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Signs of True Heart Transformation – Mark 1:16-20

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We are going through our series on the Gospel of Mark and last two weeks we heard sermons about coming before the Lord with a Repentant preparation & Humble submission.

We learned about Jesus’s obedient heart towards the Father’s will and how through his act of obedience we were made righteous by grace through faith.

Today our passage will be Mark 1:16-20: [16] Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [17] And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”[a] [18] And immediately they left their nets and followed him. [19] And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. [20] And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

In Mark, we read a very short narrative of Jesus calling out his first couple of Disciples. We see a more elaborate narrative in the Gospel of Luke and John.

So, here how the story goes…

In the gospel of John, we read an incident where Andrew the brother of Peter comes and tells them that they heard from John the Baptist about the Messiah and they found him.

Now while Jesus was walking by the sea of Genesareth, he saw two boats at the shore and some fishermen washing their nets. I suppose Peter and Andrew were also there washing their nets.

Jesus then gets into one of the boats and starts teaching. After finishing his teaching he asks Peter to put out the boats into the deep and to let down their nets. To which Peter says “We toiled all night and caught nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets”.

On Jesus’s word when Peter casts his net into the deep they catch a large number of fishes, so much that they were unable to carry it on their boat and calls other fellow fishermen for help.

And then a remarkable incident happens …

Peter falls to Jesus’s knees, saying “Depart from me, for I am sinful man, O Lord.”

Peter’s response is almost like the response of John the Baptist when he speaks about Christ saying “I am unworthy to untie his sandals.”

Here’s what I believe happened to Peter at that moment.

When he saw Jesus performing the miracle and also recollecting the words of his brother Andrew about the Messiah, he immediately realized that he was in the presence of the most High God. His blinded eyes opened, he could see how unworthy and wretched he looked in the presence of the promised Messiah.

He wanted Jesus to depart from him, to depart and stay away from an unholy man like him.

But instead, Jesus looks at Peter and says “Do not be afraid, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” And immediately Peter and John left their nets and followed him.

Going further away Jesus meets James and John and calls them out too. They left their father on the boat and followed Jesus.

Becoming a True Believer

When I read about Peter’s conversion that day I don’t see him making a sinner prayer as we do these days. I learned that it takes much more than just saying a prayer to become a true believer and a follower of Jesus. There is a true heart transformation that happens when we encounter Jesus in our lives.

The manifestation of that heart transformation is the realization of being an unworthy, sinful, wretched human being, which then leads us to embrace the grace of God manifested through his son Jesus.

When we refer to people as ‘believers’ and ‘followers of Jesus’ just because they said a prayer after you, it gives a totally different understanding of true heart transformation. We end up producing professing Christians who never really understood the gospel and never experienced the transforming power of the gospel.

And that is why there are several so-called Christians, as James describes as professing Christians but whose lifestyle is still worldly and tongue untamed.

Invitation to participate in the Kingdom work

The other things that stand out to me is the invitation of Jesus to participate in his glorious work of building His Kingdom from day one.

Isn’t that beautiful to hear that Jesus counts us trustworthy to be partnered with him the day we repent and respond to his call.

Wrong application

Jesus called them and they immediately left their nets, their businesses to follow him.

I’ve heard many preachers use this text and ask people to leave their jobs and businesses to follow Jesus into full-time ministries, however that is a misinterpretation of the text as it is taken out of context.

Imagine Jesus himself, the son of God, the creator God was on the earth and calling out these people. At that moment I couldn’t think of a different response than to throw away everything and follow him. I would have done that too.

In Mark 2:19 when the Pharisees were complaining to Jesus that his disciples were not fasting like the disciples of John, Jesus said, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast”

It was a different moment in history and now we are in a different moment and context. Jesus has sent us into the world, amongst our colleagues, amongst the unbelieving friends, to use our talents and skills to reach out to this dying world in every possible way and in every possible direction to preach the gospel.

