He heard this week of a man who was taking a shower when his two-year-old son came in the bathroom Proceeds who unraveled the toilet paper and sort of them wrapping around himself make a mummy out of himself and when dad got out of the shower He thought I mean the bathroom was a big wreck But he thought his son looked so precious that he ran to get the camera on and clicked off a couple shots And in fact when the film was developed the the pictures were were so cute that when it came time to mail out Christmas cards They slipped one of these pictures into every Christmas card All while and good until about ten days later a relative call that was absolutely howling on the other end of the phone and Said Please tell me that you just sent that picture to me I don't know went out with every one of the cards on our list Said I want you to take a closer look at that picture Because not only with the camera did you capture your son but in the in the you also captured your reflection in the mirror So there in the picture was on closer inspection dad wearing nothing but a camera And distributed to the whole family, you know sometimes Sometimes scrutiny is advisable sometimes it's worth it to take a closer look That's what I want to advise us this morning is that we make our calling an election sure that we ask what What is the foundation upon which our relationship with Jesus is built the majority of people in this room would say that I have a relationship with Jesus I Followed Jesus. I I attend church quite obviously. I I ties I'm I'm I'm walking with Jesus and that's not in dispute The question is why and there are a couple of approaches and Very often people would say this I follow Jesus because to follow Jesus is the right way To follow Jesus makes sense It's just right and to follow Jesus is what will lead to the most beneficial life possible To follow Jesus has the most utility to follow Jesus is the way to get things that I cannot have in and of myself If I want guidance in the in the difficult I'm I got to raise teenagers. I don't know how to do that I need guidance and I need comfort to go through that the trials and tribulations and hardships of life in this world and and I need forgiveness and I need You know all these things in this world and I need eternal life and hope beyond the grave and heaven And Jesus is the one who can provide all those things for me and So I follow Jesus to get things that I could not get on my own There's another approach and that is to say in following Jesus I Give up things And following Jesus I don't have more And following Jesus it cost me everything But that's okay. I Follow Jesus not because of what he does for me. I Follow him because of who he is He is beautiful He is good and he is glorious And if there were no reward or benefit to following I would follow still Because he's just so beautiful to me in fact like the pearl of great price. I would give up anything to possess him So my question this morning look at you my challenge is look in the mirror take a closer look Scrutinize yourself and ask not do I follow you wouldn't be here if you didn't but why? Am I taken with the beauty of Christ? Do you realize that for many people to follow Jesus many who sit in our churches? It's just another way to do what's ultimately best for me I follow Jesus because it serves me Beth or can you say? Jesus is beautiful to me and I will follow him come hell or high water Look more closely in the mirror as you ask that question mark Right his gospel to answer that question Understand that mark is writing to Gentiles in Rome What would Gentiles in Rome think of a gallantly in peasant the guys on a cross in Judea as a common criminal? Would they be taken with his beauty necessarily? What's so impressive about Jesus to them? Why would they be interested? Why would they find him attractive he writes to people in the in the time of Nero? Neuronic persecution has Christians being slaughtered for aligning themselves to Jesus. What's the utility of signing on with Jesus? And in Mark's day and age did you follow Jesus because life will be better and less complicated if you attach your name to Jesus The answer was what just the opposite? Name yourself a Christian become a follower of Jesus and it would cost you everything and so Mark writes There's no utility. There's no gain in this life to follow Jesus There's only one reason to follow him because he's He's beautiful Because you are so taken with his goodness and his glory and his power and his majesty and Mark would know Mark is prepared to tell us of Jesus because he was Peters Simon Peters Secretary his scribe in some respects. We're studying the gospel of Peter here Mark gets his information directly from Peter Mark is Barnabas's cousin who Barnabas who travels of course with the Apostle Paul Mark in fact his family's home may have been the host home for the last supper celebrated in Jerusalem Until throughout Mark's book. He's asking this question Who is Jesus? If this book is not a history Of the life of Jesus Mark doesn't really care to tell us all about Jesus' life In fact, we just started the book and you'll notice that where did it start? It starts at the beginning of his ministry There's not a word about his birth. There's not a word about his childhood Mark doesn't