Before we read Scripture, let me just say a word of thanks to David and to the church for a very warm welcome and to the missions committee. Not only myself, but my wife and children have felt Very welcomed this weekend, so thank you very much for your kindness to us. And as we bring this mission conference to a close, I thought we would deal with a topic that sends us out with real enthusiasm, so the title for this evening's sermon is Mission and Martyrdom. Mark chapter 6 and verse 14 to 29. Let me pray for us, and then we'll stand for the reading of God's Word. Father, in your light we see light, and so we pray that by the illumination of your Holy Spirit, you would illuminate the reading and the preaching of your Word so that we would see Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly. And we ask this in his name, the one who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever praised, Amen. Please stand for the reading of Mark's Gospel, chapter 6, and verses 14 to 29. This is the Word of our God. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others said, he is Elijah. And others said, he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. And he vowed to her, whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom.' And she went out and said to her mother, for what should I ask? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the king was exceedingly sorry. But because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately, The king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought him his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb." Please be seated. In 2014, the world was introduced to ISIS, or the Islamic State as they have become known. I wonder if you remember the scenes that we saw and heard about back in 2014. Christians were being murdered, killed, beheaded for following Jesus. I remember listening to the moving testimony of Canon Andrew White, known as the Vicar of Baghdad. He was vicar of St. George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, Iraq. I remember hearing him describe the massacre of some of the Christians in Baghdad. He spoke of Christians running down the street, being attacked by men with swords. He told of one man from his church who had returned up north with his family, and Isis men had kidnapped his son and butchered him to death." He spoke of Isis capturing four young people under the age of 15 and telling them to convert to Islam, to renounce Jesus, Yeshua, and to follow Muhammad. And every one of the young people replied, no, We love Yeshua. We have always loved Yeshua. We have always followed Yeshua. The Isis men said, say the words to convert to Muhammad, and the young people replied, no, we cannot. And the Isis men decapitated them. This was not something from a movie or a fantasy. This was real, live history. Christians being killed for being Christian. Christians being killed for speaking the name of Yeshua, Jesus. I think such examples are a vivid portrait of discipleship. Each example captures in a nutshell what discipleship looks like, what being a follower of Jesus involves. Do you remember the words of Jesus later on in Mark's Gospel? If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. In Jesus' day, people who took up crosses to carry them were eventually crucified on them. In other words, Jesus is saying that to be a disciple of His ultimately involves death. There is death to yourself, and in some cases, like in the persecution by Isis, there is death to the body. Being a follower of Jesus involves death. Being on mission with Jesus may involve martyrdom. And that is what this passage this evening is about, discipleship and death, mission and martyrdom. Mark shows us this by interjecting a story about John the Baptist into the sixth chapter of his gospel. It's a story of John the Baptist's death that had actually occurred earlier to the events of chapter 6, but Mark brings it in here to teach us a lesson on discipleship and mission. The interjection of the story creates what scholars call a Markan sandwich. Now, some of the young people here, you know what a sandwich is. You've seen your parents make them for your picnics or your school lunch. What's a sandwich? Well, it's a piece of bread with a bit of lettuce. That's the healthy part. Bit of meat, bit of tomato, and then some more bread. That's what a sandwich is. You've got the bread on the outside, and you've got the juicy bit on the inside. And that's a bit like what's going on here in Mark chapter 6. It's a bit like a sandwich. Mark starts with discipleship and mission, verse 7 to 13. That's the first bit of bread. And then he ends with mission in verse 30. That's the next bit of bread. In verses 7 to 13, Jesus sends out the apostles on mission. They go out preaching that people should repent. They cast out demons. They heal the sick. There's discipleship and mission. And then verse 30, the apostles returned to Jesus and told Him all that they had done and taught. Mission and discipleship again. Those are the two bread parts. But in between, Verses 14 