STORY OF THREE MINISTRIES
Text: Mark 1:2-11
Mark 1:2-11 shows us about three ministries, how God works with ministers. First, God had a plan. I don't say 'God has a plan', because God had it planned long ago. God has a big plan and a bunch of smaller plans. We see here, for example, that Isaiah described God's plan for John's ministry and Jesus' ministry seven hundred years in advance. The third minister, well ... we'll get to him in a few minutes and talk about God's plan for him.
John didn't just fall into his ministry. God prepared the way. Luke tells us that an angel told Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
God also made John's listeners receptive to his message -- baptism of repentance. Let's face it - with a lot of people, telling them "You need to repent" is like recommending root canal for their soul. You know you need it, but "can't we put it off just a little while? It's not hurting that bad." Then you bite into something you should not have bit into and suddenly it hurts real badly! When that happens, what do you say? ... "Oh my God, oh my God, oh God, oh God, oh God! Oh, Jesus! God, that hurts! Oh God, oh God, oh God!"
I never heard anybody call for Harry or Tom or Fred. Not even that third minister [calls for them]. I wonder why?
"Dentistry" on your spirit can be pretty painful -- sometimes there's just no easy way to do it. We all want that "quick fix". Folks are always looking for a "sin epidural". Some people look for spiritual Novocain in a bottle, some in a needle, or a crack pipe or jumping from bed to bed. If you got something rotten, something has to come out. If you got a rotten tooth, putting junk in it ain't gonna fix it! If you got a rotten life, putting junk in it .... Hello? (Relationships, Marriages, Jobs, Churches, Pastors)
Some folk think they can use a "junk Jesus" for a quick fix. When they bite into some sin that hurts, they want to run to the spiritual doctor, get a temporary filling, and run right back out and do what they were doing before! Somebody say Amen? Can’t you hear them right now? "Just give me a big shot O' Jesus and I'll be on my way! Put it on my tab." (Can’t even pay for the big short O’ Jesus; isn’t that just like us?)
Jesus is not a flu shot! Repentance means to intentionally turn away from wrong and intentionally turn toward righteousness! That's what John was preaching!
The Jews of the time were church folk. Oh, they knew that Gentiles needed to be baptized, but they were God's chosen people. They even had it better than church folk today. You see, to be church folk today, you gotta show up at least two or three times a month. But the Jewish church folk John was preaching to ... they could just kill a lamb once a year, and they thought that was enough!
God prepared the way for John, giving him the Holy Spirit and his listener’s receptive hearts. But John was a preparation, too. John was a preparation for Jesus. And, of course, Jesus is the preparation for the third minister.
But let's look at what John did. A lot of folks today, their idea of Christianity is "What stuff is God gonna give me?"
John's idea of "creature comforts" was ... eating bugs. The Bible says he ate locusts. We think that's gross, but apparently it kept him well-fed. John didn't wear a Rolex. Sure, he wore custom-made suits, but ... they were camel's hair!
John accepted his ministry obediently, on God's term. He didn't say "God, let's make a deal!" It wasn't "God, why don't we do it my way?"
John didn't take the glory for himself. He did his ministry in a Christ-like manner -- with boldness and meekness and humility. He told it like it was -- "You people need to repent! You think you're part of God's 'in' crowd. You wanna be God's roadie! 'Oh, yeah, hey -- I'm with the band. Yeah, me and God ... yeah, we're real tight. Hey, the Big Guy don't make a move without talking to me first!" John said "Hey, I'm just doing what God said to do. I'm not the guy. The real guy is coming after me." John knew he was the warm- up act. He was just the announcer -- he didn't try to be the star.
John had the Holy Ghost. You know the saying "When things get tough, the tough get going?" When things got tough, the Spirit in John just stood and told Herod "If it's wrong, it's wrong."
Because he had the Holy Ghost, John knew that if he trusted in God, you could kill him, but you couldn't keep him killed! You see, the Old Testament said the Messiah would be cut off from the land of the living, but after the suffering of His soul He would again see the light of life. Do you know the pyramids were built as resurrection machines? Even before Abraham people knew that some day death would not be the end.
John obeyed unto death and is now enjoying his reward. He ain't dead, he's in heaven. And you can bet he's gonna be in the front lines when that Rider comes back on that white horse leading the armies of heaven. "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones, to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
John didn't have a preacher's license. He didn't have Doctor of Divinity, Reverend, magna cum laude diplomas and certificates hanging on the wall. But God gave him what he needed to do the ministry God planned for him -- the Holy Ghost to show him what to do. God put him in the right place -- among listeners with receptive hearts.
John's ministry was quite successful for awhile, but then he got arrested and ultimately had his head cut off. His disciples hung around for awhile but eventually faded away.
But I want you to know one more thing about John's ministry. Before it died out ... GOD showed up IN PERSON and said "Good job! --- I'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE!" God showed up -- Jesus Christ -- God in the flesh. God showed up and said "You can't handle it, BUT I CAN!" And He's been at it ever since!
I want you to understand that Jesus was fully human. Even He needed the Holy Spirit to do His ministry. Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit and was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
In our passage we see the same things with Jesus' ministry that we saw with John's. God planned the ministry, then He prepared the way. Jesus accepted the ministry obediently on God's terms even though He didn't know exactly what it would involve. It wasn't an easy ministry, but God didn't promise things would be easy, and Satan certainly didn't either! He showed up in both ministries! Only with Jesus, his "I'll just kill God's preacher!" tactic backfired big-time.
God planned the ministry, He prepared the way, the chosen minister accepted the ministry, and, once again, God gave the minister what He needed -- the Holy Spirit and people willing to accept Him -- a faithful remnant.
And one more time, when Jesus -- human Jesus -- had taken the ministry as far as He could, God showed up in person -- God the Holy Spirit -- and said "Good job! -- I'll take it from here!"
And who is that third minister? He's me. What? You don't see "Rick" in there anywhere? Okay, I lied. It's not a third minister. It's a third and a fourth, and a fifth, and a twenty-thousandth and a fifty- millionth minister. It's him and him and her. It's all of us -- every believer. We are all a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Spiritual sacrifices, ministry, are our acceptable sacrifice.
And God will make a way out of no way, for you. He planned a ministry for you. Do you know what it is? Ask Him. He has prepared the way for you; He didn't just throw His Son out and say "Here, You deal with it!" He gave Him the Holy Spirit. He sent a forerunner. You are His son, too! You are His daughter, too! He's prepared a way for you, too!
Now you have to accept your ministry -- obediently -- on God's terms. It's His plan, not yours. If it's your plan, you have to provide the reward! If it's His plan, He provides the reward! Do you think you can provide a better reward for yourself than God can? Are you gonna provide the Holy Spirit?
And when I've taken things as far as I can, there's one more thing I'm waiting to hear ...
"Thanks! I'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE. I'll take your burdens. I'll take your problems. I'll handle your failures. I'll set things right. I fixed it for Job. I brought Jesus back from the dead in a glorified body. I can handle your problems. I can deal with your troubles. I know a whole lot more folk than you do . . . I made 'em.
"I can handle it . . . .
"I'm God!"
