ

Most scholars agreed that in the later years, both Peter and Mark were found together in the City of Rome as 1 Peter 5:13 indicates.

We also know that before his own death Peter was intending to make a permanent record of his memories of Christ.

You read that in 2 Peter 1:15-16, “and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind…” This seems to indicate that Peter wanted to put down in writing of his reminiscences of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Put it simply, Peter wants to write a “memoir” of our Lord Jesus Christ.

*(PPT)* Most of the early Church fathers in the Second Century believed that what we have in Mark's Gospel is really the memory of the apostle Peter concerning our Lord.

The earliest statement about the Gospel of Mark was written by a man called Papius, the Bishop of Hierapolis in AD 140.

He said this: 'Mark became Peter's interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered'.

Justin Martyr, an early church father writing in AD 150, referred to Mark - that is, the Gospel of Mark - as the memoirs of Peter.

Ireaneus, writing in AD 185, called Mark 'the disciple and interpreter of Peter' - and he recorded what Peter actually preached in his sermons about Christ.

If you care to turn to 14: 51, there you read about a “young man” wearing a linen cloth who ran away naked, and most scholars believed that this was John Mark!

Of course, John Mark is not one of the twelve disciples but rather this was his way of saying to his listeners that he wrote the account.

He was the one who penned down Peter’s “memoir” of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I want us to see is that this young man had recovered!

As young man, he had a failure in his spiritual experience – he went into backslidden.

Then he caused dissension among believers, but the Spirit reaches him, turns him around and prepares him for work that God still wants him to do.

Like one person says, “those who stand where first comes down are those who stumbled, but went on”.

Certainly Mark stumbled, but he went on.

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*/Mark’s Message/** (PPT)*

Now consider Mark’s central message, which is found in 10: 45, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”.

So, in a nutshell, Mark's Gospel is the Gospel that portrays the perfect Servant of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now think about this: Mark, he himself a failed servant, a failure in Christian service, but here he is giving us the perfect Servant.

Really, Mark is the man who had experienced “failure is the backdoor to success”.

He had both failed and succeeded as a Christian and a servant of Christ, and now he was the right man for the job in sharing with us the ideal Servant, Jesus Christ.

In fact, that is Mark’s theme or message – /Jesus Christ, the Servant, our Model for Christian Service/.

There are many name titles and representations given to Jesus.

He’s been called the Prophet, the King, the Priest, the Son of God, Lion of Judah, but Mark describes Him as the Servant.

Christ came as the Servant of the Lord.

This is the distinctive feature of Mark’s Gospel I like us to grasp.

As we shall see later, Mark presents Christ as the Servant.

He emphasises the deeds and works of the Lord Jesus.

If you read through Mark (I encourage you to read in your personal time), there are 19 miracles but there are only four parables – and all four of these parables have to do with service as their theme.