to 29, Mark gives us a section on death and martyrdom. He tells us the story of John the Baptist's beheading. That's the meat part. So do you see the sandwich? He starts with discipleship and mission, verse 7 to 13. He ends with discipleship and mission, verse 30, and in between. In the middle of the sandwich, verses 14 to 29, he speaks about death and martyrdom. You can see that it is an interjection because if you look at verse 13 and you read verse 13 and then verse 30, the text flows smoothly. And they cast out demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them, verse 13. Verse 30, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Do you see how verses 14 to 29 in many ways are not needed? They're an interjection, an interruption in the middle of a story about discipleship and mission. And it's quite a long section. Just look again at your page of the Bible. Look how much text there is here. Mark wants to teach us. what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, what it means to be on mission with Jesus. And this is what he wants to say to us. Discipleship and mission involves death and martyrdom. Oh yes, disciples, it's fun to go out and preach in my name, heal the sick in my name, cast out demons in my name, but know this, it also involves death and martyrdom. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be prepared to die. To be on mission with Jesus is to be prepared to be martyred. That's what this passage is all about, discipleship and death, mission and martyrdom. Now, Mark conveys this to us. not against the backdrop of an Islamic state, but against the backdrop of a corrupt state, the state of King Herod, which involved a world of greed, decadence, power, sex, adultery, and wealth. The state of King Herod was a world of greed, decadence, power, sex, adultery, and wealth. His life was a long-sworded tale of debauchery and corruption. Let me give you a few details about this King Herod so you can get the picture. He is one of four King Herod's mentioned in the Bible. The most famous King Herod is Herod the Great. He's the king at Jesus's birth who tries to kill Jesus. Well great King Herod had ten wives and four sons. And before his death, he divided up his kingdom into four parts and gave one part to each of his sons, hence the name Tetrarch. Tetrarch, a fourth part to rule. The Herod in our passage, the Herod that beheaded John the Baptist, is great King Herod's second son, Herod antipas. He's the Herod that Jesus called a fox. Remember Jesus said, that fox? Because he was cunning and sly and full of malice. For example, he persuaded Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip, to divorce her husband and marry him. And she did. And that's the Herodias in this story. She was actually Herod Antipas' niece. So this was an incestuous marriage as well. But not only was King Herod Antipas an adulterer, He was also a lover of great luxury. He loved magnificent architecture. And so he built for himself two cities in Galilee. One was Tiberias and the other was Sepphoris. So we need to understand this passage against the backdrop of a world of greed, decadence, power, sex, adultery, and wealth. That's why this passage is so relevant to us this evening, because don't we live in the same world? We live in a world of greed, where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We've seen that since the COVID lockdowns. We live in a world of decadence, where programs on TV give us the impression that life is about the bigger house, the bigger car, the better job. We live in a world where politicians are vying to be the big par players on the world stage. Vladimir Putin versus Vladimir Zelensky. Joe Biden versus Kim Jong-un. We live in a sexed up world where eroticism is cast before our eyes on the TV and adverts, on the internet, on the interstate billboards. We live in a world where marriage is no longer held in high regard in our society. No-fault divorce is on the rise. A website like Ashley Madison, committed to encouraging people to have an affair, has over 39 million subscribers in its heyday. We live in a world where wealth talks, money talks, it masters people, it compromises their integrity, it breaks up their families. Our world is Jesus' world. Our world is the world of John the Baptist. And this passage this evening gives us an insight into what discipleship should look like in such a world. Mark gives us four insights into the cost of discipleship in such a world. Here's the first one. Discipleship involves speaking about Jesus. Discipleship involves speaking about Jesus. Look at verse 14. King Herod heard of it, that is, he heard about the mission of the disciples, teaching in Jesus' name, casting out demons, healing the sick. