This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back for day two of week one of our survey, our look
through the New Testament. We started with Matthew yesterday, we're looking at
Mark today. And let's start with who is Mark.

Matthew, we know, is one of the disciples. Mark is not as easily known. You
might know that his full name is John Mark.

John was his Jewish name, Mark his Roman name. He lived in Jerusalem, Acts
chapter 12, verse 12 tells us. A few clues in the Bible tells us that just
possibly the upper room where Jesus' disciples met for the Passover and where
the disciples met early on and the church began, that that upper room may have
been his family home.

And that just possibly he was the young man who was following Jesus from the
Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 1451. And he was the guy who had to slip out of his
shirt and run away naked when the mob tried to grab him. That just possibly was
John Mark.

But we certainly know that he lived in Jerusalem. And we certainly know that
Peter brought Mark to Christ because in 1 Peter 513, he calls him my son in the
faith. We also know that he was a cousin of Barnabas, one of the early leaders
of the church.

We're told that in Colossians 410. And he was the cause of some trouble between
Barnabas and Paul. You might remember the story.

John Mark had left them on one missionary journey and Paul said, I don't want to
take him on the next one. Barnabas says, I want to take him 'cause Barnabas is an
encourager. That's what his name means.

And they went their separate ways because of their disagreement about John Mark.
But that's not the end of the story. You might also know that at the last, John
Mark was a great help to Paul.

You see it in Colossians chapter 410 and 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 411 that
although there were problems in his relationship with Paul, in the end, he was a
great help to Paul. That's who John Mark is. Now, how about this book?

The focus of the Book of Mark is on what Jesus did, not what he said. Mark is
the shortest gospel and the action in it is rapid. If you compared it to movies,
Matthew would be like a great drama, like the Ten Commandments, Gone with the
Wind, this sweeping story.

Luke would be like a documentary, a mini-series, the Civil War or Roots. John
would be like a Shakespearean drama, all about relationships and long
soliloquies and poetic writing. Mark would be an action adventure.

It's the Indiana Jones of the Gospels because it's like a thrill a minute.
Things are happening all the time. And that fits because the audience, as Mark
writes, is apparently the Romans.

And the Romans were a people of common sense. They were practical. They weren't
concerned with the past or really the future.

They were concerned about what about right now? They weren't concerned with
ancestry, like maybe the Jewish mind might have been, so much as ability. What
can you do for me now?

The Romans glorified action. They wouldn't ask of Jesus, where has he come from?
Or even so much, what did he say?

They wanted to know, what did he do? The Greeks were interested in intellectual
philosophies. The Romans were interested in military conquest.

They were interested in action. So as I talk about the Romans, it's pretty
obvious that they fit in with a lot of people today. You probably know a lot of
people that think this way.

That's why I often suggest to people that they start with the Book of Mark. If
they've never read anything in the New Testament, read the Book of Mark first. I
know a lot of people start with John, but it's the longest.

Why not have people start with the shortest? They're going to be more successful
that way. And then they hear the story of Jesus very quickly.

When you look at the Book of Mark, there's a lot of angles to look at it from.
What I'd like to look at it from is based on Mark 10, 45, where Jesus says,
"Even the Son of Man "did not come to be served, but to serve, "and to give his
life as a ransom for many. " When you look at the Book of Mark, it's very much
about Jesus and how he did serving, how he served us.

How he served us as a healer, as a teacher, as a sacrifice, as a resurrected
Lord. So I'd like to look in the Book of Mark at what are the marks of a
servant. A little play on words in the word Mark.

What are the marks of a servant that you see in the Gospel of Mark? What is it
that distinguishes a servant? You just look at Jesus.

He's our model. And you find out three or four things. Number one, to be a
servant means you care about people's hurts.

This is the personal ministry of a servant. This is Jesus as the healer that you
see again and again and again in the Book of Mark. You see it many times, but I
want to just bring up one instance because it's so personal.

In chapter one, verses 29 to 34, you see Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law. In
verse 29, "As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to
the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and
they immediately told Jesus about her.

So he went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she
began to wait on them. That evening, after sunset, the people brought to Jesus
all the sick and demon-possessed.

The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various
diseases. " So here you see Jesus healing people, but I want to focus on the
fact that he was caring for people. Jesus cared about those whom he healed.

Servants don't just go out doing works of healing. They go out caring for the
people who need healing. That's what it means to be a servant.

Sometimes we disconnect the two, but you can't serve without loving because the
power of serving is in loving. So servants are those who have compassion for
other people. That's one of the lessons we learn in the Book of Mark.

A second mark of a servant is that you're willing to face criticism. These are
the personal challenges of a servant. Now, you'd think that no one would
criticize you for serving.

