Personal Salvation and Evangelism: Session One

(There is some overlap between this session and other studies available on our Website)

Introduction to the course

Our ten-session course on Personal Salvation and Evangelism is based on the following text which picks up with the concluding sentence of Peter’s Pentecost sermon:

Acts 2:36-39 (ESV) “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

52 days after crucifixion of Jesus, 50 days after resurrection, 10 days after ascension, on the first day of the week, during the Jewish festival of Pentecost, about 120 disciples gathered in an upper room waiting as instructed to be clothed with power from on high. The Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began speaking (praising, prophesying, testifying) in all the native languages of the pilgrims to Jerusalem, although they had not learned these languages. Crowds gathered. Peter explained that the unusual speech fulfilled the words of the prophet Joel that men and women, young and old, and people of all social classes would be empowered to prophesy, and that the Spirit was being sent by Jesus, proving that Jesus who had been crucified had been raised from the dead and exalted to the position of authority from which he could send this miraculous power to his disciples. The point of it all is: Jesus the crucified is Lord and Christ.

Many in the crowd were persuaded that Peter was speaking rightly. In great earnestness they cried out, “What shall we do?” They had already believed Peter’s good news about Jesus. All that remained was for them to solidify that faith and receive its benefits. Peter told them to repent, be baptized, and to receive both the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. On the basis of this message, about three thousand people were baptized on the first day of the church’s public ministry.

We will devote three sessions to faith, one each to repentance, baptism, and forgiveness, and four to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Faith in Jesus’ Gospel: “God Reigns!”

Part 1: The experience of the reign of God

We can see much about Jesus’ kingdom ministry in Mark 1:14—8:21. We will hit some of the highlights in this session.

In Mark 1:1-13, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. The voice of God identifies Jesus in terms of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1 as Royal Son and Suffering Servant. As the Royal Son Jesus was to be the agent of God’s reigning power. We come now to the theme statement of Jesus’ ministry:

Mark 1:14-15 (ESV) Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

What is the kingdom of God? Some say that it is the realm in which the faithful will live eternally. Some say that it is wherever we submit to God’s will, letting God reign over our behavior. Neither of those answers is wrong, but neither covers all of what Jesus means by the term. The kingdom of God is also where God’s reigning power is being demonstrated in signs and wonders and in the turning back of Satan’s hold on human existence. An overall definition is that the kingdom of God is wherever God’s reign is visible and active. What Jesus was declaring is that the eternal kingdom was breaking into human life through his ministry. What he promised is that the kingdom would continue to break into human life through the ministries of his faithful, Spirit-empowered followers.

The time is fulfilled = the end of a time period of several centuries in which God’s revelatory communication was practically nonexistent. See Zechariah 13:2-6. During that time, in the absence of the recognized living and active presence of God, the wealthy, priestly Sadducees had entrenched themselves in the leadership of the Jerusalem temple, and the middle-class, legal-expert Pharisees, with their oral traditions that applied ritual law more broadly to every circumstance of life, had become the elite culture-shapers. Jesus declares that the new time period he is introducing will be governed by the good news that God reigns and that God’s reigning power is close at hand for those who have faith and who turn to live by kingdom values.

Mark 1:21-39. Speaking as a visiting rabbi in the Capernaum synagogue service, Jesus startled the crowd with his authoritative manner of teaching and with his demonstration of his authority to cast out demons. On the Sabbath afternoon, he healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Then when the Sabbath ended at sunset, a huge Capernaum crowd gathered at the door to receive the healings and exorcisms that came through Jesus.

In the early morning, Jesus went out in the wilderness to pray. His disciples found him to tell him that that the crowds were waiting for him. Jesus declined to be controlled by popular pressure. Fresh from prayer, he was focused on his heavenly Father’s calling, which was at this time to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God throughout Galilee.

Mark 1:40-45. In Jewish perspective, touching a leper would make one ritually unclean and would require cleansing rituals. But with Jesus, it worked in reverse: Jesus was not made unclean; rather, the leper was cleansed by his touch. Surely that is evidence of God’s reign.

Mark 2:1-12. Jesus’ preaching, teaching, prophecy, and miracles combined to proclaim the reigning power of God, and crowds were drawn to the combination. Four men, unable to get a paralyzed friend in the door of the house where Jesus was, took him up on the roof, opened a hole in the roof, and lowered the man through the roof. Jesus praised their great faith. To the paralytic, Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven you.” Some scribes/rabbis/teachers of the law were observing and were offended by Jesus’ taking on himself the divine prerogative of forgiving sins. To demonstrate his kingdom authority to forgive sins, Jesus did what they would have considered a more difficult thing: he healed the paralytic.