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. John the Baptist had preached that there was someone coming after Him who was stronger than he was. And so, Herod had heard about Jesus from John, but now he's hearing it again from Jesus' disciples because they're on mission doing great things in His name. And this is the first aspect of discipleship. It involves speaking about Jesus. It involves Jesus' name becoming known. even in the courts of kings." This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It involves telling people about Him. Mission is not mission. Discipleship is not discipleship if people don't get to hear about Jesus. Social justice is good. Mercy ministries are good, James tells us. Pure and undefiled religion is taking care of orphans. But mission, the heart of mission, is speaking to those orphans about Jesus. We don't just want to save people from homelessness, We want to save them from hell. And the only way to do that is if they get to hear about Jesus. And I think that's the challenge for us, because it's very easy in our everyday lives, whether it's at school or university or at work, to talk about ourselves in religious terms, but never talk about Jesus. Tomorrow morning, in work, someone says to you, what did you do at the weekend? And you say, well, I went to, you know, played some golf, caught up with my family. And yesterday, I went to church. Nobody's going to bat an eyelid. But tomorrow if somebody at work says to you, what did you do? You say, well, I played some golf, saw some family, and yesterday went to church and I heard this sermon about how Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. How Jesus is Lord of everyone, everywhere. The atmosphere is going to change, isn't it? I remember when I was a physical therapist, I could speak about church on Monday mornings as much as I wanted. Nobody batted an eyelid. But the moment I used the name Jesus, the staff room atmosphere changed. And that's the challenge for us. Being on mission with Jesus means speaking about Jesus. not just about church, not just about being religious, but actually speaking about Jesus. Because non-Christians go to church, and Muslims and Jews believe in a God, but to be a disciple of Jesus is to make His name known. That's the first challenge from this passage. Discipleship involves speaking about Jesus. Here's a second challenge. Discipleship involves experiencing the rejection of Jesus. Verses 14 to 16. Experiencing the rejection of Jesus. Herod heard about Jesus from his disciples, but then he rejected what he heard about Jesus. Verse 14 to 16. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others said, he is Elijah. And others, he is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead. Now, what's interesting about Herod's response here is that this is not the first time he'd heard about Jesus. Remember, John had told him about Jesus before he told him that there was a person coming after him that was greater than him, stronger than him, would do mightier works than him. And now here is a person called Jesus, not John, coming after John and doing the very things John said he would do. And what does Herod conclude? Oh, it must be John. I mean, Herod, were you listening? He said he would do greater things than John. And these are greater things. John the Baptist only called people to repentance. These disciples are casting out demons in Jesus' name. Yet, Herod's response is a flat-out rejection of Jesus, even though all the evidence points to Him. And this is what we need to be prepared for as disciples of Jesus, that as we speak about Jesus in our schools, our universities, our workplaces, we need to be prepared for a rejection of Jesus. Of course, we pray that the little mention of Jesus in our conversations might pique some interest. And we want to make sure we don't speak about Jesus in a sort of forceful, cringeworthy way. We want to do it with timeliness, with winsomeness. But at the same time, we need to be prepared to experience the rejection of Jesus. The early missionaries, some of whom I mentioned this morning, a lot of them experienced years of resistance and rejection of Jesus. Remember John Patton, first number of years on those islands, Tana and Aniwa, there was no fruit for his ministry. They rejected Jesus, and many missionaries today experience that. Missionaries working amongst the Maasai in East Africa, one of the hardest people groups to reach with the gospel, or among the Japanese of Japan, still one of the hardest cultures to break into. If we're going to be disciples on mission with Jesus, we need to be prepared for the rejection of Jesus. Just like Herod rejected the message when he heard it. Third, discipleship involves being persecuted for Jesus, verses 17 to 20. It involves being persecuted for Jesus. It involves speaking about Jesus. It involves experiencing the rejection of Jesus, and it also involves being persecuted for Jesus. The reason why Herod thinks Jesus might be John is because of his guilty conscience for beheading him. And that's why Mark puts this story about the beheading of John the Baptist in here, which runs from verse 17 to 29. That's what the word for means in verse 17. It was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias. And then what follows is the explanation of why or how John got beheaded. John had called Herod to account for his adulterous marriage to Herodias, his half-brother's wife. Herodias had been married to his half-brother Philip, but as I mentioned, Herodias, Herod the Antipas, lured Herodias out of that marriage and into a marriage with him. And John the Baptist was basically saying, she ain't your wife. Did you notice that? It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Oh, you might get the divorce certificate and to pass, but she's still your brother's wife. It's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. But think about what John the Baptist has done there. Which law had Herod broken? Well, I'm sure the young people, if I asked you for the Ten Commandments, you could give me at least some of them. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make a carved image. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Honor your mother and father. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet. What commands had Herod Antipas broken? Committed adultery, stolen what wasn't his, coveted what wasn't his. He broke about three of God's commandments. But here's what's so strange. Herod Antipas wasn't a Jew. He was an Edomite. The Jewish law was not his law. And yet, notice what John the Baptist does. He applies the Jewish law to an Edomite. What does that teach us? It's saying that God's law is not personalized, it's not relativistic, it's not just for one people group like the Jews, or just for Christians. No, God's law is universal. It is the standard for all people created in God's image who live in His world. And that is what John was showing Herod. There is a law, Herod, that transcends our ethnicity. It transcends our creeds and our color. It transcends everything, and you have broken it. I must live in obedience to it. So must you, and you have broken God's law. And that's what Herod didn't like. It's what Herodias His mistress, adulterous mistress, didn't like either. And this is what our culture won't like. When we seek to apply God's law to our surrounding culture, they won't like it. They will persecute us. What did Herod do? He put John in prison. He tried to shut him up. He didn't want him out there speaking about his marriage to Herodias, so he brought him in, put him in prison, and shut him up because he hated God's law. And that is what's going to happen for us in a culture that is increasingly anti-God and anti-His laws. They are going to try to shut us up. And therefore, being a disciple of Jesus is going to involve persecution. We are going to have to be prepared to be persecuted if we want to follow Jesus, because we're going to have to be prepared to apply God's law into a culture that hates His law and has rejected His law. Remember a number of years ago, just after the Obergefallen ruling in the Supreme Court that had legalized same-sex marriage. A county clerk in America, Kim Davies, went to jail for refusing to issue marriage certificates to gay couples. She refused to bend her beliefs to suit the Supreme Court ruling. She refused to privatize or personalize her beliefs If I could put it like this, she pulled a John the Baptist. She pulled a John the Baptist and said, it is not lawful for me to give you a marriage certificate because you're not actually married. She was willing to be persecuted. The question is, are we? Perhaps we won't be sent to jail. Perhaps it will be the eye rolls, the giggles from our fellow students. Can you believe he or she believes that stuff about a man and a woman in marriage? I mean, crazy stuff. But whatever it is, whether it's a moment of embarrassment in the work office, whatever it is, we need to be prepared to be persecuted for Jesus. This is the third thing that this passage shows us. John was persecuted for applying God's law. He was put in prison and shut up. There is one final thing that this passage teaches us, and that is that discipleship involves being willing to die for Jesus. Verses 21 to 29. Discipleship involves being willing to die for Jesus. It involves speaking about Jesus. It involves rejection of Jesus. It involves being willing to be persecuted for Jesus. And fourth, it involves being willing to die like Jesus. Now, when I say die like Jesus, I don't mean to be crucified on a cross like Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it like this, when Christ calls a person to follow Him, He bids him come and die. It's not about being crucified on a cross literally, but it is about dying. Are we prepared to die like Jesus? That's what happened to John the Baptist. The persecution escalated to death. Herodias, the mistress, harbors a grudge against John and tries to kill him, but she can't because Herod, her new husband, sort of fears John. He sort of likes John, doesn't know what to do with John, likes to hear him, perplexed by what he says, but doesn't want to touch him. What's interesting here is that John was no longer speaking into her life, convicting her of her sin. He'd been silenced in a prison, and yet she still wanted him dead. Clearly, she felt that the only place her marriage certificate could safely be written was on the back of his death