For us, it may not be a literal throwing of our nets to follow Jesus but I believe there is a principle we learn from Peter, Andrew, James & John’s responses to Jesus’s call. And that is what I want to highlight to you from this passage, highlight the exchange that happens in our heart when we encounter Jesus

Signs of true heart transformation

1. Exchange of Affections

What we learn from the responses of these brothers is that all of a sudden their affections were changed. They once loved their life, their family, their business, their boats etc. But now we see how they were willing to let them go just because their affections for Christ and his Kingdom took prime importance in their lives.

In Luke 14:26 Jesus said “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, cannot be my disciple.”

For some, it’s an immediate change and for some, it gradually changes. But the point is a true heart transformation always leads us to love Christ more than anything and anyone in life.

And if that is not evident then we need to seriously reconsider whether we’ve really understood the true gospel and whether we’ve responded well.

2. Exchange of Dreams

I’m sure Peter, Andrew, James and John had dreams in life. Dreams of taking their business to the next level, Dreams of making it big, Dreams of moving to a new place and enjoying life to the fullest.

Not that these dreams are bad, but they exchanged them for a better one. And the better one was to pursue Gods dream; God’s dream to see people from all nations, tribes, language bow down and worship Him.

When we look at our lives lets ask what’s been our greatest pursuit especially after we became Christians. Is it still those worldly dreams of making it big for yourselves, achieve great wealth, pursuing fame and prosperity? Or is our heart equally or even more passionate about the Kingdom pursuit. There can’t be a greater fulfillment than to be able to be used as instruments in God’s hand and there can’t be a greater joy than to be able to live for the glory of God.

Let’s think about it seriously.

3. Exchange of Pursuit

All of a sudden these guys stopped pursuing the things they were doing until that moment and started pursuing Jesus and the things He asked them to do. They followed him, listened to him speaking and talking about the Kingdom, they obeyed his commandments and instructions to the point of death.

Let’s evaluate our lives as we read this encounter and think of areas where we’ve fallen short in pursuing Jesus, pursuing the heavenly things, pursuing righteousness, pursuing his words of instruction when we hear a sermon or a passage that convicts our hearts of our sins.

A genuine Jesus follower will always inhabit this quality. You will see him always pursuing the right things in life, whether he is working in a company, or involved in business, our leading a family, or bringing up his children.

Our pursuits determine what is more important to us in Life.

My prayer this morning for all of you is to truly understand what a genuine heart transformation looks like and that you may be able to exchange your affections, your dreams and your pursuits for a greater cause and that is to participate in the Father’s business of winning souls for which we were called the day we became believers.

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The humble submission of Jesus Christ – Mark 1:9-15

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Good morning Gathering! Can I just say this, before we jump into our text this morning: isn’t it a gift to gather like this? Just think about it for a moment. The fact that we can come together as the people of God, as family, from across the world, and we can sing together, and lift Jesus’ name together, and be shaped by God’s Word TOGETHER is such an incredible privilege.

Every time we get to gather like this as family (every time we get to be with you) my heart is full with the Joy of The Lord. And, I always feel compelled to point that out because I never want to take that for granted. God is extravagant in His provision for His people and we get to experience the fruit of that this morning.

If you have a Bible, I’d encourage you to grab that and turn to The Gospel of Mark. Our text this morning will be Mark 1:9-15. As you’re turning there in your Bibles, I’ll pray for our time together in God’s word.

Last weekend all of our churches (all 3 of which are represented in this room right now, which is amazing) we all kicked off a series in The Gospel of Mark that will take us on a long and beautiful journey.

The more I’ve read, and studied, and prayed through Mark, the more strongly I believe that this study is going to be an incredible gift to our body of churches. And I believe that for several different reasons. One of the primary reasons is because The Gospel of Mark gives us such a unique perspective on Jesus.

It’s a defining characteristic of Mark’s gospel to highlight Jesus as the fulfillment of things promised in the Old Testament. Which is really important for us because it allows us to more clearly understand that the whole of Scripture is about Jesus. Which is an important thing to know, isn’t it?

