Why Studying Mark Is Important

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Planning sermon series regarding direction, content, and schedule can be a daunting task.  When I decided that I wanted to study a Gospel and focus on discipleship, I chose Mark because of the focus.  As I drafted out potential sermons, I first came up with 48 sermons and tried to reduce the number but felt like our church family would miss out if I did.

What would be the problem with focusing on Jesus for 1 year?

In reality, I think we could spend every waking hour of every single day studying the life of Jesus and still be longing for more.  While 1 year in a church calendar might seem daunting, we might not realize who we are dealing with then.

Here are 5 reasons it is important to study the life of Jesus through the Gospel of Mark:

  1. Unfinished Commission – If people haven’t heard the gospel of Jesus, the Church’s job is unfinished.  In Jesus’ commission to His followers, He said for us to teach all that He commanded (Matt. 28:19-20).  In order to teach all that He commanded, we must know it ourselves!
  2. Unparalleled Narrative – No one did the things Jesus did.  No one said the things Jesus said.  Studying the Gospels can be a daunting task, but every hour spent leaves you craving for more.  So much could have been written on the life of Jesus that the world itself could not contain all the volumes that could have been written about His short yet full life (John 20:31).  There’s no narrative like His – we need to study it!
  3. Unstoppable Message – If you hear and apply the message of Jesus, your life will change.  In our days, people are always drawn to study topics like marriage, parenting, end times, finances, government, etc.  If you are going to study those topics, wouldn’t it be best to hear from the one who set all of that up?  In the Gospels, you find Jesus speaking on those topics that the world wants to hear and so much more.
  4. Unending Opportunity – I love studying all the Gospels, but the Gospel of Mark is unique in the sense that he highlights Jesus calling for people to follow Jesus and follow Him immediately.  Each passage has a unique way of calling people towards discipleship and obedience.  While you can study any book, the Bible is the only book that studies us!
  5. Unsure Culture – Mark wrote to the Romans.  This culture was fast-paced and religiously-confused.  They were unsure regarding the identity of Jesus and Mark wanted to let them know of Jesus’ true identity and who was the first person to truly recognize it (spoiler alert – it was a Roman, cf. Mark 15:39).  We live in a culture confused as well that needs to hear the truth regarding the most important man who ever lived.

Let’s study the Gospel of Mark and heed the call to follow Jesus immediately.