Sermon Synopsis
This sermon introduces the gospel of Mark as a fast-paced portrait of Jesus Christ, the perfect Servant who is also the Son of God. Through four scenes—His call of the disciples, His teaching and authority in the synagogue, His healing in the home, and His prayer in solitude—we see a Savior who serves tirelessly, powerfully, tenderly, and prayerfully. The message emphasizes Christ’s sovereign call to “Follow Me,” His authority over demons and disease, and His pattern of moving from prayer to service. The intended impact is that believers, especially in the busyness of life, would be freshly inspired to emulate the perfect Servant: serving where they are, bringing every need to Him in prayer, and letting the things of God permeate both public worship and the domestic sphere.
Note: Due to a technical issue, there is no audio for the first few seconds of this recording. The remainder of the sermon recording is unaffected.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
John MacArthur wrote a book called One Perfect Life. This book is actually not bad. If you have a chance to get it, you can read it. It gives us an account of the one perfect life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we know that in the Bible we don’t get one account—we get four accounts. So if you may indulge me—although I’ve been told not to “trampoline preach,” meaning whatever has been preached last week we don’t simply bounce off and add on to it—I’d just like to spend five minutes to give you a very short introduction to what we are doing, since we are still at Mark chapter 1.
I had the privilege to study in Glasgow some years back. If you were to ask me where my university was, I would have to give you a few instructions.
So you might now have two landmarks and still think, “No, I still don’t know where your university is—or specifically where your class is, Nigel.”
So I’d say, “Well, there’s this building called Lord Hope.” I’m not sure how much hope it gives students, but it’s called the Lord Hope Building, and my class is exactly opposite this building.
Maybe we need one more direction just to know exactly where my class is. So I’ll tell you there is a big hospital called the Royal Infirmary. It’s one of the biggest hospitals in Glasgow, and my class is right next to it.
With these four locations, you might now have a cross-map and finally find out, “Okay, this is exactly where Nigel studies.”
And that, in essence, is what the Spirit of God is doing for us in the Bible when He gives us four accounts of the gospel and the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
I think these are familiar things that we all know about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But let us remember, even as we study Mark, that these are not watertight compartments. They all point to the same Person.
Isn’t it John’s gospel—where we are thinking about the Son of God—that tells us this same man came and washed the feet of His disciples? And in Mark, which we learned last week begins with the idea of the Servant, how does Mark 1:1 start?
“Behold, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Not “the Servant of God,” but “the Son of God.” So it is fascinating and marvelous, even as we study Mark, to look at the Lord Jesus Christ as the Servant, and yet to see various aspects of His deity.
Can I ask you: when was the last time you were inspired, when you read God’s Word, to follow after God with all your heart?
When was the last time you opened your Bible, sat down, read God’s Word and said, “God, this is what I want to follow. This is who I want to become”?
Among all the speakers whom the elders have given the privilege to preach, I think we are all praying very much that this series in Mark will inspire all of us to follow the footsteps of the perfect Servant.
I’ve divided the chapter—and I’ve taken the liberty to divide the first part as well. I have a bit of bias now: I put a bit of a foreign language there just to help a certain somebody. But that was last week, so I won’t belabor the point.
Today, I’ll just talk about my division for this section, and I would like to entitle this message:
“The Servant and…”
So, in this passage we will see:
God willing, next week we will start looking at the Servant and the Leper.
You may have noticed, as we read chapter 1 earlier, that I placed a certain emphasis on a certain word. In Mark, there’s this very wonderful sequence: you read Mark and you realize he keeps going, and going, and going. One event after another, after another.
Mark doesn’t organize his material in the same way Matthew does. Matthew arranges things thematically—he groups many of the miracles together. But Mark gives you event after event after event.
It reminds me of a certain place I recently went to. I used to think that in Singapore I really disliked Bishan and Serangoon, especially because they are full of people—very crowded. Then I went to this place called Tokyo, and it is like Bishan on steroids. It is super busy. The number of people there is crazy. You don’t walk; people push you and you just have to move along.
Recently my parents were there with me and I was very worried for my mother, because she just disappears in the flood of people. So we had to hold on to each other, and I had to tell my father, “Hold my mother’s hand”—which I’m learning is part of married life.