That the entire Bible is one perfect, seamless story of God’s redemptive work throughout history. And that redemptive work centers on the person of Jesus Christ.

This is why we must read the entire Bible christocentrically (with the gospel as the focal point). Now just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well. Because the Old Testament is the history of God building the longing the anticipation of the coming Christ.

Think about this: When you read the Old Testament, starting with the account of the fall in the garden (sin entering the picture separating us from God). And you move through how God formed a people through Abraham, and their 400 year captivity in Egypt. And you move through the freedom that God secured for them in the Exodus, and then through the 40 years of wandering in the desert, up until they take possession of the Promised Land.

And then you read about the cycle that kept repeating through all of the judges the constant pattern of rebellion & return to the Lord. Through the kings and all of the prophets. Woven throughout the giving of the law and the sacrificial system that God established for His people.

When you look at all of it, it was all intended by God to build anticipation of the coming Christ. It was all intended to build anticipation and hope that God would do something that PERMANENTLY dealt with the problem of sin & separation from Him. It was intended to create the hope of redemption and to set the stage for permanence through Christ.

That’s why I say that everything that God gave His people in the Old Testament was meant to be temporary from the judges, to the sacrificial system, to the temple, to kings, to the Promised land it was all just pointing to and preparing God’s people for what He would do, permanently, in Jesus Christ.

That’s why, as we sit here today, under the New Covenant, we don’t need the type of judges in the Old Testament, Christ will judge the living & the dead. There’s no need to offer sacrifices for sin Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for all sin. We don’t worship in Temples we are temples of the Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done.

He is our prophet, priest and king. And, we certainly aren’t tied to a piece of real estate, our promised land is in Heaven with Him that’s where our citizenship lies.

This is one of the things that excites me most about this study in Mark. It will help us practice seeing Jesus as the point of all of Scripture. So, that’s the journey that we began last weekend. And, because this is a continuation of that discussion, I took some time to review Jinson’s message last weekend.

I have to say that my soul just came alive hearing the themes that Jinson highlighted from last weekend’s text (Read). What he talked about gets to the very heart of what it looks like to walk in the newness of life that Christ has purchased for us.

He talked about REPENTANCE & HUMBLE SUBMISSION. We have this picture that Mark paints, in the opening verses, of John the Baptist as he comes to prepare the way for Christ. He’s preaching a message of repentance, and he’s preaching that message out of humble submission.

In other words, John’s posture and his message both come from a place of understanding that he was created, and that he was preparing the way for the Creator. That he wasn’t even fit to untie Jesus’ shoes. That the aim of his life was to point to the excellencies of Jesus Christ.

In one of the other gospels John the Baptist is recording as saying, “this joy of mine is now complete. Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.” That’s it, you see? It’s the message of repentance, being proclaimed by a man who is displaying humble submission to God. And, here’s what I think is just beautiful, as I look at the flow of this 1st chapter.

The things that we see highlighted in John’s life and message are the same things that Jesus puts on display with his life and message. And, He does it in a way that beckons these things from our lives as well.

And so, that’s where I want to end our discussion this morning. I want to come back full circle to these themes of repentance and humble submission. That we all might be reminded this morning that these are things that will be displayed in the life of every believer in increasing measure.

We’ll get to all of that in a few minutes. But first, let’s read our text together.

READ MARK 1:9-15.

This is fascinating! There are 3 major events described in these 7 short verses. Instead of devoting a lot of time and detail to each one of these events, like the other gospels might do, Mark just bullet points them.

Which is interesting because this is something that Mark does strategically in his writing. He’s not concerned with giving us a historical timeline or an abundance of facts. Mark is more concerned that his readers understand who Jesus actually is. That they would understand His character & His message.

So, instead of distracting you with details & timelines, Mark lists these 3 events in a way that causes us to interpret each of them through the lens of the others.