The truth is, any time you do anything, someone will question you for what
you're doing. If you don't do anything, they'll question you for what you're not
doing, but if you do anything, they're going to question you. That's just the
nature of human nature.

Now, Jesus was often questioned for the way he served, and he teaches us about
how you can be willing to face criticism and what to do with it. Here's the
lesson you learn from Jesus. Jesus used the questions, the criticism, as an
opportunity to clarify his priorities.

So whenever you're criticized as a servant, use it as an opportunity to clarify
your priorities. First, in your own mind, am I doing the right thing? I mean,
maybe this criticism is valid, or maybe God wants to use it in some way to head
me in a different direction, but maybe not.

Oftentimes, criticism is not meant to head you in a different direction. It's
meant to give you an opportunity to tell people what your direction is. When
Jesus was questioned about fasting, he used it as an opportunity to clarify his
priorities, and so he taught people that you can't put new wine in old
wineskins, you gotta put it in new wineskins.

When Jesus was questioned about the Sabbath and the way he handled it, he didn't
change his direction. No, he clarified his direction. He told people that the
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Let me read that section for you, Mark 2, 23 to 28. One Sabbath, Jesus was going
through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick
some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing "what
is unlawful on the Sabbath?

" He, Jesus, answered, "Have you never read what David did "when he and his
companions were hungry and in need? "In the days of Abiathar, the high priest,
"he entered the house of God, "and he ate the consecrated bread, "which is
lawful only for priests to eat, "and he also gave some to his companions. " And
then Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, "not man for the
Sabbath.

"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. " So oftentimes, Jesus teaches
us when you're criticized, it's an opportunity to clarify in your own mind, and
others, why you're serving the way that you're serving. Now, you're not Jesus,
you're not perfect, but that doesn't mean you can't clarify why you're doing
what you're doing.

Third lesson we learned from the Book of Mark about one of the marks of
sermonhood is that you're growing in faith as you're serving others. This is the
personal faith part of serving. You don't serve others and not be growing
yourself.

Jesus was growing the faith of these disciples in every action of service. There
are two main ways in the Book of Mark you see him growing the disciples, their
faith, through the teaching and parables and the work of miracles. As he teaches
parables like the parable of the sower or the lamp or the farmer and the seed,
the focus of these parables is on God's kingdom.

And he's building the faith of the disciples as he's helping them to see beyond
themselves to the purpose, the plan of God. He's also growing their faith
through the miracles. He didn't just work miracles for them to say, "Wow, look
what Jesus can do.

" If you read carefully, after almost every miracle there was a teaching, Jesus
used the miracles as an opportunity to teach them about how to build faith. He
was building their faith as he was showing them the genuine power of God, but
he's also teaching them that God wants to work that power through your life. He
wants to do in your life things that you would never imagine.

So he works the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 to show them that God can
supply all their needs in ways they could never imagine. You're growing in faith
as you're serving others. That's one of the marks of a servant.

And then there's a fourth mark of a servant. And that is that the power to serve
is in the cross and the resurrection. Servants have to know where their power
comes from.

And it doesn't come from your inner motivation. You might have a lot of that. It
doesn't come from your outer energy.

You might have a lot or a little of that. That's not where it comes from. The
power comes from the cross and the resurrection.

And in the book of Mark, in chapters eight and nine, Jesus begins to look
towards the cross. In chapter 10, Jesus' last week begins. And then you see the
cross in chapters 14 and 15.

Chapter 15, 23 to 26. Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did
not take it. And they crucified him.

Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was nine
in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against
him read the King of the Jews.

But we know that's not the end of the story. In chapter 16, verses five and six,
as they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting
on the right side, and they were alarmed. "Don't be alarmed," he said.

"You're looking for Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified? "He has risen. "He is
not here.

" See the place where they laid him. For faith to mark your life as a servant,
the cross has to mark your life. Not just once when you're saved, but daily, the
fact that Jesus gave his life for you.

For faith to mark your life as a servant, the resurrection must mark your life.
Not just once, but daily. The fact that he lives again for you, that's where the
power comes from.

So the question in the Book of Mark, one of the questions is, what marks your
life? Servants are people who make a mark on this world, but their lives have to
be marked by faith and trust in who Jesus is. Not just his example, but his love
for you.

So as we end this, I want to take just a moment to pray together. Make sure that
our hearts are marked by the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus, we want to live the life
you've given us to live.

So we start by saying we trust you. We trust you for the salvation you can only
give through the cross, through the life only you can give through the
resurrection. We trust that maybe for the first time right now.

But even if we trusted you for that a long time ago, we trust you, we refresh
that trust in your forgiveness, in the life of the resurrection, 'cause we need
it today. Lord, we want to serve you today. So we ask for your power to serve
today.

And in asking for your power, we look to the cross, we look to the resurrection.
In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to take a look at the book of Luke, the
human life of Jesus.