We are beginning a series from the first six chapters of the book of Mark: This series is designed to help us understand the difference between authentic Christ following and the “religion” of our day. I would like you to spend time reading and rereading the book of Mark in the next few weeks. If you want to get the most out of this series familiarize yourself with the book or at least the first six chapters.
Introduction: 
There is something that we should hunger for in this country more than anything else I can think of and that is authenticity. We long for it in the political process, advertising and especially in the religious world. It just seems like authenticity has disappeared. There is a sense of cynicism and skepticism about those in authority.
Webster defines authenticity as to be believed, trustworthy or genuine. It is something that is represented and that is factually true. Wouldn’t it be great to hear or see advertising that was truthful? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to believe that the person doing the add is genuine and that they are truthful?
Webster defines synthetic as something not real. Man made or artificial. Developed by a chemical process instead of natural origin.
We are starting a new series and I wanted to go back to a time in my past where it wasn’t so much the authentic verses synthetic but in a way it was. I have talked before about tennis shoes. I give you my short photo “show and tell” essay of Converse versus Stiffler’s department store shoes.
In today’s world there is a lot of synthetic Christianity going on. It’s not that there are not some truths but too often they are majoring on byproducts of Christ following. There are many different brands:
Prosperity gospel: Follow Jesus you will be healthy, wealthy and everything will be wonderful.
Power gospel: If you just follow Jesus supernatural miracles will happen around you everyday.
Self esteem gospel: The bible wasn’t written to help me change the world but to make Jesus my therapist and help my self esteem.
Return to the law gospel: A group that teaches we should do all the laws of the Old Testament and become a theocracy.
The only way to tell the authentic from the synthetic is to get close enough to God to be able to tell the real from the fake. In regard to all of these and many more you need to know that when you walk with God there are elements of truth in most of these brands. I have been blessed financially in times of need back in my past, I have seen God do a miracle when He chooses. I’ve even seen people get help for mental and emotional health issues. The Bible even says the law is instructional. The issue is not is there truth in these brands of Christianity but what is authentic Christ following.
Let’s do an overview of what Jesus said and how it plays against what is being said today. 
1. What did Jesus say?
There are four books at the beginning of the New Testament and they are written by four different people. They are written with four different purposes. They are written to four different people groups.
Explanation of the Gospels: 
The composite nature of the New Testament gospels is how you get the whole picture. If you took pictures of your house you would take maybe four different shots but you would not see everything unless you put them together. We are going to take one slice out of the four gospels and look at what Mark had to say regarding how Christ followers should live. There is no contradiction you just have to look at all the pictures together. You might say oh look our house has a gabled roof and someone else might say no we have a flat roof. You both would be right you just need to put your pictures together.
We need to know how Mark fits in to the whole gospel. 
2. Examining Mark’s Gospel
The Author: Mark mom was a lady named Mary, according to Acts the church used to meet in his home. His dad was probably Roman because of Mark’s two names. (John Mark) His uncle was Barnabas and a very close friend of Paul. On Paul’s first missionary journey Mark stopped and went home. He quit. He bailed. We don’t know why.
We should take courage because this book of the Bible was written by a man who started to follow Christ and His agenda for his life and failed. On the second missionary journey Barnabas tried to take Mark along again and Paul wanted no part of him. The division was so deep that Barnabas left Paul and took Mark to Cyprus.
We find out 29 years later that Paul refers to him as the faithful servant Mark. (everyone else deserted me except Mark.)
Peter in First Peter, refers to Mark as his beloved son in the faith. We are told through church history that Mark had thousands of converts but later was thrown into prison for his faith and later burned to death.
It’s background and purpose:
He blew it but was restored and God used Him in a mighty way. He wrote this book to a bunch of people who were being persecuted for their faith. They were being killed for their faith in Christ. That is a level of faith that none of us in this room no about.
Most of you will really begin to understand this book as you read through it this week. (suggestive sale).
Its themes:
You will begin to grasp it as you read through it at one sitting multiple times. As you go through it look for these themes. It is a cutting edge book with lots of movement. The word immediately appears over 40 times. 12 out of 16 chapters begin with the world “and.” This is a book that feels more like a fast paced movie.
The theme of the book is found in the first chapter but as you are turning to the first chapter lets notice what it not there. There is no genealogy, we know nothing of Jesus parents or childhood. John the Baptist gets a couple of verses and he quotes Isaiah followed by a couple of verses about the temptation. It takes Matthew three and a half chapters to get as far as Mark gets in a few verses. The Romans don’t care where he came from they want to know what he does.
The theme begins in Mark 1:14-18. Jesus introduces the concept of why he came.
Mission: “14Later on, after John was arrested by Herod Antipas, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God's Good News. 15"At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
Vision: 16One day as Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon[g] and his brother, Andrew, fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 17Jesus called out to them, "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 18And they left their nets at once and went with him.”
The theme of the book is simply “Follow me.” If someone asked you to follow them you would have several questions. Who are you? You would want to know where they came from and where they were going. Why are you going?
The first half of the book answers the question: Who is Christ?
The second half of the book answers the question: Where is He going?