I’m sharing this because Mark writes for busy people, and I think maybe the Japanese need to learn a lot from Mark—but I think Singaporeans as well, because we are busy people.
Notice the word “immediately” in the chapter:
I make it about 11 times in this chapter. In the whole gospel of Mark you have around 40 occurrences. Mark starts off with the gun firing, and off we go at a very cracking pace.
So Mark is written for us—especially, I think, for busy people.
So, let’s go on. Off we go.
First we want to talk about the Servant and His disciples. We meet the Lord Jesus Christ choosing followers to bear His message.
The Lord Jesus Christ had already been doing the work Himself. We read earlier, last week, that He was proclaiming the gospel by Himself to the people around. But notice now that He chooses followers to help Him share this message.
Notice how He chooses:
He takes the initiative in verse 16. He saw Simon and Andrew and He said, “Follow Me. Follow Me.”
This is sovereign grace at work. The Lord Jesus Christ takes the initiative. Simon and Andrew did not put their hands up and say, “Can we follow You?” The Lord Jesus Christ calls them. He calls them.
Secondly, notice whom He calls. He calls men who were already working. He didn’t call people who were standing around lazily, sleeping, not doing anything. He called men who were already actively working in life.
These were fishermen. For fishermen, there were at least two kinds of work involved:
Different kinds of activity.
I suppose it’s worth saying this:
If we are not serving the Lord Jesus Christ where we are now,
perhaps it is unlikely we are going to serve Him elsewhere.
Sometimes you meet people who have aspirations: “Oh, I want to go somewhere; I will serve the Lord there; I will go there…” But the encouragement to me is this: if I am not serving the Lord where I am, I don’t think I’m going to serve the Lord somewhere else.
Notice also what the disciples are called to do. Verse 17, very simply:
“Come, follow Me.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the pattern for His people. He goes first, and they follow behind. If they go first and He follows behind, that’s not discipleship. But now the Lord Jesus Christ goes first, and they can watch what He does, and then they follow after Him.
He becomes the pattern. He blazes the trail.
Notice He doesn’t call them to go to Bible college, or to this or that program. He just says:
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Isn’t that amazing? The Lord Jesus Christ can do it totally. You don’t have to have a spiritual professional training fee or a formal training program. The Lord Jesus Christ simply says, “Follow Me.”
Notice also they are called to break away.
In verse 18, we read that they were called to forsake their nets.
“They forsook their nets and followed Him.”
Anything that might hinder their service for God was left aside—was forsaken.
They also forsook certain human relationships. We read that they left their father Zebedee. They left their father behind because the Lord Jesus Christ comes first.
That being said, notice Zebedee is not heartlessly abandoned. We read that he has hired servants. They must have had quite a good fishing business, because he has servants to help him despite his sons leaving.
One of the things we’re going to learn in Mark, especially, is that the fruit of obedience to the Savior is actually being dutiful to our parents. It’s very clear in chapter 7 when we get there, when the Lord Jesus Christ deals with the Pharisees.
And, of course, in this chapter we’ve just read, the disciples are called to very prompt obedience. The emphasis, as we’ve seen:
“Immediately… straight away… at once they forsook their nets and followed Christ.”
Let us move on to the Servant in the synagogue.
There is an interesting change of pronouns here.
All these refer to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But when you get to verse 21, notice this:
“They went into Capernaum…”
The “He” has become “they.” That is the reality of fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ moves in sovereign grace, and His disciples—those associated with Him—go along with Him and help Him.
Where He goes, they go. They are associated with the Savior.
What happens in the synagogue?
Firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches—or preaches, in that sense.
I presume He opened up the Old Testament. Mark doesn’t give us any sample of His sermon here, but Luke does. If you read Luke chapter 4, you discover that the Lord Jesus Christ opened up the Old Testament, read a representative passage, and then explained it.
Wouldn’t you think you would have gotten the most wonderful explanation—from the Author of the Word Himself?
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke with authority as the one who was the Author of the Word He was explaining. No human being could ever replicate that. He is, after all, the author of His own Word.
No wonder the people said, “Who could speak like this?” It was so compelling. They were so struck by what He said.
But along with His preaching comes a provocation. Verses 23–24 give us a shock.
