Sermon Tone Analysis

Message

Last week ended the Revelation series with the final words written in the New Testament:

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people.

Amen.

Revelation 22:20-21

These words bless and commission every hearer to live with the end in mind and move with God here and now toward his ultimate purpose, which is to restore all the world and all of God’s people back to right and for himself!

This week begins with the first words of the New Testament, a 3 week series called MOVEMENT, based in the Gospel of Mark.

Yes, Matthew’s Gospel is the first one listed in the New Testament, but the evangelist, Mark, wrote the earliest words about the life and ministry of Jesus.

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On my first day of ninth grade health class, Coach Hanlan walked into the room, sat down and said, ‘say your name and what you think is the most beautiful sight in the world,’ which seemed like a strange question from a burly, 60 year old wrestling coach.

Some said mountains, others said butterflies, but when we got to the letter H, Coach stood up and said with a deep old raspy voice: my name is Coach Hanlan, and the most beautiful sight to behold is when one man leaps over another man to make a one handed catch for a touchdown.

Some of you may remember this beautiful sight from Dolphin receiver, Mike Gesicki, last season against the Bills…

[[[show Gesicki one handed catch pic]]]

Gesicki moved with such intention and urgency to make that catch.

In Mark’s Gospel, we get a sense of God moving through Christ the Son with great intentionality and urgency to save His people from a real adversary loose in the world, and his Gospel calls every Jesus follower to move with the same intentionality and urgency as Jesus lived.

Mark’s Gospel not only tells the story of God’s movement, but his style of writing embodies it.

Mark wrote his Gospel like a play by play, full of action, full of meaning.

As we read through the passages of Mark’s Gospel together, imagine a sports commentator calling the play by play of Jesus’ movement.

Chapter one of Mark’s Gospel begins with a kickoff, 6 plays down field, a time out, and then 2 more plays to finish the drive.

With each play, pay close attention to how each one of Jesus’ moves reveals a unique characteristic about God’s love and desire for us.

— (kickoff)

Are you ready to receive?

In verse 1, John the Baptist kicks off on special teams, preparing the way for the Field General, Christ Jesus the Messiah, to take the field.

Verse one states,

“The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way”—

“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’”

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:1-3

Mark opens his Gospel by immediately drawing the listener into God’s saving action for the world.

He doesn’t begin with any genealogies or layered imagery like Matthew or John or by setting the historical context like Luke.

Rather, he begins with movement.

God’s movement to the people, for the people.

The voice foreshadowed in Isaiah’s vision is John the Baptist, who called all who would listen to find new life in God’s way of being.

A few chapters later in Isaiah’s letter, God said:

Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

Isaiah’s words describe what God would later accomplish through Jesus, who makes a way home for every lost heart in the wilderness… and fresh streams to nourish every dry bone.

John’s wake up call opened the eyes of a nation.

Mark recorded, “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.

Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”

Mark 1:5.

For Israel, the Jordan River represents God’s promise to lead his people into a good, fruitful, and free land.

Yet, no matter how faithful God remained to his people, they just couldn’t shake the bondage of their sin nature, and neither can we.

For this reason, Mark writes, The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

Mark 1:1.

The good news that sin doesn’t get the final word.

The roots of sin go too deep in our lives.

On our own, we can neither loosen its snares, nor remove our appetite for it.

Thus why we need one greater than ourselves to make us new and whole, so God moved to the people, for the people, in Christ Jesus

— (1st play)

After John’s opening kickoff, Jesus took the field for the opening drive.

Beginning in verse 9, Mark writes, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan (the symbol of freedom).

Just as Jesus was coming up 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.

In his pronouncement over Jesus, God the Father spoke the words of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, which say:

You are my son; today I have become your father Psalm 2:7.

And…

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.

Isaiah 42:1.

Tradition says that choirs would sing Psalm 2 as a coronation song at the ceremonies of God’s newly appointed king over Israel.

The Psalm symbolizes God’s adoption over Israel’s new king into sonship, which gave him the firstborn rights to inherit the nation, God’s people, and committed God to lead His people as a Father through his son, Israel’s king.

Yet, some did right in their Father’s eyes and other kings intentionally led God’s people astray, but now, in Jesus’ baptism, using the same words of Psalm 2, God the Father anointed his one and only Son - not adopted, but begotten of his the Father’s own nature - as the true King over all creation, who will never lead us astray but instead lead us into everlasting salvation freedom.

In Isaiah 42, the prophet foreshadowed the coming of a Servant, a Messiah, a Savior, who would one day rescue God’s people from sin and death.

Therefore, In Jesus’ baptism, the words of God the Father anointed Jesus as King and Servant Messiah over his people to fulfill God’s promise to save and redeem our lives from sin! Jesus’ baptism means so much more than the beginning of his ministry.

It means Savior King!

***** (FIX SLIDE!) Now, as his teammates, the church, what this means for us is: Jesus calls all of those on the field with him to live in the same way, not as a Savior - we have only one Savior - but as servant leaders, not passively, but actively!

We run our routes by leading with our hands open, praying for others, and leveraging our influence to help others join the team and find their victory in Christ.

— (2nd play)

On the second play of the drive, Mark writes, “At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.

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

Mark 1:12-13

Following the Father’s life-giving, anointing affirmation of Christ the Son, Jesus engaged in a fierce period of testing to prove his perseverance in the face of opposition.

According to Matthew, Jesus fought off hunger and fatigue and encountered the same temptation for pleasure and power that we experience.

Matthew described the moment like this: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.”

Matthew 4:8

Yet, in the face of temptation, Jesus did something remarkable: he chose to remain faithful to His Father and also to us.

This move reminds us that following Jesus on his way always leads to opposition.

Yet, with Christ in us, he always provides us with the power to overcome.

Jesus knows our trials, and he gets our struggles.

He knows what we need to help us overcome in victory, so let’s keep trusting him for it.

This move also reminds us that “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Ephesians 6:12

As we seek to follow the way of Jesus, let us hold firm to our Lord and Savior who fights on our behalf against our true enemy, who is not our spouse, not our coworkers, not our bosses, and not our neighbors… but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Let’s make sure we remember who the true opponent is.

— (3rd play)

On the third play of the drive, Mark writes, After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

“The time has come,” he said.

“The kingdom of God has come near.