That’s beautiful because it pushes us, urgently, into an understanding that the Kingdom is at hand, that the time is now, that all of this anticipation and longing that has been building for God to make things new is finally here!

And so he gives us these things very quickly:

  • Jesus’ baptism
  • Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness
  • The beginning of His ministry.

He doesn’t want us to be overly concerned with the history or the details of these events. He wants us to understand what these things tell us about the character and the message of Jesus Christ.

So, in light of that, here’s how I’d like to structure our time this morning. I want to look at these events and show you what stands out to me as I’ve studied them. And, as we discuss this, I want you to listen for these same themes REPENTANCE & HUMBLE SUBMISSION.

And then, at the end, I want to bring us back to a discussion about what this looks like for our lives. How are we called to live in light of who Jesus Is and what He has done.

So, look again at verses 9 – 11: “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, right off the bat, we have a very clear and beautiful expression of the Doctrine of the Trinity right here. don’t we? The fact that God is 3 distinct persons, AND YET, 1 God. We see that clearly on display in this text.

You have Jesus the Son of God standing in the Jordan River with John the Baptist. And, as He comes up out of the water, The Spirit descends upon Him and The Father speaks “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

It’s about as clear a picture of The Trinity as you’re going to get in Scripture. And, actually, that brings my mind to a really important point that must be stated explicitly every chance we get. JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD.

He is the un-created one. He is the One through whom everything was created. He is God with the Father & Holy Spirit into eternity past and into eternity future. He is currently upholding the Universe by the word of His power.

And Jesus Christ is the Only Name by which man can be saved. Because, it was His sacrifice taking our place, paying the price for our sin that allows us to be reconciled to God. And, it’s only by submitting your life to Him through faith that you enter into that new life.

Jesus is God! Which brings us to an interesting question. If Jesus is God, WHY DID HE NEED TO BE BAPTIZED? I think there are several answers to that question. Let me give you a couple of the most important ones. Jesus is sinless, so there’s no need for any repentance. But, we have to remember the work that Jesus came to do AS OUR SUBSTITUTE.

I believe that this event is pointing to what Jesus would do to take our sin upon Himself as our substitute. We often say that Jesus was the better Moses, the better Abraham, the better Jonah, etc. The truth is that He’s the better everything.

Paul details in Romans 5 how Jesus is the better Adam. He came to fulfill what Adam could not. He came to remedy the problem of sin that was ushered in through Adam’s disobedience. And, Jesus accomplished that through His own obedience.

Submitting Himself to baptism is a part of that. It’s also the way (culturally) that Jesus would put His stamp of approval on the message that John the Baptist was preaching. We don’t have a lot of time to get into this but baptism finds it’s root in the ceremonial washing / cleansing that people would perform when they were becoming Jewish.

They were essentially saying that I associate my life with this teaching. That’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s associating Himself with John’s message the message that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

An incredible thing happens as a part of Jesus’ baptism. Mark says that the heavens are “torn open”. This would be incredible in & of itself, but it gets even more beautiful when you realize that Isaiah talked about this happening.

In Isaiah 64, the prophet talks about the heavens being rent open or torn apart and God descending. Here’s what it says exactly “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.”

Mark 1 is a picture of the fulfillment of that prophecy. God tears the heavens open and comes down in His Spirit. But, where it gets even more beautiful is when you look to the end of Jesus’ life on earth.

This Greek phrase for “being torn open” is only used 1 other time in Mark’s Gospel and it’s near the end of the book in Mark chapter 15. It’s the picture that Mark paints of Jesus hanging on the Cross. He has been falsely accused, falsely tried, lied about, mocked, brutally beaten and whipped, and now He’s hanging on the Cross (and it’s all happening in our place).

And, as He dies, it says that “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” (Verse 37)

Get this: you have the heavens being torn open and the Spirit of God descending to rest upon Jesus at the beginning of His public ministry. And, you have the curtain (the thing that was symbolic of the separation between God & man caused by sin) torn in 2 as Jesus takes our sin with Him into the grave. And, it’s all what God promised to do from the beginning. ONE SEAMLESS STORY of redemption through Jesus Christ. How amazing is our God?