warrant. Kill John, and she could live happily married ever after. And her opportunity comes when Herod throws a big birthday bash for himself, verse 21. But an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. That one verse tells us why this was such an opportune moment. These banquets were usually drunken affairs, so Herod would not be thinking straight. The presence of the wealthy, the powerful, the prestigious in society meant that Herod would feel the pressure to entertain his guests and keep them happy. And then there's the daughter, verse 22, who dances before the guests and excites them. Herod didn't even have the authority to offer her what he offers her. Half of his kingdom. His kingdom was under Caesar's control. And Caesar would not have been okay with Herod handing half of his kingdom over to a young girl just because she danced before him. Yet here is a drunken man, so turned on that he can no longer think straight. Shakespeare said, love makes fools of us all. Well, how much more so lust? Lust is making a fool out of Herod. But the scheme of Herodias has clearly worked. And so, the daughter goes to her mother to see what she should ask for, and she returns with one simple request. She doesn't want Tiberias, a whole city created by Herod, this magnificent city with its palaces and balconies overlooking the Sea of Galilee. She doesn't want that. She just wants the head of a desert preacher. give me John the Baptist's head on a platter." The command comes with urgency. Herodias doesn't want to waste a second. She doesn't want the alcohol to wear off. She doesn't want him to get his mind back and not follow through. She's ruthless and cutthroat, quite literally. despite the fact that Herod doesn't want to do it, he knows now because he offered it in front of all his guests, he has to do what he said. The whole thing is a sad and sordid tale, and John the Baptist is caught in the crosshairs of Herodias' scheme. But Mark gives us the details of this sordid and sad tale to show us the ultimate cost of discipleship. It involves being willing to die like Jesus. Perhaps I could put it like this. Being a disciple of Jesus involves having scars like Jesus. Being a disciple of Jesus involves having scars like Jesus. John the Baptist ended his life with scars, a big scar along his neck. He was a forerunner for Jesus with his message. He preached repentance. That's what Jesus preached. and he was a forerunner for Jesus in his death. John died at the hands of a man who liked to hear him. Does that sound like anybody near Jesus' death? Pilate liked to hear Jesus. John's death came from a man who was too weak to protect him, who acted to please the crowd, Sounds like Pilate, doesn't it? John died an innocent man just for teaching about God's law without a fair trial, as Jesus did. John died alone, as Jesus did. John the Baptist was a disciple of Jesus. Yes, he came before Jesus. He was a forerunner for Jesus, but he was first and foremost a disciple of Jesus. And so, he had the scars of death like his master did. And herein is the challenge for each of us this evening, myself included. If we claim to be disciples of Jesus, then where are our scars? Where are our scars? Because this passage has shown us that disciples must be prepared to die. People on mission with Jesus must be prepared to be martyrs. It's about discipleship and death, mission and martyrdom, just like it was for those four young 15-year-old people in Iraq. Renounce the name of Yeshua. Convert to Islam by claiming Muhammad. No, we cannot. They were prepared to receive the scars as followers of Jesus. I mentioned Amy Carmichael this morning, the Christian missionary to India. She founded the Donovar Mission, which rescued street girls from a life of prostitution. She left Malial County down Northern Ireland at the age of 28. She never returned to her home country. She never saw her family or six siblings again. She lived in India for 55 years, died at the age of 83. She never married. During her time in India, it is calculated that she cared for over 1,000 children. The girls called her Amma, which means mother. For most of her life, she suffered ill health. In her early 60s, she fractured her legs and was never able to walk again. She spent the remaining years of her life in bed, writing poems and books. One poem that she wrote is called Hast thou no scar? She wrote it as if Jesus was the speaker. Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot or side or hand? I hear thee sung as mighty in the land. I hear them heal thy bright ascendant star. Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no wound? Yet I was wounded by the archers spent, leaned me against a tree to die and rent. By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned. Hast thou no wound? No wound, no scar, yet as the master shall the servant be, and pierced are the feet that follow me. but thine or whole? Can he have followed far who has no wound or scar?" May God help us, by His grace, to be faithful disciples of Jesus, to be prepared even to die if we are called to do so.