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Act 4: Jesus Is Everything Pastor Dave Lomas, Reality San Francisco

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Act 4: Jesus Is Everything Pastor Dave Lomas, Reality San Francisco Sermon Transcript from February 21st, 2016 Act 4: Jesus Is Everything Pastor Dave Lomas, Reality San Francisco I want to show you Jesus and how Jesus is the fulfillment and the climax of the story of God. But, I want to do this narratively through Mark's book about the life of Jesus. Let me read. "In the beginning of [the Gospel] the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way' – 'a voice calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The hole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the river Jordan. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locust and wild honey. And this was John the Baptist's message: 'After me there comes one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.' "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heave: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' "At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended to him. "After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the [Gospel] good news!' "As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a new into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.' At once they left their nets and followed him. "When Jesus had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left father their Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus. "They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!' "'Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. 'Come out of him!' The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. "The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, 'What is this? A new teaching–and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.' News about Jesus spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. "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 immediately they 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 who were ill and demon possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was." This is God's Word, so let's pray. Lord, I thank You for today and I ask that You would teach us. We want to sit under the power and the authority of the Holy Spirit today. So, would You collectively teach us, God? All of us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive Your words today and would you show us Jesus? I present all of my capacities to You and I ask for help. I ask for help today. I'm so very humbled by the Scriptures and by who You are, Jesus, and I pray that You would reveal Yourself to us in Christ's name. Amen. I love love love Mark's Gospel. It's my favorite Gospel because it reads like an action movie written by someone with ADHD. Mark loves the words "immediately" – I don't know. I kind of read it with some umph. But, if you read Mark's book, he doesn't mess around with genealogy, he doesn't mess around with Jesus' birth. It's like, "This is the Gospel and Jesus is casting out demons." Like, the very first page of this thing. That's why I love it. He loves words like "immediately" and "at once" and "as soon as." Like, things are happening really really fast and Mark doesn't waste time. He gets straight to the point. His opening sentence that he uses in his book is supposed to hang over the book like a virtual title. It says this. This is how his book opens: "The beginning of the good news..." – or "This is the Gospel." Some of your translations say "the Gospel." "The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God." He just puts it all out there. This is who Jesus is and this is what this book is about. And I love the way that Mark uses the words "in the beginning" or "the beginning." It's supposed to awaken echoes of the first phrase in Genesis. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." And Mark uses the same kind of language to awake your mind to this is a new beginning. A new beginning is happening here in Jesus and not just a new beginning to Israel's story. That is true. Jesus is a new beginning to Israel's story. But, it's actually a new beginning to the whole world, the story of the whole world. Jesus is rebooting the story. Jesus is redeeming humanity's story. In Jesus, the story of humanity is being restored. And, just as in Genesis God initiated creation by speaking, here at this time God is initiating salvation. God is starting His salvation project in Christ, and that's why Mark calls this story "The Gospel." That's why Mark calls this story "The Good News." Mark doesn't mean this is a genre, though it is a genre. He's not saying, "Hey, this is the kind of writing I'm writing. It's called a Gospel." That would be developed a lot later on. Mark is saying that this is Gospel, this is the good news. He's saying this. He's saying the Gospel is the story of salvation in Jesus. The Gospel is the story of salvation in Jesus. The Gospel is God taking decisive action to save the world. So, when Mark opens up his book he's like, "God is taking decisive action in Christ to redeem and to save the world." And this is why the opening of the book of Mark drips with the salvation stories of Israel. And the reason why I said, when I opened up, that I would really like it if you went back and listened to the other teachings, this teaching kind of might not make sense unless you've been with us so far. Because Jesus doesn't just come in in the middle of history just like this random person that just comes and says, "Hey, you guys are all in sin and I've come to personally save you." That's not what Jesus does. Jesus actually enters into Israel's story and He is the culmination and the climax and the fulfillment of Israel's story and, just like God told Abraham that through you and your seed I'm going to bless the world, Jesus comes to fulfill that. So, unless you understand the story of Israel up to this point, you can kind of get Jesus – well, you can get Jesus, but you don't fully get Him. And that's kind of the way that Mark tells his story. The very opening, just what we just read, drips with Israel's history. It drips with the stories of Israel. First of all, Mark, at the very beginning of his Gospel, quotes the Old Testament. There's a quotation. There's indentation, if you notice in your Bibles. It's a quotation from Isaiah. He goes, "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet." He is awakening the hopes of the people of God, the people of Israel. And we get this quote from Isaiah that says: "I will send a messenger ahead of you," There is this Old Testament prediction that, before the Messiah came, before the savior of the world came, before the in-breaking Kingdom of God was established on earth, before God would redemptively act on behalf of humanity.
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