He answer that by three major predictions: He says, “I am going to the cross.” Then he teaches them something. Again He will say, “I am going to the cross.” Then he will teach them something. He does this three times. The final eight days of Jesus life are found in chapters eight through sixteen. It is here that he demonstrates what He is talking about. This series is going to last past Easter and into May. We will take two Sundays off during April to look at the end of Jesus earthly life.
Here is a picture of the Christ of Mark: Here are some themes to help you as you read through the book this week.
His authority: Right after He says, follow me He goes into a synagogue and those listening say, “He teaches with authority.” He even drove a demon out of someone. How do you establish authority? You do it with power so the second theme you need to look for is miracles.
His Miracles: There’s a section from chapter two to three that contains five miracles back to back. Each one deal with His power. He has authority and power but why you need to ask.
His focus is service: Everything He does is about serving others. All the miracles are serving kinds of things. He is not granting Cadillac chariots.
He serves in the midst of opposition. We are given authority and power to serve. We will be opposed if we are authentic Christ followers. From chapter three after the five miracles the religious leaders start plotting how to kill him.
The religious leaders of Christ day were trying to figure out how to kill Jesus. This would be like the ministerial association getting together and meeting with killing Jesus as their agenda. (I attended a few ministerial meeting where I wondered if that wasn’t on some people agenda even today. At least His message.)
Mark’s message is we are given authority and power in order to serve in the midst of persecution. This was given to a bunch of first century Christian who were in the middle of being persecuted and killed for their faith.
It’s Message – Mark 1:14-18 “Follow Me” Follow me with my authority and power into the midst of opposition. If Jesus got opposition we will get it if we are truly following Him. The climax of the book happens starting in chapter eight.
27Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
28"Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets." He then asks the question that everyone in this room needs to answer if your intention is to follow Him. He is asking today even, “Who do you say that I am?” This is not intellectual. This is just a practical question asked based on seeing everything that has happened in Jesus life so far. This is one of Peter’s finest moments.
29Then Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?"
Peter replied, "You are the Messiah." 30But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
It is right after this moment that the book of Mark takes a major change in direction.
31Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. 32As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that.[b]
Jesus says follow me and they say who are you. He says I am Lord and God demonstrated by His miracles and He teaches that He came to serve in the midst of opposition. They finally catch on to who He is and they ask where are you going? Here is how He tells them. He makes a prediction about His death but right after this we will learn later in this series that He begins to teach where real power comes from. Does power come from personality strength or position? Does it come from wealth or fame?
He will teach them that true power comes from really knowing Him and from prayer and fasting. He even teaches where greatness comes from. Two guys come and they want to be great and Jesus tells them that humility is the key to greatness. Be the last, serve others, put others needs ahead of your own and you will be exalted. He then makes another prediction which is I am going to the cross again. He then teaches about real honor and where honor comes from. It comes from serving. It comes from servant hood.
From chapter eleven on we have the final teaching of Jesus, Follow me on the road to the cross and we find from eleven on a graphic description of Jesus living out all that He has been teaching. He has authority and power but because He came to serve, he humbles Himself and in a moment of true honor lays down His life for His friends and for all who would follow Him even to this day. He has true greatness as He sacrifices Himself for the world.
Who are you: I am the Lord.
Where are you going? I am going to the cross.
Follow me. Where? To get a better self image? No. Where? To have some neat spiritual experiences? No Where? To change America? No. Follow me with My power on the road of discipleship in the midst of opposition. Will you have a better self image if you truly follow Christ? Yes. Will you see some miraculous things? Yes. Will America and the world begin to change? You better believe it. When the salt and light increase His message spreads. It’s simple follow Him. The authentic message of Jesus Christ is us following Him. Not programs or building buildings or kingdoms here on this earth. 
3. Why study the Gospel of Mark? (Why should we do this?)
This is summarized in chapter eight.
“34Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen. "If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. 35If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it.
You see, we really have to fight this because the American message is save your life, get people to serve you, get more, focus on you, serve yourself, make it all about you. How’s that working out for you? We are bankrupt.
But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.
36And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul[c] in the process? 37Is anything worth more than your soul? 38If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels."
Jesus is teaching us something that we don’t hear much today. It is the great paradox of life. The more we focus on ourselves the less we have but the more we become outward in our focus and serving in our nature then we will find eternal and lasting reward. If you want to find your life you have to lose it first. That’s His message. The way you lose it is to follow the Lord on this road less traveled called discipleship. Where to? To the cross. This is not a popular feel good message. But don’t you hunger for something down in your soul that is meaningful, and purposeful, and that brings fulfillment and a sense of authenticity. Jesus said this is the only way to travel. You want the superficial things of this world go ahead and invest in attaining them and you will find that there is no lasting power or fulfillment in them. Every person that is addicted to something needs to hear this message. (By the way not all addictions are drugs, sex or alcohol.)
Here why we need to study this book.
I want you to know that we are heading for the cross. That’s where Jesus is taking us. Are you ready to follow? Let’s watch this reflective video together.
Sermon developed from material by Chip Ingram and the series Cutting Edge Christianity