Look again at verses 12 & 13.“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”

There are a couple of things here. First, the language that Mark uses fascinates me. Jesus was “driven out by the Spirit.” This brings my mind back to the topic of SUBMISSION.

Jesus had submitted Himself to the Will of the Father and the leading of The Holy Spirit. He chose to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit. I love how Paul frames this dynamic in Philippians chapter 2.

He says that, “Jesus though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant.” That’s the same idea that Jesus declares in Mark 10:45 “I did not come to be served but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

If anyone should have been served, it’s Jesus. If anyone should have been exalted, it’s Jesus. If anyone deserved to be worshiped, it’s Jesus. And yet, to buy us back from Sin & Death, He emptied Himself, He became a servant, and He died in our place.

There it is, you see? HUMBLE SUBMISSION.

The second thing I would point to here is to highlight something I’ve already said. Jesus is the better Adam. Where Adam failed, where we fail, Jesus succeeds. Jesus was tempted, as we are tempted, and yet He is without Sin.

That’s amazing news! It’s amazing because Jesus knows what it’s like to face temptation. This is the beauty of Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus is the better Adam. He is the One that the pleasures of the Father rest on. He is the One who overcame temptation in the wilderness. Every area where Adam failed, Jesus succeeds. Every area where we fail, Jesus succeeds. And now He is able to sympathize with us as He intercedes for us.

Finally, look again at verses 14-15. This is where we’ll bring everything back together to the implications for our lives. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Here’s what I would point us to as we wrap this up: The humble submission of Jesus Christ. In taking on the form of His creation, in experiencing temptation and pain, in taking our place and dying the death we deserved to die, it was His humble submission that made a way for our repentance.

This is the message of the gospel! That where we were separated from God, where we were under condemnation and wrath, where we were spiritually dead, Christ has made a way for us to be made alive. And, not just for us to be made alive, but for us to be adopted into the family of God.

Think about it like this: When you & I repent and believe the gospel, we get to hear the same thing that Jesus heard as He came out of the water “You are my Son, with you I am well pleased.” “You are my daughter, with you I am well pleased.”

When we repent & believe the gospel, we receive the affirmation of the Father and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We receive the same things that Jesus received at His baptism. That is amazing!

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Intro to the Gospel of Mark – Preparation and Submission – Mark 1:1-8

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Good morning church! I know we all are excited as we jump into a new series which is titled “The Story of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark.” I really liked the video intro that Saju gave to our series (Watch the video). He said that many times we have many misconceptions about who Jesus is – either from our experience or what we’ve been told or what we see in the media. The Bible accurately and clearly presents Jesus as He is. So that’s going to be our goal over the next few months – knowing and understanding Him closely through the gospel of Mark!

So before we delve into our main text passage, I think it’ll be helpful for us to understand key aspects about this gospel, the author and the purpose of this book. This gospel was written somewhere between 55-60 AD. Who was the writer? John Mark. There are quite a few things we can know about John Mark from the New Testament.

