Acts 12:11-12
Introduction to Mark
Even though we are turning to the book of Acts, that is not the book
I believe God would have us to go through. I believe the book God
is directing me to is the Gospel of Mark. I will read our text, but
it will be awhile before I do.
I. Style
A. I am not speaking of the style of the book but of the style of
our service.
1. We may have some watching who are not familiar with our
Wednesday night service.
2. Our Wednesday nights are a bit different from most other
churches in that the style is a cross between preaching
and teaching.
3. We call this service our Wednesday Night Bible Study; but
for the most part, I do not think you will feel like you
are in a Sunday school class; but neither do I think you
will confuse this service with a hell-fire and brimstone
revival meeting.
4. It is somewhere in between.
5. The goal is to present more truth of God’s Word but still
by preaching.
B. Having just said that, if there is a time in the series when
our Wednesday Night Bible Study might seem like a Sunday
school class, it is the first one.
1. That is because I want to set the context for us.
2. We are not just looking to find a message from a single
verse of this book but for the single message of the book.
3. To do that, we need to understand the context from which
it was written.
I. The Subject (There are two.)
A. The Book
1. The message of all four of the gospels is the same: It is
to tell us about Jesus, His life, His death, His
resurrection, and His gift of salvation.
2. That is the gospel or the good news of the Bible.
3. However, though the Gospels have the same theme, God gave
each of them a different flavor.
a. Matthew presents Jesus as the Savior of the Jews.
(genealogies, and Old Testament prophecies)
b. Mark presents Jesus as the Serving Savior. (Mark
leaves out the genealogies and lessens the reference
to the Old Testament. He focuses more on what Jesus
did.)
c. Luke presents Jesus as the Human Savior. (Luke shows
the genealogies and backs up to describe not only the
humanity of Jesus, but of Mark, Joseph, Zacharias,
Elisabeth, and John the Baptist)
d. John presents Jesus as the Divine Savior. (John goes
all the way back to the beginning and tells how the
eternal Word became man.)
4. The audience is primarily Gentile.
a. We know that because Mark did leave out the
genealogies and many of the Old Testament prophecies.
b. If he were attempting to reach the Jews, he would have
certainly spent more time connecting Jesus to the Old
Testament.
B. The Author
1. Mark’s Authorship - It is generally agreed that Mark is
the author of this gospel, even though neither he nor his
name is mentioned anywhere in the book.
a. Some might wonder why.
b. It is because this book has always been attributed to
Mark.
c. By always, I mean all the way to the earliest writings
in the church, which date back to just after the
death of John the Apostle.
2. Mark was first mentioned about half way through the book
of Acts.
Acts 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself,
he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord
hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Herod, and from all the
expectation of the people of the Jews.
12 And when he (Peter) had considered the
thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother
of John, whose surname was Mark; where many
were gathered together praying.
3. A few facts about Mark.
a. Mark is called by three names in the New Testament:
Mark, John or John Mark, and Marcus.
b. Mark was a Jew, raised in Jerusalem.
c. His mother’s name was Mary and the early church met in
their home.
d. Mark was Barnabas’ nephew \\#Col 4:10\\.
4. Mark’s Ambition
a. I am not certain that Mark was a preacher.
(1) We have no record of Mark every being called a
preacher or of him preaching.
(2) He did write a gospel but even that is not the
same as being called to preach.
b. However, Mark did want to serve God.
c. When he heard that Paul and Uncle Barnabas were going
on a missionary journey, he volunteered to go too.
Acts 13:5 And when they were at Salamis, they
preached the word of God in the synagogues of
the Jews: and they had also John to their
minister.
5. However, Mark quit.
Acts 13:13 Now when Paul and his company loosed
from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia:
and John departing from them returned to
Jerusalem.
a. Now, that would be an innocuous enough statement if
Paul did not have such a violent reaction when
Barnabas wanted to rejoin the team for the next
missionary crusade.
Acts 15:38 But Paul thought not good to take him
with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia,
and went not with them to the work.
39 And the contention was so sharp between them,
that they departed asunder one from the other:
and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto
Cyprus;
b. Mark’s leaving the group was not planned. He just
quit.
c. People often have two misconceptions about preachers.
(1) They were born called to preach.
(2) They were called fully equipped and empowered to
preach.
1Cor 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called:
d. Both are usually not true.
6. I want to deviate a bit.
a. Not just anyone can preach. It is a calling from God.
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ:
b. By the good grace of God, I have a grandson who called
me a few weeks ago to tell me that he believes he is
called to preach.
(1) He called me as he had already called many others
asking for counsel.
(2) The next day, I wrote down four things I thought
would help him in determining whether he was or
was not called.
(a) If you can do anything else but preach, do
it. Don’t resist doing what you know God
wants you to do, but there is a lot of
responsibility and weight that comes with
preaching. If God has not called you to
preach, then He has not equipped you to
handle the weight. If he has called you,
the burden to preach should get stronger.
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make
mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.
But his word was in mine heart as a burning
fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not stay.
(b) Second, if you have been called to preach,
you should have abiding hunger to
understand the Bible. Is there is no
longing to know what the Bible says and
what the Bible means by what it says, then
you probably are not called to preach.
(c) Third, if you have been called to preach,
there should be a strong burden to serve.
God does not call preachers to just preach.
He calls preachers to serve. The main
outlet for Christians service in this
dispensation is the church. You should
want to witness to others, encourage
others, and help others through the local
church. If you don’t have a love for the
church, the believers in the church, and
the lost, you probably are not called to
preach.
(d) The last thing that comes to my mind is that
if God has called you, you should soon see
some evidence in your ability to understand
scripture and to share it. Every calling
comes with an empowering. It will most
likely be very rough right now but as you
attempt to use and develop your gifts, they
should become more evident to others and to
yourself.
7. Mark had a second round.
a. A failure in your life is not final unless you fail
to get up.
b. Mark got back up!
(1) He went first with Barnabas and later with Peter.
(2) And Paul saw that God used him.
(a) And Mark would serve with Paul in the
ministry.
Philemon 1:24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas,
my fellowlabourers.
Col 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth
you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas,
(touching whom ye received commandments: if he
come unto you, receive him;)
(b) In the last known letter that Paul wrote, he
would summon Mark to his side.
2 Timothy 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark,
and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to
me for the ministry.
III. Surety
A. How did this book get written?
1. If you are following me, then you realize that Mark did
not step on the scene until after Jesus’ death; and you
should be asking the question, "How did Mark write about
about Jesus when he may not have even known Jesus?"
2. My answer is, "God wrote it."
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness:
a. Inspiration is something that you cannot prove to a
doubter.
(1) Don’t get me wrong. For an open-minded person,
there is plenty of evidence that the Bible is
inspired.
(2) But to a God-hater or a Bible-doubter, nothing
you say will convince them.
b. I make no secret of the fact that I started with the
assumption that the Bible is inspired.
(1) No matter how Mark got the details of the life
of Jesus, it was the Holy Ghost who wrote the
book through Mark.
(2) That is all I need to know.
3. BUT if we want to guess how Mark was able to know the
details, we could guess that he learned them through
Peter.
1Peter 5:13 The church that is at Babylon,
elected together with you, saluteth you; and so
doth Marcus my son.
a. Marcus, one of John Mark’s names.
b. Not only did Peter mention Mark, but he called him his
son which would indicate that they had a very close
relationship.
c. Many think that after Paul refused Mark, Mark
travelled with and spent a good bit of time with
Peter.
d. Some think it is possible that Peter passed the
knowledge of Jesus’ life to Mark.
This is a Bible book that can and should change our lives.
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