MARK 1:14-31
Lesson Two
THE NATURE OF THE CALL OF THE CALLER
I. Greetings:
Note: If someone came to one of our youth groups or churches and said: “What is your group all about?” What would we say to them?
Q What is our message to our neighbors around the church?
An = Certainly, we would say we are a “Church”, specifically a “Christian church”. We are a group that is centered on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Q So how should we say it? How could we tell our relatives and neighbors the nature of the “Christian Religion”?
An = Let us see how Jesus Christ defined the “Christian religion”
II. What is Jesus all about? What is His Message?
>>>Have someone read Mark 1:14-15
Q What were the two parts to Jesus’ message?
An = The two key issues to this summary of Jesus’ preaching were: 1) something is here and 2) here is what you should do about it.
Let us look at the first of these items. Jesus said the time was ripe, the time was ready, and the “Kingdom of God” was at hand. Something was now here, seemingly accessible, and Jesus called it the “Kingdom of God”.
A. The Kingdom Of God
Q What is the kingdom of God?
An = Let them give their various answers and then simply state: “The kingdom of God is where God is king. It is where God has rulership.”
Q So what was Jesus saying has come near?
An = The place where God is in control, the opportunity for God’s control to be manifested was near.
B. Repent and Believe
Q What are we to do according to 1:15? What is our role?
An = Repent and believe in the Gospel.
Q What do these two words mean?
An = We have heard these words so much there is the risk they can become meaningless. So let us try a new approach and see if Mark himself explains what these words mean! Let us allow Mark to begin to tell us what “repent and believe” and the “kingdom of God” mean.
III. The Called: first installment on what it means to repent and believe. Mark 1:16-2
>>> Have someone read Mark 1:16-20.
Q Did Jesus call the elite to be His disciples?
An = No, He called blue-collar workers. When God came to earth and picked men to carry the most important message the world was to ever hear, He picked blue-collar working class individuals. He picked men who knew how to work hard with their hands. Never despise those who work with their hands, God does not!! >>>> I Samuel 16:1-13, 17:34-35.
Q How did they respond? How did the disciples “repent and believe”? What did they do that we can do so that the “kingdom of God” can come near us?
An = They were called, and their call involved leaving things in order to follow Jesus. It involved a cost. The disciples had to leave behind their occupation and security. To be involved with the true Jesus could entail us leaving things behind, perhaps even our occupation.
Note: Jesus might ask us to leave behind specific things if we really want to follow Him. What those specific things might be, I have found to be different for each person.
Q Does the call come to follow an organization (church) or a belief system, or a Person?
An = If you have been called to anything but Jesus Himself it is not an adequate call.
Q Does the call include a calling to a task? If so, what was the task for the disciples?
An = That task was not to gain a great career but a task to help others. We are to fish for men. We are to seek souls. We are not to build organizations, or our reputation, but “fish for men”.
Note: If we are not dominated by the need to reach lost souls then something is wrong. Maybe this will help us define our first term, the term of “repentance”.
Note: We said we wanted to see how Mark defined repentance. First note that the word in Hebrew literally means “to turn”.
Q What does John, James, etc. turn from?
An = They left fishing and a parent.
Q What is bad about fishing?
An = Nothing. Jesus in Mark 2 calls Levi from a job that was sinful, but not all that He calls us from is wrong. Sometimes “the good can be the enemy of the best”. If we are to obey Him, to follow Him, we will have to leave something for the sake of the kingdom. Certain things must be left behind for the sake of our involvement in the kingdom. Even if those things are good parents and good jobs. Some times good things need to be left behind, we have to “turn” in our evaluation of what is most important in our lives. Where Jesus reigns in an individual’s life, there the Kingdom of God is present. If the Kingdom of God is near then other people will be called to Him. Their task will be reaching souls, and the call will cost them their security and comfort zones.
IV. The One That Calls Us To Follow: Powerful and Compassionate. Mark 1:21-31
Note: Remember a call also implies a “caller”. It is important to know who it is that calls. There are perhaps two words that could summarize what Mark tells us about Who is inviting us: power and compassion.
A. Compassionate Power Over Demons. Mark 1:21-28.
>>> Have someone read Mark 1:21-28.
Q How hard did Jesus have to struggle to cast out the demon?
An = There was little or no struggle. Jesus spoke; the demons tried to make a last hurrah, but had to obey and left the poor person.
Q Is such power like this today in our church?
Q Do the demons understand His power? Do they try to contest it?
An = Jesus stopped them with a word. He performed no ritual, spell or magical action. He merely spoke. He did not struggle; the demon was no match for His power. It is similar to how God created the world; with His voice.
Q Did Jesus accept the witness of the Devil?
An = No, see verses 24 and especially 25. He did accept the witness of demons, even though they were quite dramatic.
B. Compassionate Power Over Illness. Mark 1:29-31.
>>>> Have someone read Mark 1:29-31.
Q How did Jesus heal this time? Did He use words?
An = Notice Jesus healed her not with a word but by simply taking her by the hand. There was no ritual or technique to Jesus’ healing. There was almost casualness about the means.
Q What did Peter’s mother-in-law do after she was healed?
An = When Jesus touches a person they are given the dignity of giving back. This tells us something about Peter’s mother-in-law and something about a true “touch” from God.
Note: There is a great Scottish motto: “Saved to Serve”. Perhaps, the key thing for some of us today is to realize that if we have received, we need to give. Perhaps, our own spiritual health is tied to what we can do now that we are saved.
Q What do both stories have in common?
An = In both stories, the power of Jesus was beneficial for the human beings involved. In the first, there was a man, overcome by the devil and in the other a woman, overcome by illness. Jesus restored them to their “normalness”. He gave them back “health” which was defined in different ways according to their different needs.
Q Did He charge money or seek to gain for Himself?
Q Can these two healings be a clue as to whether someone is truly like Jesus and should be followed as His representative?
An = He healed both publically and privately. The one healing was publicly amazing, while the other was in a home in a domestic situation. He did no heal just those who brought Him a good reputation.
Q What are the clues that someone is truly like Jesus from just these two stories?
An = We might be helped by making a list as a group so we can remember how to decide who we should follow.
V. Conclusion a Look at the Aspect of Legitimization:
A. Legitimization of the Caller
Jesus is worthy to be followed as God Himself is worthy to be followed. First, Jesus was portrayed as having power and thus portrayed as a powerful leader. Second, His power was used to express His compassionate nature. Jesus healed and delivered those who were oppressed and those who were sick. His power was used for others.
B. Legitimization of the Called
There can be no true following of Jesus without cost, without leaving something behind. He calls us to Himself and to a task. We want to be like Simon’s mother-in-law. God has not changed. When Moses was called, it was to fulfill a task…the deliverance of his people who were oppressed.[:]