  • There was a house church that met at his home. In Acts 12:12 right after Peter was miraculously released from prison by an angel he goes to the home of Mary, the mother of Mark where the church was gathered and praying together
  • He was the cousin of Barnabas. (Col 4:10) We already see his spiritual heritage through his family and the church that met in his home
  • Paul and Barnabas took Mark along with them on their first missionary journey. (Acts 13:5) Unfortunately, we don’t know why but Scripture records that Mark left them mid-way and returned back to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13)
  • Later on Mark becomes the reason for the separation between Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas later on decided to go back to the churches they planted in every city and strengthen them. Barnabas wanted to bring Mark along but Paul thought it wasn’t wise because he deserted them earlier. They got into such a sharp agreement that Paul and Barnabas parted ways. Paul took Silas along with him and went to Syria and Cilicia and Barnabas took Mark and went to Cyprus which was his hometown (Acts 15:36-41)
  • Interestingly when we come to the end of Paul’s life…we read this a few weeks back in the final chapter of 2 Timothy. During Paul’s final stages in life when he is all alone, he tells Timothy to come to him quickly and to bring Mark along because he is “very useful to him in ministry”. What changed? How was an uncommitted believer become radically changed into a powerful witness for Jesus?
  • I think we may find the answer in 1 Peter 5. In v13 where Peter is providing his signature to the letter, he mentions the name of Mark whom he refers to as his son who is there along with him. It’s quite likely that during “in between” years, Peter discipled Mark. He told him about the amazing things that happened when Jesus Christ was on earth, he probably reminded him about the beautiful gospel and shared how Jesus strengthened him even though he was unfaithful to Jesus. Peter himself would say a lot of things impulsively but wouldn’t keep up him promise when things got tough. Still Jesus gave him hope, strengthened him and turned him around so that he could not only live for Jesus but also die as a martyr for Jesus! If you are at that place today, where you look at your life and see there’s very little commitment to Christ. Go back to the gospel and trust in what Christ is able to do in and through you. If Jesus Christ can do that for Peter and for Mark, he can do that even in your life
  • So Mark’s gospel is the story of Jesus through the eye witness account of Peter.

What’s the main purpose for writing the gospel of Mark? I think there are two purposes:

  1. To show how Jesus through his impeccable life, prophecies, astonishing miracles, deep perception of the hidden thoughts of the heart, authoritative teaching and the amazing victory over sin, Satan and death is truly the Son of God. And if he is the Son of God, then you must repent and believe in the gospel. If you are a student in a school, the moment your principal calls you and gives you a command, you know it’s serious. You can’t play around with the command or take it lightly. The principal of the school has full authority within the premises. How much more seriously should we take Jesus’ command to repent and believe because He is the Son of God?
  2. To remind us that believing in Jesus is a call to discipleship. It is a call to die to your desires, your goals and your dependence on yourself. Die to yourself and follow Jesus. Also, following Jesus would involve a life of sacrifice, trouble and persecution! But for those who live a life of sacrifice for Jesus will receive the biggest reward…which is Christ Himself. And the gospel of Mark re-affirms the truth that all the sacrifices and troubles and persecutions for the sake of Jesus and the gospel are worth it. How excited are you already? With that background on the author and the purpose of the book, I invite you all to join me as we discover the story of Jesus in Mark.

Mark 1:1-8: 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare[c] the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he 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. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark directly gets to point from the get go. He says here is the beginning of the gospel – “good news” of Jesus “the Anointed King”, the Son of God. And he talks about an Old testament prophecy in v2 and 3. The Old testament prophet spoke of the timing of the coming of Christ. He said that a messenger would come and prepare the way of the Lord.

If any important person…be it the President of a country or a King would never just land up in a new place directly. They will always send a messenger or a secretary to first go to the place, make arrangements, make announcements and then arrive.

John the Baptist could’ve come and booked the best hall, laid out a great stage, published the coming of the Lord in the newspaper in terms of preparation. It’s interesting that the preparations for Jesus the Son of God is of a very different kind.

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Repentant preparation

The way he prepared the way of the Lord is by preaching a baptism of repentance. Repentance is a change of mind and a reversal of decision to receive pardon from sin. Pardon meaning being let off as though they didn’t commit the crime.

Now we know that God cannot overlook sin, the only way in which God can pardon people is through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine so that by believing in Him we can be fully forgiven and have a clean slate before God.

Let me ask you is repentance a one-time activity or a life-long event? Sometimes some people say that “we’ve already been forgiven in Christ, so why do we need to repent?” When we put our faith in Jesus, we are positionally made right before God. So there’s no wrath, no condemnation for those who are in Christ. But we still have to reckon with sin until Christ comes back and takes us with Him. We see the effects and presence of sin in our lives until Christ comes back, and so we need to continually and perpetually repent so that we may relationally be made right with Jesus.