Jesus refers to himself by the title Son of Man. It can simply mean human being. But Jesus also used the title in a way that flows from Daniel 7:13-14, where the Son of Man is the agent of God’s eternal kingdom and the instrument of bringing final judgment on evil.

Mark 2:13-17. Jesus called the tax collector Levi (Matthew) to join his disciples. Tax collectors were viewed as traitors to Judaism and as dishonest thieves. Jesus used Levi as a link into the community of moral outcasts who needed to hear his message. He explained to critics that it was for such outcasts that he had come. The reign of God could reach people that the respectable religious people of the culture would not go near.

Mark 2:18-20. Kingdom ministry can be compared to a wedding feast, a time for joy and celebration. There may be occasions to refrain from celebration when we are earnestly seeking God’s presence, but there are also occasions when we need to celebrate God’s reigning presence. That is why Jesus did not ask his disciples to fast as they participated in his active kingdom ministry.

2:21-22. Jesus’ kingdom ministry offends the religious authorities. He explains that old wineskins will not hold new wine, that old, shrunken cloth cannot be successfully patched by new, unshrunken cloth. The point is that the kingdom ministry Jesus introduces will not fit within the traditions of the leaders. A less probable but possible interpretation is that the new traditions of the Pharisees will not fit within God’s returning kingly activity. Either way, it is not a fit.

2:23-28; 3:1-6. Jesus’ opponents repeatedly charged him and his disciples with violating the Sabbath. The Sabbath existed as part of God’s plan for his chosen people, and, from the time of human sin onwards, God’s plan includes restoration of broken humanity. Jesus is showing that it is not wrong to act as an agent of God’s restorative work, even on the Sabbath. Enabling people to live in the fullness of God’s will and bringing people relief from oppression is what the reign of God is all about, and the reign of God is what the Sabbath is all about. Jesus said, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” As the Son of Man, the agent of the kingdom of God, he had authority to interpret the Sabbath law to fulfill its purpose, not just to keep its outward observance. I believe that for Christians, the observance of the Sabbath law is fulfilled through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must set significant disciplined time each week to lay aside our work and to rest and be renewed by Word and Spirit; some of that time must be alone and some with other believers, but this need not happen from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown or from Sunday’s awakening to Sunday’s retiring. Flexibility is possible, but the principle must be fulfilled.

3:13-19. The list of disciples includes not only Matthew the tax collector for Rome, but also Simon the Zealot, a revolutionary against Rome. Disciples of such diverse backgrounds surely had to put aside their previous causes to focus on the kingdom ministry.

3:20-35. This passage is what scholars call a Markan sandwich. The bread of this sandwich involves Jesus’ natural family. In the first piece of bread (3:20-21), Jesus is surrounded by a crowd so heavy that he and his disciples have no time or space to eat. Jesus’ family wants to seize him to protect him from himself, for they believe that he is mentally ill.

In the second piece of bread (3:31-35), his mother and brothers are standing outside the crowd calling for him. When this is reported to Jesus, he explains that his family consists of those who do the will of God. The point of these bread slices is that the kingdom of God cannot be domesticated; Jesus cannot compromise his divine calling even to please his family, nor can any who would do the will of God. Of course, fulfilling family duties may be part of God’s will for us and part of how we model kingdom values, and so discernment is required. Nevertheless, Jesus is making a necessary point.

The filling of the sandwich (3:22-30) concerns some scribes/rabbis who claimed that Jesus performed exorcisms by the power of the prince of demons. Jesus replied that, if Satan was casting out his own troops, then his house was divided and would not stand. But Jesus is able to plunder Satan’s house by first binding Satan, exercising the power of his ministry, the reigning power of God (Luke and Matthew make this point even clearer: see Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). Jesus then says that all sins will be forgiven human beings except the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. So long as we are mislabeling the good, liberating, redeeming, healing work of the Spirit as evil, we are not in a position to receive forgiveness for ourselves.

Mark 4:1-34 and the corresponding Matthew 13:1-52 report parables of the kingdom. The parables, like any living word of God, may well cause those who do not want a living God, to harden their hearts in opposition. Jesus came to reveal truths about the kingdom that were previously not known by religious experts. His parables show that the kingdom is breaking into human experience in ways that had not been expected, in hidden ways that reveal the condition of human hearts. We are called to be good soil to receive the seeds of the kingdom, welcoming its breaking into our lives.

We could continue with many examples of Jesus’ kingdom ministry: calming of storms (4:35-41); freeing the demon-possessed even on Gentile territory (5:1-20); another Markan sandwich in which the filling involves healing a woman made unclean by a continual flow of blood and the bread concerns the raising of the deceased daughter of the ruler of the synagogue (Mark 5:21-43); the sharing of the kingdom ministry with the disciples (Mark 6:7-13; see Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-20); feeding of multitudes (Mark 6:30-44 and 8:1-21); walking on water (6:45-52); healing multitudes (6:53-56); rejecting the traditions of the Pharisees (Mark 7:1-23); exorcising the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman (7:24-30); healing a deaf man (Mark 7:31-37). The point: nothing is impossible to the reign of God that Jesus has introduced.