really care to tell you the events of Jesus' life in great detail and he doesn't even now put the events of Jesus' life And the proper order because he's not interested in giving you a Historical lesson on the life of Jesus. Mark is interested in answering this question. Who is he? Who is he and that question is answered on the very first line of the book isn't it the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the lot He's the son of God Mark states his purpose in his case right out of the gate and A book of the way all the way up to the climax when standing at the foot of the cross is a Roman not a Jew a Roman just like Mark's writing to Roman A Gentile who stands at the foot of the cross a Roman soldier and looking up and now a man who is dead He utters these words what this truly was the son of God So here's the here's the import of Mark's book asking this question. Who is he and? And the answer cascading down. This is the son of God Mark doesn't care to write history is writing a gospel a Gospel is a pronouncement. It's good news. It's a it's a it's an announcement that God has come That Jesus is none other than God in the flesh come to rescue his children and restore them to relationship with him And so on that you have to understand that Mark's Message is not just information. It's an invitation This is his desire in the same way that if someone pledges their trough to you and ask you if you will marry them you can't just say That's interesting Huh? You know, thank you It demands a response The answer is do you find them beautiful? Are you willing to say yes? Can you enter into a lifelong relationship of fidelity and commitment or is the answer now? What is it? And so Mark's gospel pushes us to make a decision? It's not just something you can be exposed to and say well, that was nice No, no, no, no, the answer is yes or no. Yes or no. How do you find Jesus? Who is he to you and so I'm asking you not just this week but week by week as we study it Are you willing to look yourself in the mirror and say do I find that Jesus so beautiful? That I will pledge my all to have him If I should receive nothing in return But to have him Then I'll give up anything So beautiful is Jesus to me my granddad He's to try to pass on a lot of wisdom. I can still remember sitting at his Dining room table and he'd you know tell us about you know job interviews and how to make you know Mark in the world and I always remember granddad would say son You never get a second chance to watch Yeah, I never get a second chance to make a good first impression Well, what's gonna be our first impression of Jesus going from the book of Mark? Let's look there together We find there the beauty of Jesus Express in also many ways the first thing I want you to see is that Jesus is historic We see his beauty and that he is real. He's not mythological. He's not an ideology He's not a set of beliefs. He's not a philosophy that you can follow. That's not what Christianity is That's not what it's about Jesus is not Compendium of stories from the past all that have all amalgamated around him No, no, no, when you read this passage you read what that he's he's long for told long expected The very passage begins with quotations from where from the book of Exodus and the book of Isaiah and the book of Malachi And we're told that for hundreds of years this Jesus is anticipated and when he comes he comes to a real Flash-in-blood place doesn't he and you read the passage and it talks about a Prophet named John the Baptist and he wears a certain kind of clothing and he eats locusts and he's honey And so the question is is this real or is this something artificial is there a real place called where it was a Jordan River and And Jerusalem and Judea and all the things described in this story Are we dealing with some sort of mythological character the answer is Jesus is Historical and that we see the beauty of one who walked in our missed God in manual with us God puts on flesh and comes amongst us Someone said to me this week they said I Am I don't know what the difference is between believing in Jesus and believing in Santa Claus It's all a matter of faith. You can't really talk someone into it or out of it. You can't really prove either one They said to me Santa Claus Whips around the world in 24 hours brings all the kids toys and I'd bring people immense Happiness and delight at Christmas time Jesus You know still storms walks on water feeds thousands and gives people a lot of relief when one of their relatives dies You know If it works for people, why should I try to talk about it? It's all something that you just believe in your head. You have to have faith in it Anyway, he said right nice head. I said well that I'll go with you If you can bring me to the North Pole and show me the toy factory and show me the sled and show me the reindeer and show me The Rudolph and show me all this lore built up around Santa Claus show me it in history show me where it happened provide me eyewitnesses because that's what we have We're talking about Jesus. We're not talking about something that you have by faith. You have it by sight We can go to Israel today this spit of land between Egypt and Syria and Turkey is there to this day This has been the crossroads of the world. You can go. There