Here’s the application point: how do you prepare yourself to meet with Christ every day? Is it by planning different spiritual events like listening to gospel songs, making an elaborate list of all the Christian activities you will do (not that any of this is bad) or is it by continual repentance? How do we prepare ourselves to meet with Jesus on a Sunday morning? Is it by putting on the best clothes, putting on the happiest face or is it by repentance? If continual repentance doesn’t define you as a believer, then something is wrong. Here’s what 1 John has to say about this:

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

A true believer wants to repent frequently because he delights in a close relationship with Jesus.

Humble submission

7 And he 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. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In NT times, they didn’t have the kind of roads and foot paths that we have in the city today. Most people traveled by walking and the roads were dusty and dirty. The kind of sandals they wore also would be equally dirty due to the places they traveled on.

Therefore, even touching or untying the strap of a sandal was the job of the lowest slave in the household. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to do. It wasn’t an honorable thing to do. And yet, John the Baptist says that he isn’t fit or worthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. Wow! John was himself very eloquent and respected by the people but he understood his position before God. He understood he was mere man but Jesus is the Son of God. He understood he was a creature – created thing but Jesus is the Creator.

He understood that he baptized people with water, but Jesus would change and transform people by the Holy Spirit so that they would now obey and want to obey God. None of us would even think of having a casual attitude toward the President of the country. Even though the President might be a friend, we would still speak and respond in a manner that is worthy of the President. How much more humbled must we be toward Christ? You want to know how mature you are in the faith? Check out your humility.

Your maturity will be revealed by the level of your humility. If your biblical knowledge is causing you think more about yourself than God, then you are struggling with pride. If your biblical knowledge is causing you to look down on other people and criticize other people, then you aren’t being humble. If your biblical knowledge is not leading you to depend on Christ, then you are struggling with self-righteousness.

If your biblical knowledge isn’t bringing you closer to other believers, then you a struggling with self-reliance. And the sad part is a prideful person would never understand the need for the gospel. In pride we wouldn’t care about the sacrifice that was done for us. We need humility to accept, believe and value Jesus and His work for us!

Again my intent was not to bring condemnation but to help us realize 1) that we need repentance more than ever because the more we know Christ the more clearly we see our sin. 2) Our lives require more humility than ever in order to live to glory of Jesus.

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Sermon

Trustworthy, Excellent and Profitable Sayings – Titus 3:8-15

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/new-trustworthy-excellent-and-profitable-sayings.mp3″]

In this sermon we are looking at the final passage from our series “God Alive Church,” it is Titus 3:8-15

In verse 8 Paul writes “This saying is trustworthy.”

Since it is essential to understand the context of this passage, we need to know what ‘saying’ is Paul referring to.

The ‘saying’ that Paul is refereeing to is verse 4 to 7. Let read that again.

Paul is saying that whatever I said about the Goodness of God, his loving kindness, his saving power, his mercy which was poured out on us richly through his son Jesus Christ is TRUSTWORTHY, it is authentic, it is truthful. Please do not have any doubt in your mind.

We are not, and cannot be saved by any of our good works on this earth. What can save us – is only Jesus who justifies us by his grace and therefore makes us heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

It is not a fable. It is not a Myth. For Paul, his whole life and message and purpose of his letters were anchored on this truth.

Everything we’ve learned from this series, going through 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus are essential because what motivated Paul to write them down and pass it on to us is the message of the Gospel (By the Gospel I mean what Christ accomplished for us on the cross). We cannot take out the truth of the Gospel out of anything we’ve learned.

Without the Gospel, all of Paul’s instructions will sound like acts of self-righteousness and good work and lessons on being good human beings. But good works are not what saves us; our self-righteousness is filthy rags in comparison to God’s Holiness.

Think about it – The Gospel being at the center, everything Paul wrote in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus is a Trustworthy saying, which means it is Authentic, it is Truthful.