In the midst of this supposedly holy place—a synagogue—is an unclean, demon-possessed man. It’s amazing what you find when you least expect it.
I was traveling in Africa last year. I went to this country called Eswatini. It’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s a very poor country. There are almost no skyscrapers; hardly any big, modern buildings. But to my surprise, we went into the town center and into what you could call a shopping mall. We went inside, just going to sit down to have a meal, and we turned to our left—Brother Abraham, his wife, and myself—and right in front of us, in the middle of nowhere, was a Chinese restaurant.
It’s really amazing what you get when you least expect it.
And here, in the synagogue, you least expect this. But in the middle of the synagogue you have a demon-possessed man.
I suppose you have a principle here:
Where God works, Satan will oppose.
The Lord Jesus Christ has been preaching, and now Satan is present in this religious institution to oppose the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps it isn’t too surprising that there might be a man with an unclean spirit there, because at this time there was a failure of religion. Judaism at this time didn’t recognize who God was, or who the Messiah was. Judaism couldn’t cure this demon-possessed man. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could deal with it.
The irony is this:
The demons instinctively knew who the Lord Jesus Christ is.
Isn’t that ironic? The humans around Him were blind to the Savior, but the demon—the evil spirit—knew who the Son of God was.
Notice in verse 25, the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked him.
You might have thought this was free publicity. The demon says: “This is the Holy One of God.” Here was the pure, undefiled Lamb of God—and yet the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked him.
This pattern of refusing demonic publicity is something we also read about in the New Testament. In Acts chapter 16, in the famous account of Paul and the demon-possessed girl, Paul himself rebuked the spirit.
The principle seems to be this:
The Lord does not want publicity from demonic or tainted sources.
So the Lord Jesus Christ tells him to “hold thy peace”—to be muzzled, like muzzling a dog’s mouth.
Look at the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 26. In case anyone thought this man was an actor, or not truly demon-possessed, the unclean spirit convulsed him. Everyone was amazed as the unclean spirit came out of him.
Notice the simplicity of the miracle:
The Lord Jesus Christ simply says, “Come out,” and the demon comes out.
Let us move on quickly to the Servant and the sick.
The Lord Jesus Christ comes out of the synagogue. In verse 29, He comes out of the synagogue and enters the house of Simon and Andrew. I really love this because it shows how the Lord Jesus Christ can move from one sphere of service into another sphere of service so easily—and show us the importance of both.
He serves in the synagogue, but He also serves in the home.
We’ve moved out of the synagogue—the public place, the congregation—and now we’ve gone into the domestic area. The Lord Jesus Christ honored the domestic sphere of life.
It’s worth noticing that Simon seems to have chosen to take care of his mother-in-law. Isn’t it lovely that spiritual things are not only in the congregational area, but also in the domestic sphere?
Spiritual things should permeate our homes.
We must always ask ourselves whether our spiritual interest lies only at the front of this hall’s door and is gone after that—or whether our spiritual interest carries on even in our home.
The things of God should truly permeate our lives.
Notice the Savior’s authority. There are four things to see here.
First, the Savior’s authority:
Verse 30 tells us Simon’s mother-in-law was sick. Immediately, the disciples tell Him about her.
Isn’t it lovely? Instinctively, instead of going first to the doctor or someone else, they instinctively tell the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a pattern for prayer.
We do not have the Lord Jesus Christ physically here with us today, but we have Him in our hearts. We have Him right at our side, as it were, to talk to Him, to speak to Him. We cannot simply walk up to Him physically like a friend and say hello—but we can pray.
And that seems to be what the disciples do. They have Him physically with them; we have Him by faith. But the pattern is the same:
And they are obviously confident in Him, because you don’t tell someone the problem unless you are hopeful that he can solve it.
Interestingly, in Mark they don’t seem to suggest what the Lord Jesus should do. They just tell Him what the problem is. I think that’s sometimes a good reminder about prayer:
Most of the time, we do not know what the answer should be.
But we can certainly take the problem to our Lord and Savior.
Second, notice the Savior’s delicacy.
Now, I’m playing on the word here. “Delicacy” doesn’t mean He tastes good! I mean His delicateness—His tenderness—towards Simon’s mother-in-law.
We read:
“He took her by the hand.”