is a place called Nazareth There is a sea of Galilee. There is a Jordan river. You can go and read historians that wrote of Jesus and John the Baptist and We're reading this morning and I witness account of these very things I'm not interested in sacrificing anything in this world for an ideology But I will give up everything for a real person and That's what we have and he's beautiful second I want you to see not only the history of Jesus the historicity. Secondly, I want you to see his greatness in that He's heralded. He doesn't come on to the scene without a forerunner had coming before him to announce his coming John the Baptist the Bible says comes with an announcement make ready the way of the Lord make his Pad straight, you know George W. Bush, Al Gore don't roll into a town and people in the town say you're not gonna believe this look Who's here? It was totally unknown or unannounced no an advanced team goes ahead of them right and this stage is set up in the crowd Is gathered and all the arrangements are made and sometimes it takes months and even years to arrange a a big city-wide Events are coming of someone prestigious and important and so we see the beauty the glory the majesty of Jesus because he doesn't Come without being heralded someone has to go before him to make the past straight to make the way ready and what is it? It has to be done before a people can see the beauty of Jesus be prepared to receive him John the Baptist was doing it the Bible says that he was in the wilderness and he was calling people to do what? Repent of their sins and be baptized the symbolic washing away of their sin And so what has to be prepared for Jesus to be received? It's the heart The heart has to be prepared and who is who is it that will not be able to see the beauty of Christ? What's the greatest obstacle to the coming of Jesus in all his glory? It's religion Here's what I want you to see for a long time. There was such a thing called proselyte baptism That is if a Gentile wanted to become a Jew then they had to undergo the ritual of baptism Is John the Baptist out in the wilderness baptizing Gentiles the answer is No, he's out in the wilderness baptizing Jews this is unheard of this is astounding This is a great work of God's spirit that the religious that the Jews are recognizing that we are unclean before God and we are Unworthy. This is what has to happen before anyone can see the beauty of Christ They have to see their sin They're unworthiness look at the life of Christ He's so he's so majestic he has to be heralded, but look at his life. He's born to peasant He's born of dubious parentage He spends the first couple years of his life as a refugee in Egypt He grows up in his entire existence in a land that's occupied by a foreign military regime as a part of an oppressed people And then he dies a common criminal on a cross That's that's the life God lived on this earth. He made himself nothing and Who saw his beauty in the midst of it? Who did? tax gather prostitutes Samaritan immoral women Widows with nothing While woman bleeding for years who would reach out just to touch his garment a a woman who would beg that the That the just as the dogs eat the crumbs off the table that she a dog as she describes herself Would just get the crumbs of mercy and grace that might fall to her These are the ones who saw his beauty Who missed him? Who missed it the Presbyterian the religious They missed it And what has to happen if we're to see the absolute beauty of Christ that would allow us to forsake all and follow him? must we become like the prostitute of course not we already are like the prostitute We don't have to become like anything. We don't have to come dirty rotten sinners. We already are We just have to recognize it And so it was two thousand years ago Those who grasp the beauty of Jesus so those who can wake up every morning and say God be merciful to me What's dinner you see his beauty and That he's historic and he's heralded and you see his beauty in the reaction of his greatest power I mean you see just his Emancipity his that his majesty he that he's huge in the John the Baptist The Bible says that that John the Baptist Jesus is the greatest prophet who ever lived and the greatest prophet who ever lived Now you have to understand that the slave untied and tied his master's Sandals it was a very low task and Jesus John the Baptist says I'm not even worthy to be Jesus is what? The greatest who ever lived is I'm not even worthy To be the slave Don't you see his beauty and his majesty that those who serve him consider themselves of no account before him? And it's the highest honor and honor that they're not even worthy of to perform the lowest function for him Imagine people saying I am not even worthy To take down chairs After worship the seven rivers apparently a lot of people feel that way by the way I'm not worthy To pick up trash in the church parking lot I'm not even worthy the lowest Servant that I would be able to offer. I think this is John the Baptist The greatest prophet Says he must increase I must decrease here's what I want you to see you see You see the beauty when you see the beauty of Christ it does two amazing things one is it undresses you It shows you to be who you really are What's thinking this week? What caddy