THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God

Part II: The Perfect Service Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 1:1-10:52

B. God's Comprehensive Sovereignty In Christ's And His Disciples' Ministry Callings

(Mark 1:14-20)

I. Introduction

A. As we learned in our first lesson in this series, Mark's Gospel presents the perfect service of God's Perfect Servant, Jesus, with Mark's focus of having rebounded unto upright Christian service from personal failure.

B. At times, such failure arises from an inadequate respect for the sovereignty of God's calling of one to serve Him, but Jesus exampled and directed His disciples in that comprehensive divine sovereignty as follows:

II. God's Comprehensive Sovereignty In Christ's And His Disciples' Ministry Callings, Mark 1:14-20.

A. Jesus exampled the Father's comprehensive sovereignty in His ministry of service to the Father, Mark 1:14:

1. Following Jesus' formal introduction to Israel at John's baptism and God's public attestation of His credentials, and following His temptation by Satan that certified His approval by God the Father (Mark 1:1-11, 12-13), John the Baptizer was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, Mark 1:14a with Mark 6:17-18.

2. This event might humanly have caused another man to want to avoid starting a public ministry lest He face the same fate as John, but it did not: Jesus exampled unconditional obedience to the Father's sovereign call by reacting to news of John's imprisonment in publicly preaching in Galilee, Herod Antipas' own realm, giving the Gospel of the kingdom of God, Mark 1:14-15; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Mark 6:14.

B. Jesus then directed His disciples to God's comprehensive, sovereign call to God's work for them, Mk. 1:16-20:

1. Christ directed Peter and Andrew to God's comprehensive, sovereign call to His ministry, Mark 1:16-18:

a. As He walked along the Sea of Galilee in Herod Antipas' realm after Herod arrested John for his ministry, Jesus saw Simon and Andrew his brother as fishermen casting a net into the sea, Mark 1:16.

b. Christ said unto them, "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men," Mark 1:17.

c. This was just opposite how men then normally became disciples: usually, men would themselves CHOOSE WHO they wanted to follow as their teacher (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 326), but Jesus here SOVEREIGNLY CALLED these men to follow Him, indicating a SOVEREIGN DIVINE CALL!

d. Peter and Andrew "immediately" (euthus, Ibid., p. 108), and thus without question, yielded to Christ's sovereign call to leave their net, and with it their fishing occupation, in total abandonment to what costs might be involved in suffering from Herod Antipas in doing so, to follow the Lord Jesus, Mark 1:18.

2. Christ directed James and John to God's comprehensive, sovereign call to His ministry, Mark 1:19-20:

a. Going a little farther along the shore, Jesus saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee, mending fishing nets in a boat, so He "immediately" (euthus,, Ibid.) called them to follow Him, Mark 1:19-20a.

b. James and John likewise instantly left their father Zebedee in the ship along with their father's hired servants in what was obviously an extensive business operation, and followed Jesus, Mark 1:20b.

c. This choice by these men involved (1) not only total abandonment to what costs might be involved in suffering from Herod Antipas in following the public Servant of God in Jesus, but also (2) the likely high financial price to be born by their father in losing the help of his sons, and with the boat, nets and hired servants, not to mention (3) the ensuing family relationship tensions that could arise in this business abandonment, all to follow the sovereign call of God in service! (4) Besides, the loss of his two sons might have hurt Zebedee's ability to hire servants since he no longer had his two sons to help him, leading to a loss of employment for these hired men and the effects that would have on their families! (5) With the potential loss of employment all around, news of the departure of Zebedee's sons to follow Jesus could have had a ripple negative effect in the usually tight-knit Hebrew community from which Zebedee hailed.

Lesson: Regardless of the human threat to starting his public ministry in Herod Antipas' realm following Herod's arrest of John for his ministry, Jesus exampled the Father's comprehensive sovereign call to service by coming into Galilee to preach the Gospel. Then, regardless of Herod's threat to His men, regardless of occupational, financial, family or community effects in the lives of these men and others to the contrary, Jesus sovereignly called Peter, Andrew, James and John, and they heeded God's comprehensive sovereign call to service.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved, Mark 1:15; John 3:16. (2) May we heed God's call to serve Him as being comprehensively sovereign, that is, one that takes precedence over all other concerns to the contrary.