I think that is very unique in Mark compared to the other accounts. It’s a very tender action.
The demoniac in the synagogue received a tough word of command: “Come out!” But Simon’s mother-in-law receives a tender hand.
There is a lesson for us there:
Sometimes we need a tough word of command.
Sometimes we need tender care.
Our Savior knows which is which.
Third, notice how effective the Savior’s action is.
Again, we see that word:
“Immediately the fever left her.”
Nothing else is needed. No follow-up therapy, no slow recovery. When the Savior cured people, you were perfectly cured at that moment in time.
Immediately the fever left her. Immediately she rose up and began to serve.
There is a little pattern there for us again, like salvation:
The moment we are saved, we are saved.
It is an instantaneous act of spiritual healing.
There is also a pattern for service.
The moment Peter’s mother-in-law is healed, what do we read?
“She served them.”
Immediately she serves. That’s the natural response to the grace she has received.
From verse 32 to verse 34, Mark then gives us a kind of miracle summary. The Sabbath has ended. Night has come. The Sabbath restrictions are over. Suddenly all the people come and flock to the Lord Jesus Christ:
And the Lord continues.
There is no clocking off, no “time to go home.” There is constant, tireless, gracious service by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn’t this the perfect Servant in action—an example for all of us?
Finally, let us end with the Servant in solitude.
The demands of men never intruded on the Lord’s personal time and communion with God. There is a very quick lesson for us.
Notice:
Real prayer involves determined, disciplined, and deliberate appointments with God.
It’s like Bible study. You cannot simply say, “Today I’ve ironed my shirt, I’ve washed up, I’ve cleaned my room—what do I do now? Maybe let’s do a bit of Bible study.” It’s hard to do that well.
Normally we set times to do our Bible study. And just like that, prayer must be:
The Lord Jesus Christ, in His solitude here, seems to have very regular appointments with His Father.
The result of this pattern is seen in verse 38. The disciples look for Him, find Him, and say, “Everyone is looking for You,” and He responds:
“Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also…”
Again, the repeated lesson:
His time of prayer leads Him into a time of service.
All effective service flows from prayer. He says, “Let us go now and preach.”
And we have to say what is often said:
If we are too busy to pray,
maybe we are too busy.
Let me conclude.
We have read through what is really a chapter of activity. You see a lot of “and… and… and…”—a whole sequence of events, one after another.
It is also a chapter of amazement. In verses 21 and 27, people are amazed at who this is. They marvel at what the Lord Jesus Christ does.
We are also learning that this is a chapter of unclean spirits. Israel is in a bad condition. The nation is very unclean before God.
But suffice it to say that today we have seen, most of all, the Servant in action.
There are many instances, many people, much activity in this passage. We ourselves are currently caught up with a lot of activity. I myself am caught up with a lot of activity. And in the flurry of activity in these few weeks, God has sent numerous servants into my life—as if to show me that practically there are many ways we can encourage one another, many ways we can follow examples of service.
Service to God never ends.
Be careful of burnout, yes—but continue to press on, and, as I often like to say, continue plodding on.
This is our service for God. As we all know the famous phrase:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Our Savior gives us the objective. He gives us the example, the pattern of service, and He shows us how He does it in action.
This is what we have covered today:
Next week we will cover the last one: the Servant and the Leper.
The objective and the question for us today is this:
How can you emulate the perfect Servant in your life today?
As we asked at the beginning:
What inspires you, when you read God’s Word, to follow after Him?
How do you spend your life in step with Christ?
Please read Mark 1:40–2:17 in preparation for next week.
Of course, again, if I may say so gently—I prefer it if you speak to me directly. It is nice to talk in person. But of course, feel free to use the other means that have been provided as well.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee that we have read the gospel of Mark. We have learned about our Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen His example. We have seen how He is the pattern of service for each and every one of us.
We thank Thee that we have such a perfect Savior, a perfect Savior who was the perfect Servant. We pray that in each of our lives, even as we go on with them today, tomorrow, and all the way until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again, we will be encouraged to follow after His pattern. May we be encouraged to serve Him in all our life, with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul.
So with all of this, we give Thee thanks. We pray for the activities to follow and we continue to commit them to Thee. We pray all these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Messages: 28