on the PGA tour is the least worthy Tiger Woods guy? I mean he's he carries the clubs for somebody who's now already considered the greatest golfer ever Somebody has made seven million dollars before this weekend He's about to make a million more And so of all the caddies he would say how did I get this job? I mean am I better than the other caddies what do you say? I'm not better. I Can't believe that I'm Associated with you know the greatest distance between golfer and caddy he would experience and yet what caddy would would have the most honor I mean the most sense of Gratitude and delight it would be the very same so it is to be with Jesus. It's to be exposed for our sin and our own worthiness And at the same time does it make us walk around with our heads down all the time feeling lower than the low No, there's a sense of pride and a sense of of of honor and joy to be in the service of the king. It's a delight indeed Red recently I told you about a couple that had a Little baby girl and it was their first child and She didn't survive the birth experience She stayed it lives a couple weeks on a respirator and her dad wrote an awesome letter explaining all the ramifications of this experience and all they'd learned as a family one thing he said was fascinating. He said My our whole marriage my wife Janet has always regarded herself as ugly He said irrational to me incomprehensible, but nevertheless the truth and no sense of communication for me or others would ever seem to be able to To dissuade her or sink in beyond you know the very most shallow way that she was beautiful in our eye He said and yet in the birth of our daughter something changed Because when our daughter was born, everybody who saw her said she looked just like her mother and Janet had to admit that the baby that that Austin their little baby girl looked just like her and she said and I have never seen anything in my life as beautiful as Our little girl How in the world do we ever come to grips with with with our own worth? It's not in and trying to to make ourselves feel beautiful that will ever make progress in in that It's in seeing the beauty of Christ and when we see Christ and we realize that we are made in his image if he's beautiful Then by the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf We're beautiful in his eyes and we ought to walk through this world with a sense of of rightful Pride that we are we are his offspring and his children You see the beauty of Christ. You'll never see any beauty in yourself until you see it in him I want you to see furthermore in the passage not only the beauty that we see in the historic heralded Christ the one who is servants are delighted to serve but I want you to see the beauty in his baptism That he's clearly revealed in his baptism as God. He's God a voice came from the heavens This is my son Did you see the beauty of Christ in the majesty of his baptism? The skies rent open that's apocalyptic That when that when the heavens are torn open that means what in the Bible? That means that it's time for the end Okay, this is an announcement of the end times they are beginning The heavens are torn open and out of the heavens come the Holy Spirit like as a When else in the Bible was a dove released think of Noah extending his hand a dove is released And when that dove doesn't return to the ark then what are what are the people in the ark now? That God's wrath has been withdrawn his rightful sentence has been passed and now he will begin again Now he will build the earth again And so when the dove is released and it lights upon Jesus God is announcing to the world what That I'm going to begin again I'm going to recreate that which which is tarnished and and destroyed by the sin of man We see the majesty of Christ is revealed as God and the voice of Christ out from heaven my son God said the one who I love But not only in his baptism Do we see his majesty but we see his humility because what in the world is the beautiful Jesus doing? standing Receiving baptism for the forgiveness of sin And the answer is he's standing there for who? Standing there in your place taking the place of the penitent and the sinner and so in this we see the glory of Jesus Well, one and the same majestic God humble servant as I said earlier last weekend. We brought my son to college And there's some there's some there's some benefits to shipping your kids out the house is cleaner Of the kitchen's cleaner, you know, there's more food in the fridge There's some pluses Went to bed earlier on Friday night, you know, and I have to wonder when he might come back You know there's some real pluses to having a kid go But guess what happened when we drove away from Pella happy? What do you think my wife did you cried the big baby? What do you think my wife's husband did? He cried the big baby Because there's something as good as it is that he's going There's something terrible about separation. There's something we hate about it See the beauty of Christ standing in the Jordan The water of baptism trickling off his face As in a few short days the blood would fall from his face Standing there separated from his father So that we would never have to be again He's beautiful There's never been another like him. I want you to see the beauty of Christ in the