Paul then goes on to say in Titus 3:8 “I want you to insist on these things”. Paul is telling Titus that I want you to INSIST on these things. We can’t miss this. No one should miss this. It is important.

And therefore as we are ending this series today I want to once again insist on the things that we’ve learned so far from 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus as a reminder. I want to quickly list down some of the critical things we’ve discovered so far

  • We learned that the TRUE TREASURE is the Gospel of the Glory and grace of God manifested through his son
  • We learned that as we progress in our Christian life, there will be a growing awareness of God’s holiness and also a growing awareness of our sinfulness. And the only thing that can bridge the gap between those two is when we daily appreciate the cross on which our Lord and savior died so that we can have a relationship with the Father
  • We learned that we need to guard this Gospel truth from False doctrine. We need to refute false teachers and false teaching by continually filling our hearts and minds with the true Gospel
  • We learned about God’s provision of Elders within the church body to preach, teach, serve and guard our hearts
  • We learned that we ought to Pray always, in season and out of season. For the church, for our elders, for one another, for the lost, for people in authority
  • We learned that Christ’s strength is displayed in our weakness
  • We learned that we ought to serve faithfully in the Kingdom of God
  • We learned that we need to stay away from youthful passions that distract us from serving him faithfully
  • We learned the importance of strong and healthy relationships, submitting to one another, appreciating and encouraging one another
  • We learned that we need to be bold and Strong in the Lord, prepared to preach, teach & share the Gospel with authority
  • We learned that we ought to fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the Faith until the end of our lives.

I believe you remembered those sermons that were preached, the ones that convicted our hearts, lead us to repentance. Today I want to once again insist brothers and sisters, what you’ve heard and learned and have applied in your lives are trustworthy sayings. Do not deviate from them.

While I was writing this down, I could imagine my childhood days when my mom would keep repeating and insisting on the same things to us every day to discipline us in Godly ways. There were times when I would get irritated by those repeated words.

The problem with me was that I couldn’t see how excellent and profitable those words were at that point but my Mom knew it, and that is why she kept insisting and repeating it again and again and again.

It’s only when I look at my life today, the person I am today I realize it is mostly because of my Mother’s consistent, never give up attitude to keep repeating the same things over and over again apart from her tearful prayers for us. I believe that is what eventually even led me to give my life to Christ and serve him.

Here’s why Paul tells Titus to insist on these things. Verse 8 “so that those who believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.”

Verse 9 he says instead of getting involved in foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrel about the law, which is unprofitable and worthless, Paul is saying insist on these good teachings that are excellent and profitable.

We have to identify the times and places where we’re spending too much of our time and energy in quarreling and debating and fighting instead of focusing on the right things.

In verse 10 Paul calls those who were getting involved in foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels as people who were stirring up division and are warped in sin. He says warn them once and then twice and even after that if they refuse to change, have nothing to do with him.

I hope that none of you like to be called under that category of people.

The church of Create was an unhealthy church; it was on the verge of breaking up. They had a bad reputation; they were wasting their time, money and energy on worthless things.

Paul had to remind them of how the Church should look like. As the Church, and as a people of the Kingdom we should look like true Christians by others by our good works motivated by the Gospel.

We are the hope of the world, we are the light in the darkness, we are the salt of this earth.

Verse 14 – Paul writes “Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful”

And the only thing that can help us look like good Christians, and to be fruitful as described in Psalms 1:3 which says

“He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.”

is when we “delight in the law of the Lord (the Trustworthy sayings of the scriptures), (is when we) meditate on it day and night” Psalms 1:2 – Consistently reminding ourselves of these Gospel truths, loving God for all that he is and for all that he has done, growing in intimate relationship with him, and learning to walk according to his precepts every single day of our lives.

As Elders, we will continue to insist on these things through our sermons, through our conversations, and through our lives. It may sound repetitive; it may sound hard to digest, to may sound difficult to believe.

But remember this – They are excellent, profitable and trustworthy in every sense.