Part 2: The ethics of the reign of God

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls for a kingdom-based righteousness higher than the traditions of the very strict Pharisees, a righteousness based on God’s intent in creation, a righteousness completely representing God’s holy and loving character. He shows how legalism falls short of reaching God’s purposes and then shows how the reign of God offers paths out of the muddle. While Jesus suggests specific actions believers may take to draw closer to living God’s way, in the final analysis what Jesus suggests is possible only by the aid of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In this way, Jesus points the way for us to move beyond such things as hatred, lust, retaliation, phony piety, greed, worry, and self-righteousness.

The basic radical ethical demand Jesus makes is:

Matthew 5:48 (ESV) You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Perfect does not so much mean without error as it means with wholehearted desire. In other words, if we want to live according to God’s will, we must not have divided hearts about wanting our lives to be godly. We cannot settle for looking good. We have to press on toward the total plan of God for our lives. This is far more than adhering to a law code. It is living in such a way that others may behold God’s redeeming and reconciling love in our lives. The point is not what we have achieved; the point is that we are not settling for a lesser destination; we are not making our own achievements the benchmark by which others are to be judged.

The corresponding promises he makes include verses such as:

Matthew 5:6 (ESV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 6:33 (ESV) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 7:7-8 (ESV) Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

What we should be asking, seeking, and knocking for is the Holy Spirit: Luke 11:13 (ESV) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

The Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to live in such a way that we show forth the character of God. We open ourselves to being controlled by the Holy Spirit out of our deep and single-hearted desire to live in accord with God’s will. If we truly seek first the reign of God, then all needed good things including the indwelling Spirit will follow.

Conclusion

The central theme of Jesus’ ministry was, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the good news.” When he set out on a preaching mission, it was for the purpose of proclaiming the reign of God. When he healed people, it was to show God’s power to overcome disease. When he forgave people, it was to show God’s power to overcome sin. When he exorcized or delivered people, it was to show God’s power to overcome evil. When he challenged people to love their enemies, it was to show God’s power to overcome oppression. When he challenged people to give generously to the poor, it was to show God’s power to overcome scarcity. Everything Jesus did demonstrated the kingdom of God.

To the discouraged, Jesus brings encouragement. To the enchained, he brings liberation. To the dead, he brings new life. The point of all that he does is to show that the reigning power of God’s love is available in the midst of our lives.

When Jesus sent out his disciples to expand his ministry, he assigned them to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, and he gave them the same power he had to heal and deliver people. Jesus wants us, like his first disciples, to have the ability to engage in the kingdom ministry. He will enable us who believe in him to demonstrate the reigning power of God as we proclaim the good news. This is not for our own glorification. It is so that people who are overwhelmed by the power of Satan, seduced by his glitzy temptations, intimidated by his worldly clout, undermined by his insidious reasoning, may have an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the otherwise unseen kingdom of God, and, thus, be delivered from Satan’s deceptions.

The goal of our ministry is to help people discover that the God who made us, the God who loves us, is powerfully real, powerfully present, powerfully relevant to the living of our lives. We can carry out this ministry only if God is powerfully present in our own experience. And that will happen only when we believe the good news Jesus proclaimed and turn around our ways of thinking and living to accord with that good news.

Jesus lived in the power of the God and then took that power with him as he walked amidst the crowded streets, across the dusty harvest fields, or along the teeming seashore. He took the reigning power of God into encounters with grieving widows, demoniac men, untouchable lepers, disreputable drunkards and prostitutes, self-satisfied religious leaders, struggling fishermen, enemy soldiers, revolutionary bandits, corrupt tax collectors, in short, into encounter with everyone he met.

One way we can enter the kingdom is to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what God is doing around us so that we can join in with what God is doing. We can also take the indwelling presence of God into every encounter with our fellow human beings. That should be enough to give us something worthwhile to do with our lives!

Discussion Questions

1. When or where in our lives have we seen God’s reigning power clearly evident?

2. What are some of the changes that might occur in our lives if we began to take more seriously the surpassing righteousness to which Jesus calls us?

3. To whom might we proclaim the reign of God, and what evidence might we expect to demonstrate our message?

You are welcome to use our resources in your work for Jesus. You may use them without charge so long as you are not charging others for the use to which you put them. We ask that you give published credit to the author and to www.Christviewmin.org for any such uses and that you leave the copyright notice attached. If you find material on this site helpful, please consider supporting Christview Ministries through donations and by buying resources from our Christview Ministries Store.