wilderness and he's revealed his Lord there He Christ beauty. He's Lord Forty-day tempted by Satan wild beasts all around him When Adam the first Adam comes into this world he enters a paradise in which there's fruit and There's food and there's a lush garden and there's everything he could ever want and there's the companionship of a wife When the second Adam enters this world he has what? He is in the desert. He's not in a garden. He doesn't have beasts that are tamed He has beasts that seek to savage him He has no friendship. He has no kinship. He has no wife He has nothing His body is weak. His flesh is weak The devil comes to assail him and He wins the victory. See his Lordship At his weakest he is Lord over all creation over the wilderness over the beast over the demons over the unseen world Even over the angels that come to embrace him He is Lord and we get the foreshadowing of this horrible battle That's about to take place that will rage throughout his whole ministry, but we're already told with the outcome, aren't we? He will win. He will win the fight
He's Lord Jesus beautiful to you Historic Jesus the one who who's who's heralded Prophets say prepare your hearts to receive him. There's never been one like him the one whose followers consider it such an honor to serve him I think of Nadine sitting in a wheelchair her body racked by a muscular degenerative disease So that she can't speak with but gnarled words so that You know so that she sloppers out the side of her mouth so that her face and her body are contorted in spasms So that to the human eye for most people she is ugly and despicable and they can't really stand to look at her She makes them extremely uncomfortable She has to be cared for washed base said every part of her life and yet she adores Jesus what utility does he have for her he has not made her well He has not made her life in this world easy or good or pleasant. She has no husband She has no comfort. She has none of the joys that we would know in this world, but she loves Jesus Because he's why because he's done this and this and this and this for her She loves him because he's Considered polycarp tied to the stake deny Jesus and you will live In the Bishop of Samurna the 70 and six years he has been faithful to me. Will I deny him now and they burn him in the fire What utility is Jesus to polycar? Did Jesus send angels down to save him from the flames? No What did Jesus do for him at that moment? Who can he follows him? Do you see the majesty and beauty of Jesus and the loyalty and devotion of his people who Received seemingly so little from him and yet they will give all to have him See in the passage his baptism his wilderness and finally he comes into the villages and what does he say the king has come It's that moment in human history in which the king has come to re-invade and take over Repent and believe in the gospel think of great historical announcements, you know December 7th FBR Announces a day that will live and into me think of Walter Cronkite's trembling voice as CBS interrupts a Nationwide TV to announce that there's been a shooting in Dallas and the president's been struck But I want you to think of all announcements of the announcement of of general Eisenhower Announcing that calling Americans to prayer because the allied troops have invaded Europe and Within days these grimy blood spattered battle shocked Troops with with with you know who haven't bathed who haven't had much to eat faces unshaven Riding jeeps through through villages and towns and Belgium and France and everywhere they go the populist is what? They run out and they crowd the streets and they wave American British flags and they and they run up and they embrace and they kiss these people and they tell them how beautiful they are See the face of Jesus See the thorns smashed into his face see the blood battered battle Tested warrior Say my liberating hero is so beautiful See the blood poor from his side. He's so beautiful. Now March question is who's Jesus? Be beautiful enough to you that you give all to have him Should you embrace Jesus because he'll make life easier? John Wollman Was a 17 and so late 1700s was a quaker merchant It became so convicted by God of the horrors and atrocities of the slave trade That he gave up his business which was dependent on merchandise produced by slavery He gave up all his money to buy slaves and liberate them He's ceased to any what longer where closing made from die which came from slavery He would no longer ride in any vehicle. He walked everywhere because slaves were not allowed to ride they could only walk He no longer consumed rum or used molasses or sugar because they were all products of the slave trade in this world and by this one man's Influence By 1787 there was not one slave owned by any quaker in North America Well, I just want to ask you this question Did following Jesus make John Wollman's life easier? Did following Jesus make his Trek through this world more grand was their great utility and becoming a Christian and Following where Christianity took him in his life the answer is no so the question is why would anyone accept marriage? To somebody who promises to make your life harder Well because Jesus is just so Beautiful and when you see it you'll give up anything to have him